MsBlueRose

I want to introduce everyone to my new babies, Chip and Cookie - temporary names given by my daughter until they morph at least and may change again if I can identify male or female. Cookie was named for the circle on her head that looks like a chocolate chip cookie. And Chip, well, we were going to go with chip and dale at first, but I did not like dale as a name so we changed it to Cookie because of her cute little spot-formation between her eyes.

Monday afternoon (4/7/2014) I received my new babies. I set up a small clear tote box as a pond for them. I covered the bottom with clean sand, planted a water plant that I ordered with the tads, and a clean branch that extends from the top of one corner down into the bottom of the opposite corner of the box, I also added a couple of handfuls of small to medium stones of various colors and then filled the pond with about a gallon and a half of bottled spring water leaving about 3 inches of space from the water top and the top of the box. After letting the pond settle for about 2 or 3 hours I added the tadpoles. They were not too happy at first, they circled the walls and were very jumpy to any movement around them, I actually though Chip was going to jump out of the pond a few times, lol. They eventually settled in and stopped freaking out. They are happier with the tote lid in place, but I don't want to let the air get stagnant so I leave the lid off the tote as much as possible. However, I can only do that while I am in the kitchen because I have 3 cats.

Day Two, Tuesday - So I got up today and checked on the babies. None of the food I fed them Monday had been eaten, but for some dumb reason I gave them another pellet thinking they would eat the pellet instead of the swirled mess at the bottom of the plant. The pellet just dissolved and became part of the swirled mess... I had read in the care sheet that came with them that they may not eat for a day or more while they acclimate to their now home, so I was not concerned yet. Today I noticed that I have 2 distinct personality types between my two tads. Cookie is a go-with-the-flow kind of baby, and Chip is easily spooked and will swim frantically around the pond until he finds Cookie and then he will settle down again. They seem to always be together. They really are a sweet little pair! They have been quiet active, too, they dug a hole in the sand and changed the bottom of the pond slightly. I buried the plant under the branch so they don't uproot it with all their rearranging going on. I gave them one more pellet before bed and covered them up for the night with the tote lid.

Day Three, Wednesday - I greeted the tadpoles this morning and reread the care sheet, I did not give them another pellet this morning because they still have lots of food in the pond. The care sheet said that one pellet will last one tadpole 3 days, so I have definitely been overfeeding them... However this afternoon I noticed that Cookie is eating, finally; still no sign that Chip is eating yet. Cookie cleaned up most of the food in the pond today, but then she started floating...? I think she may have eaten too much, she could not stay on the bottom of the pond. She would immediately float up to the top as soon as she stopped swimming. I was super worried about her and started looking up possible causes while I watched her. The only thing I came up with was "Gas Disease" but by the time I found out anything about it, she had started blowing bubbles. It seemed like she was burping because she was not taking air from the surface first like she usually does. She slowly began to stay on the bottom longer and longer before floating up again. Right now she is fine and sitting happily on a rock at the bottom of the pond. Hopefully tomorrow Chip will have started eating, too. Chip seems to be happiest when he is sitting on the branch with the plant surrounding him.

I want to start posting pics of them with my daily postings on the blog, but I am waiting for my camera cable to arrive, grr. As soon as I get it I will start posting their pics as often as I can. If anyone has any helpful tips for their care, please feel free to post it. It will be much appreciated! Any comments are welcome as well. This is my first time caring for tadpoles so this is all a new experience for me and my family. Also tonight is the first time I have posted on my blog here so I went ahead and did all 3 days at once. Sorry for any confusion.


See you all tomorrow!


I know I have not posted about the tadpoles in a while now, sorry about that. I have been exceptionally busy this last week. I have decided that I will do a blog post for the tadpoles once a week, if I can manage it, instead of daily. Here are the pics from last week of the tadpoles.

I have a pic of their pond, one of them together, and one of each of them. I hope the pics show up, this is my first attempt at adding pics to the blog. I will update their growth and activity later tonight if I can make time after dinner. See you all soon!