Tadpole/froglet help please!

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

Hello,

We've got a bunch of wild caught tadpoles that we've been raising for about two weeks. They are now starting to change very fast- two days ago, we saw back legs, now we are seeing front legs! They were eating tons of boiled lettuce, but now seem to be eating much less. Do they need bugs yet? I was planning on chopping up some worms from my worm bin for them when the time is right, but I'm not sure if they need them yet, and am not sure how to feed them when the time comes- on top of the rock (dry land) in the aquarium, or in the water, or ??? This is their current stage, about half are this far along, and half a bit less developed. We plan to re-release as soon as they are full frogs, but I will release them sooner if I'm not sure how to take care of them, and that would be disappointing for me to not at least get to identify what species they are!

[Dmmetler]

Once they've got front legs, they need to be able to get out of water-they no longer have gills and will eventually drown if they can't get on land. They need to be able to crawl out of the water (a floating piece of wood or pile of rocks works well), and should be transferred to a half land/half water tank. They also need live food once their tails mostly are gone (they "eat" their tails for a few days after getting legs)-pinhead crickets or flightless fruit flies are a good choice. Chopped up worms won't work-frogs don't have good vision, and if they don't see their food move, they won't try to eat it (aquatic frogs are OK on prepared pellets because the water causes movement).

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

Ok. I was hoping to cut the worms in half and that they'd still have enough "wiggle" left in them to attract attention. But I will head to the pet store and look for better options. Next question- do I put the bugs in the land side or water side of the habitat? Thanks!

 

(I promise I have googled this, but the information given is generally sort of vague)

[Oakblossoms]

We actually kept tadpoles for over a year from our pond. We had a large aquarium and my husband put in muck from the pond. It was gross at first, but then so cool. They ate all that stuff and then weird things hatched and they ate that. We would catch and release when they started crawling out.

[Dmmetler]

Land-most of the pet store insects will drown quickly. Supposedly, you can do bloodworms or daphnia (brine shrimp) in the water, but the worms didn't work for us-the tadpoles ate them, but the frogs ignored them.

[MamaJeanne]

We have a few new frogs as well. We have been scouring the neighborhood for aphid covered weeds. We are releasing them soon since we can't find many more aphids!

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

Update- our pet store only had some frozen larvae stuff, so we put in a cube of that, then we dug up some tiny little ant-things, and have put them onto all the paving stone perches. We've got two almost tail-less froggies now!

[angelmama1209]

my habitat directions say "your tadpole will not want to eat during the time its front legs appear and the complete loss of tail. all the nutrients your young frog needs are provided as the tail is absorbed into its body." "frogs eat live insects." "do not put beetles or ants inside your habitat. frogs do not like to eat beetles or ants"

[Innisfree]

We had good luck a few years ago maintaining a tiny toadlet by putting small (1/2 cup) amounts of completely decomposed compost from our slow (not hot) compost pile into the terrarium every couple of days. The compost was teeming with bugs too tiny for me to catch individually, but apparently just right for the brand-new toad. Needless to say you'd need to keep an eye on the frog or toad to make sure it's growing, and keep a good screen lid on the terrarium :laugh: !