tadpoles

[TinaP]

Last week, I discovered tadpoles swimming in a shallow bucket on my property. As I live near Mosquito Lake and toads eat bugs, I want to help my new little friends reach maturity. I've read up on raising tadpoles on the internet and it's all reasonable advice so I think I can raise them until toad-dom. After that, I can't guarantee that my dog won't have them as snacks--it's happened before. Nothing like seeing your best friend with two legs wiggling out of her mouth .

Anyway...I'd like to know if anyone has raised tadpoles to maturity--or, for that matter, even tried. Anyone?

 

[DominicB]

Hi TinaP

I've reared tadpoles from spawn to frog both as a boy, and more recently for my own son. I would recommend a deep bucket with plenty of water, but with a brick placed in it so it just pokes out of the water.

Frogs are limited to the amount of time they can spend underwater and can drown, so make sure that the brick is always accessible - if it rains, and the brick gets covered, make sure that you scoop some water out. You won't need to clean the water or the bucket if you get as much rain as we do ...

When the spawn hatches into tadpoles, you'll need to feed them - I usually use tiny pieces of cooked meat, like boiled ham or something and just little crumbs of toast or bread. You may also notice a collection of dead flies on the surface of the water - these will go down well too. Beware of small frogs hopping out of the bucket, as they can comfortably live in your garden - well they do in mine, where there's a lot of vegetation and a fairly wet West Pennine climate.

It is quite nice to have frogs living in your garden, but beware of the down side. Two came to grief (I'm ashamed to say) through my fault last year. One got strimmed 'cos he wasn't quick enough whilst I was gardening, and another hopped into our mop bucket, which still had some Flash bleach in it and had filled with rainwater, and drowned. He came to a particularly white end ...

Best of luck to you ...

DominicB

 

[TinaP]

The pool the little guys are in is sloped and they can easily crawl out when the time comes. I think they survived at least a week without my assistance so they must have enough decaying bugs, etc., to keep them fed. I'm supplementing it with a flake of fish food every other day.

We had been getting enough rainwater to keep the pool filled, but I had to add some water this morning since the water was below half. I may have poured the water in too quickly, though. When I left for work this morning the water was still murky. I'm afraid I'll return home to a bunch of tadpole corpses.

 

[DominicB]

Hi TinaP

Don't worry - if there's any silt at the bottom it'll be impossible to pour water in without the water clouding up. It'll take an hour hour or two, but it will clear.

DominicB