My new Xenopus Tads

[IrishRonin]

very cool, thanks for the update.

[BugBoy99]

My pleasure! It is so refreshing to meet people who share my interests. Monday September the 21st- three days after initial capture of my tadpoles.
And, they have grown tremendously. The pictures should make the increase in size quite plain.

[rodsboys]

Wow, great results. Makes you wonder how old they are.
I have been meaning to ask if you can update with pics of the natural habitat some time too.

[BugBoy99]

My pleasure.

The tadpoles cannot be more than 9 days old. I found them in a temporary pool that only exists for a few weeks, sometimes months, a year. The pool had been dry till last Saturday, when there was a lot of rain so the tadpoles cannot be more than 9 days old. The pool should exist for a few more weeks, at least, if we have a lot of rain. We are entering our rainy season now.

I am hoping to go look for the tadpoles of other species(that breed in the same pool) this week, so I should be able to take photos of the pool and of the wild-caught tadpoles. Please feel free to ask if you would like to see photos of anything else related to the frogs. I will gladly oblige, if possible.

Sincerely,
Joh

[BugBoy99]

Hello Everybody,

I have wanted to update this thread, but have been quite busy.

First, the wild tads and pool. I did take pictures of the pool, but am running short of internet data so I will post them when I can. Then, this was a very, very dry week and the pool dried up. I don't think that any of the tadpoles made it. There were some huge thunderstorms last night, and the pool has reformed, and is much, much larger than before.

Secondly, good news, would be that I rescued 136 Xenopus tadpoles, and 7 Ptychadena tadpoles before the pool dried up. I initially had more than 136 tadpoles, but lost several. I have been taking photos every couple of days, and will add them as soon as I get more internet data.

Sincerely,
Joh

[SwimminSteve]

This is so neat! I'm really interested in learning more about these guys in the wild, so I can't wait to see pics Do you know which Xenopus species you have? Have you seen adults before? Do you think that the adults stay buried in the mud at the pools? or do they "hop" to the pools when they form? They are so awkward on land, I wonder how they could do that.

I was in Tanzania last year and I found Xenopus borealis in a well hand-dug by the Iraqw people in the Nou Forest. The well was too deep for me to catch him or get a close look, but it was SO cool.

[KingCam]

I'm watching this thread closely because I will be getting ACF eggs soon. Thanks for keeping us updated on your progress!

[gemzjames]

This is so neat! I'm really interested in learning more about these guys in the wild, so I can't wait to see pics Do you know which Xenopus species you have? Have you seen adults before? Do you think that the adults stay buried in the mud at the pools? or do they "hop" to the pools when they form? They are so awkward on land, I wonder how they could do that.

I was in Tanzania last year and I found Xenopus borealis in a well hand-dug by the Iraqw people in the Nou Forest. The well was too deep for me to catch him or get a close look, but it was SO cool.

Hi - ive worked with wild caught xenopus for many years in the uk - they can actually travel quite some distance on land - it has been documented then can travel 200m plus on dry land as they can crawl in a strange kind of way and move from pond to pond. I have 3 wild caught xenopus laevis that i caught in the UK and they were about just over a year old and they have grown tremendously. Its so satisfying to see wild caught xenopus tadpoles and juviniles grow. When ponds dry up, they do bury themselves in the mud and survive if the mud stays moist.