Morphing question

[Mmfh]

I have an unknown frog tadpole that is probably hours away from popping its arms. I have it in a tilted container with an inch of water on one side and a sheet of very moist moss on the other. So far it seems unhappy on the moss and in the water. My fear is that it will pop it's arms tonight while I am at work and drown, since I had a tadpole that drown and never tried to get on its moss. Since the frog is moving around on and off the moss should I leave the water section or should I remove all but a film of water and put all moss down. Do they even have lungs at this point?? Or should I leave a water section and just trust that the frog will know what it should be doing. Thank you.

[flybyferns]

I have an unknown frog tadpole that is probably hours away from popping its arms. I have it in a tilted container with an inch of water on one side and a sheet of very moist moss on the other. So far it seems unhappy on the moss and in the water. My fear is that it will pop it's arms tonight while I am at work and drown, since I had a tadpole that drown and never tried to get on its moss. Since the frog is moving around on and off the moss should I leave the water section or should I remove all but a film of water and put all moss down. Do they even have lungs at this point?? Or should I leave a water section and just trust that the frog will know what it should be doing. Thank you.

Yes, I believe you should:
"leave a water section and just trust that the frog will know what it should be doing"

Tip the container, leave just enough water so it can remain in the water if it wants to, and provided really wet sphagnum moss around the edge of the tipped container for it to climb onto if needed. Provide a small dry area between the water and the moss.

Can you post some photos, and give us some details as to where the tad was found?

I'm sure you know ....it needs to be identified.

Lynn

[Mmfh]

Sadly it was dead when I got home from work. I seem to be having horrible luck getting anything past the tadpole stage once I take the time to figure out how to post pictures I'll get one up of the cute little thing. Ty for responding.

[Charlieamanda]

sorry to hear about your tadpole/froglet. Unfortunately I've had this happened several times before, but I have found success, which I will share with you. :-)
I should mention this depends on how many you have. The first set of instructions are for a lot, a few hundred.
Almost every year the local frogs lay eggs too late in the season and in the fall I'm breaking through the ice to remove tadpoles from my above ground pool, which freezes solid through the winter.
Once I manage to collect as many as I cant find...
I usually keep the tadpoles in a storage bin, with clean unchlorinated water, a few cups or small containers they can hide in, a few aquatic plants & feed them fishflakes, until they get their back legs.
When the back legs look more like frog legs, bent, I move only those tads into another container that I put several large rocks or gravel in, on a sloping angle like a shore line, that they can climb up. It should definately allow their heads to be above the water line or even out of the water, at the top of the slope. You can have a platform at the top where they can sit out of the water completely, many of mine do this at this stage so dont be alarmed.
Once they sprout one or both of their front legs I then put them in another container with mostly gravel with a very shallow pool/pond area, about an inch or enough water they could stand in but reach the surface, about 2/3's pond,1/3 gravel land. I put some moss around the waters edge and put several plant clipping in there too.
Attachment 53853
If you only have one or a few you can do the gravel set up with a larger, deeper pond/pool area, with less "land" area and simply ajust the water depth & land/pool area as the tadpoles morph.
Best of luck, hope this helps :-)

[Mmfh]

Ty charlieamanda. I'm going to use all of your advice. Right now I only have four tadpoles left and I'm feeling like a tadpole serial killer maybe some good luck is coming my way.

[Mmfh]

Here is a picture of my current set up. The moss is in another container but it seems to be leaching tannins so I'm not sure if I should use it. Would u still use sand or small pebbles to make a slope? The water is only 3/4 of an inch.