4Real Forums: Any tadpole experts out there??

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Exploring God's Creation in Nature and Science
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Topic: Any tadpole experts out there??

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eileenonhim
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Joined: April 26 2007
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Posted: Sept 24 2007 at 11:23pm \| IP Logged

We collected frog eggs from our pond on May 25, and two of them hatched into tadpoles about 10-12 days later. I don't know what kind of frogs they may be, though bullfrogs, green frogs and pickerels were plentiful all spring and summer.

They seemed to be growing pretty rapidly, and sometime in July, our tadpoles grew legs; but they don't appear to have grown at all since. Their heads are about thumbnail sized, and their tails are probably about 2" long. One of them has larger legs than the other, and that one also seems to have a bump on one side about where I'd expect to see "arms". They've been living in a 2/3 full 15 gallon fish tank in our kitchen all this time, in pond water, to which tap water (that sat out for several days first) has been added once. We've been giving them goldfish food to eat.

It doesn't look like they'll develop in time to get back to the pond before winter.

So...what's going on here? Are we doing something wrong--water too cold, not enough water, wrong kind of food, or something else? Could this be a sign they're just not going to make it, or is it not unusual for tadpoles to slow their growth when they're being raised indoors? Or are they doing just fine as they are?

Looking forward to any thoughts or info anyone may have! Thanks!

Eileen

vmalott
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Posted: Sept 25 2007 at 6:18pm \| IP Logged

I remember reading somewhere that it over a year for bulfrog tadpoles to completely mature. Ah, yes, here's the link.

Here's some more information for the other species you listed:
Pickerel Frog
Green Frog

That said, you may want to search the 'net for some info on how to rear these guys, especially if they are a species that tends to hibernate during winter, waiting to transform.

Valerie (who is not a tadpole expert!)

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Valerie
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eileenonhim
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Joined: April 26 2007
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Posted: Sept 25 2007 at 11:18pm \| IP Logged

Well, Valerie,you're apparently more of an expert than I am--certainly in finding helpful sites!!

The site you recommended is excellent, and has lots of information I hadn't found elsewhere. I had a site just for identifying frogs and toads in New York State, and another site that seemed to have a lot of information, but maybe it was too species-specific to be of help to me (I just now notice that the site is in the UK, which could explain a lot). I also have the DK Watch Me Grow Frog book, which indicated that a bullfrog (perhaps English-style?) grows from egg to frog in about 13 weeks; and numerous sites which recommended collecting frog eggs in the Spring in order to hatch them into frogs before the end of the school year (???).

So my expectations were WAY off! I knew this was the right place to come to get the straight story!

...and I'll let my dh know that he won't be getting his fish tank back anytime soon...

Eileen

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Karen T
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Joined: Feb 16 2005
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Posted: Sept 29 2007 at 5:19pm \| IP Logged

We collected tadpoles from a neighbor's pool 2 yrs ago in the spring, fed them and watched them like you did, and waited and waited and waited. Ours never got past the beginning leg stage before winter, and we didn't want to keep them all winter on our kitchen counter so we turned them loose, after reading how long some species take. I'm pretty sure these were American Bullfrogs, based on the songs I heard in the spring at night.
Patience!
Karen T

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