Why are my froglets dying?

[Nik Brkic]

Hello,
I am new to this forum and am in need of help

I am raising about 30 western toad tadpoles. Ive been doing so for about 3-4 weeks. Ive been feeding them romaine lettuce that is first boiled then frozen. Recently ive added HBH frog and tadpole bites in there as well. It seems when I added that they ate the lettuce much less A few days a go some of the tadpoles made it to froglet stage. They seemed regular they'd swim sometimes and sit on a rock that is in the tank sometimes. But today I found one dead just floating in the tank. Then three hours later another one was dead in the tank

I am wondering what could cause a seemingly healthy froglet to die. They look all symmetrical and there are no weird discolorations.

Thanks for the help

Nik

[Heatheranne]

Hi Nik, welcome to the forum.

Once they develop legs they can come out of the water aquarium. Provide them with a very shallow water bowl only filled on the very bottom (only enough to sit their butts in), with dechlorinated tap water or spring water. They will eat the lettuce until just about time to absorb their tails. They often stop eating a day or two while absorbing their tail. Once they pass this phase they can then start eating tiny fruit flies and springtails. You will need to very lightly dust their flies with calcium/vita D3 two days a week and amphibian multivitamin one day a week.

I have found that it is easiest to monitor small frogs or toads using paper towel substrate. A fine mist of treated water helps keep them moist. Most toads will prefer only a damp floor with a water bowl if they want to soak.

After the tads leave the water their lungs open and fill with air. They now have to learn to hold their breath underwater, so many drown. I remove my toadlets when all 4 legs have developed.

If feeding fruit flies, you may want to cover your screen lid with a nylon or fine netting so the flies do not escape through the screen holes.

[beyond colour]

Hey Nik,
I remove frog-lets from their tadpole rearing jars as soon as they pop their front legs. Move them to a container or tank with shallow water at one end and an elevated portion on the other end with damp sphagnum moss on the elevated portion. You can take gravel and make a slope so the the frogs can walk out of the water and return to soak if they need. It sounds as if they are drowning as Heather stated. I use a high protien fish food (Omega One) for tadpole food as well, its higher in protien than lettuce. For the frog-lets i feed springtails, fruit flies, and dwarf isopodes and rotate dustings with Repashy calcium plus, Rep-Cal Calcium, and Rep-Cal Herptivite. Good luck, keep us posted.