Captive reared frogs released back to wild

[numpty]

Nice! Aquatic clawed frogs in your backyard (well, maybe not literally). And the tadpoles look like little catfish!

Care to share the details of the rooibos tea experiment? How diluted, would you say? What are the specific benefits, as studied? Maybe frog breeders already knows about this, but I don't raise tadpoles so know nothing about such things. Is this based on scholarly research?

I have my eye on an almost-dry concrete water tank up the hill which contains some Polypedates tadpoles. If the level gets critical I might decide to "rescue" a few and raise them through metamorphosis. Not sure yet.

Interesting posts. Thanks!

[BugBoy99]

Nice! Aquatic clawed frogs in your backyard (well, maybe not literally).

Well, you're not too far off base. The pool where I caught the tadpoles, is about two minutes walk from the back of my house.

Personally, I mixed the rooibos tea at a ratio of two teabags to eight litres of water(the first time I filled the tank). All the partial tea changes were made with tea that was mixed at a ratio of one teabag to eight litres of water. I did it this way, because the dechlorinating agent I used was used by adding three drops to four litres of water. So, I placed my tea bags in a two-litre jug, which I filled with boiling water and then I supplemented those two litres with six litres of cold water. The eight litres were then cold enough for immediate use. One advantage that I found with the rooibos tea, was that the water did not go smelly, and dirty so quickly. The food that I fed the tadpoles turned the water into a liquid with the consistency of soup. This water had to be changed every day, for the well-being of the tadpoles. It also smelled terrible! The rooibos, on the other hand, retained its thin consistency, And, a partial water change every two to three days was quite sufficient.

I based my "experiment" on this article BBC News - Exotic frogs reared in redbush tea in Gloucestershire. But, to truly conduct a proper experiment, you would have to remove as many of the variables as possible. You would have to be sure that all the tadpoles came from the same spawning, that they all have the same genetic variability, and that they had exactly the same food, that the tea was consistently of the same brand, etc. etc. I would greatly like to perform an appropriate experiment on this topic one day.

To be honest, I'm quite the amateur when it comes to raising tadpoles. But, I think that this would be an interesting experiment to conduct, with many possible advantages.

I have my eye on an almost-dry concrete water tank up the hill which contains some Polypedates tadpoles. If the level gets critical I might decide to "rescue" a few and raise them through metamorphosis. Not sure yet.

Honestly, I would have 'rescued' some of those tadpoles long ago. Almost, as soon as I knew they were there. If you do decide to 'rescue' some, please post some pictures I'd like to see them.

Thanks for your interest.

[numpty]

Honestly, I would have 'rescued' some of those tadpoles long ago. Almost, as soon as I knew they were there. If you do decide to 'rescue' some, please post some pictures I'd like to see them.

I probably would, but for a few reasons. Firstly, I was just recently in hospital and am not carrying things as easily as usual. Glass tank, water bottles ... maybe not the best idea. Also, that particular frog may or may not be an exotic. There are two Polypedates species in Taiwan, almost indistinguishable from each other, but one is a recent introduction from Hong Kong. I'm pretty sure the ones up the hill are indigenous, but how dumb would I feel if I fattened up and released a bunch of super-invaders. Lastly, it's raining right now, so maybe they don't need my help anymore!

[BugBoy99]

Hello.

Those are all great reasons. I hope that you feel better soon and that, when you do, you'll have the opportunity to keep and raise some tadpoles. To me, it is one of the greatest experiences in the world.

God Bless,
Joh

[Namio]

Hello.

Those are all great reasons. I hope that you feel better soon and that, when you do, you'll have the opportunity to keep and raise some tadpoles. To me, it is one of the greatest experiences in the world.

God Bless,
Joh

Thank you Joh! It's been a great joy following you and others on this thread. Keep them coming!

[BugBoy99]

Thank you Joh! It's been a great joy following you and others on this thread. Keep them coming!

Thank you so much for the kind words. And, to everyone who has made me feel so welcome, I truly appreciate it.

I did have one species between the Xenopus, and the last species, but the tadpoles were quite far developed, and I could not feed the froglets, so I released them the day after I caught them. I don't have any photos of the tadpoles or froglets, but the adults are very, very common, so I will post some pictures of them. The species is Amietophrynus gutturalis, the Guttural Toad, and they are quite a beautiful species. I kept a few of the adults for about a week, just to observe them. I thought of keeping them for longer but, after a week, they were already showing signs of becoming tame. And, since I did not think that I would be able to find homes for them if the situation should arise that I could no longer keep them, I released them. Oh, getting the adults to eat is not a problem, they ate just about everything I gave them, except worms, and very small creatures. The froglets can be very small when they metamorphose, so I think they will be hard to feed.


Male, as seen by dark yellow throat

Female, as seen by white throat

They are really very common, but also quite beautiful, for a toad.

They do not breed in small amounts of water. But, during winter, the males form choruses around each and every puddle of water, a beautiful sound which really makes one quite sorry to see winter come to an end. They eventually move down to larger quantities of water to breed, at the beginning of spring(from my own observation). And, there they lay up to 20,000 eggs.

That is all for now, I will post pictures of my Common River Frogs later, they are the last species that I raised.

[BugBoy99]

The last species that I raised was the Common River Frog, Amietia angolensis. Unfortunately, I do not have pictures of the tadpoles, but I will post pictures of the frogs. And, I will not be releasing all the froglets. I hope to start a small breeding colony, as there are many people in Richards Bay with an interest in keeping frogs. But, there are few species imported from overseas, and I do not believe in collecting animals directly from the wild in order to sell them into the pet trade. So, in order to have species in the pet trade, I would like to breed this species, and introduce the offspring to the pet trade.

I raised the tadpoles, entirely on fish flakes, and blanched lettuce. They grow quite slowly but still at a reasonably fast rate. I also did partial water changes once a week. The froglets are extraordinary jumpers. They jump really fast, really high, and really far. And, they love eating just as much as they love jumping.




I'm afraid that I don't have too much information on this species. I think that it must be the easiest species that I ever raised.

I hope that someone enjoys the froglets, nonetheless.


Sincerely,
Joh