Hello All!

[Perocore]

Hey there everyone!

I'm Perocore, but I welcome you to call me Pero or Abron. I'm a High School student hoping to Major in Arachnology (the study of Arachnids :P), and I'd like to possibly Minor in Literature (Creative Writing) or art of some sort (I like drawing). I have plenty of reptiles, invertebrates and mammals, and have rescued various frogs before, but never really was into owning amphibians. Recently a whole heck of a lot of American/Eastern Toad eggs hatched in our pond, and I decided to collect some tadpoles (I call them toadpoles) and see if I could raise them to toadlyhood! I have collected 7 total, and currently am keeping them in a kritter keeper with some logs and rocks...I also fed them an algae wafer (I keep those for my guppies) and they seemed to love it. Once they turn into "toadlets" my little sister and I plan on raising them for a while, hopefully to adulthood! I keep crickets and various beetles for my various insectivores, so feeding shouldn't be a problem.

I did mentioning rescuing frogs, so I'll tell a bit about that! About two years ago, during the "dry season" my little sister found a young pickerel frog in a dried up puddle. The poor thing was very, very dry, horribly skinny, and unresponsive. I happen to have an extra frog tank, so I quickly filled it up with water and plopped the frog in. He perked up as soon as he soaked up the water, and several days later I plopped a cricket in. He ignored the cricket, so I grabbed it with feeding tongs and brushed it against his nose. As soon as I did that he snatched it up! I kept him for about a month, and when I released him into our pond he was a big(ger), fat, and very healthy little frog! Not to mention he was very tame and hard to let go, but, hey, I couldn't afford to set up a big enough tank to keep him in much longer, and he belonged out in the world anyways.

All in all, I've had a lot of good experiences with frogs and toas, and made many memories, so I finally was convinced to try raising some. Hopefully it will go well!

I look forwards to meeting all of you! ((And, as a note, I am a "he" XD))

-Abron​

[Louis Charles Bruckner]

Well if you really want to keep the taddy's
you might want to get a small air driven sponge filter. and a larger tank.

If you used water from your pond I would get a rock or two fromthe pond that will have
some alga and bacteria on it that the taddy's are use to.
So the tank won't cycle too harshly and possibly kill the taddy's

The alga wafer is a great start.

You might want to get a 10 g tank later when the taddy's start to grow hind legs.
It won't be long before they will start to come out of the water and become toadlets
you will need to make a kind of vivarium that has a sloping land area that goes into the water.

Keeping taddy's is a lot like keeping fish.
you will need to siphon out the wastes and add fresh dechlorinated water back.

With the air driven sponge filter you will accomplish many things
#1 provide a large surface area for helpful bacteria to grow on.
#2 provide much needed oxygen for the taddy's
#3 Alga will gro in the sponge and the taddy's will snack off of it.

You will need a the smallest air pump you can get , some air line. , a two port valve and a
small air stone.
I know this point to another forum but it is complete instructions on how to set it up and why.
Airstone permalink.
Instead of the larger air stone you will be using a sponge filter.
if you cant find one you can make one.
you will need some PVC tubing 3/8in will do.
a terra-cotta plant base unglazed and preferably new.
it won't have ant fertilizers or pesticides on it.
some PVC cement/ solvent (get the smallest size you can.) clear not the purple stuff that just cleans the PVC.
a endcap.
now you will need a sponge.
Get one that is at least 3 inches in diameter and is a synthetic
with no metallic coloring.
Cut the PVC to about 8 inches long and glue the end cap on.
get a drill and drill 1.8 in diameter holes all around the first 2.5 inches of the PVC
pipe from the lip of the end cap up. Don't dill so many that the pipe falls apart
just enough to get a good flow of water.

you can use a 3 diameter glass to compress the sponge and use a sharp knife
or xacto knife to cut around the edge of the glass to cut off the excess sponge
then put the other end of the PVC pipe in the middle of the cut sponge
and cut around the PVC to make a hole for it in the sponge.
Don't just push it in to the sponge.
If you do that that will compress the sponge around the PVC and it will block
the flow of the water.
then cut a large hole in the side of the PVC just above the water line in the tank.

Your almost done.
Use some aquarium grade silicone sealant and glue the end of the PVC pipe that has the end cap.
onto the terra cotta dish.
Let it cure for at least 2 days
Then put the sponge on the PVC around the area where the holes are and
put the air stone down the middle of the PVC pipe all the way down to the bottom and turn on the air.
and you are finished.

Whew!

[paul3col]

Hi and welcome Pero.

[Mentat]

Hello and welcome to FF Pero !

[Louis Charles Bruckner]

BTW if you couldn't tell I am a engineer.
There is not much I can't make my self or figure out.
Electronics , mechanics , computers , micro controllers , and I love to help where ever I can.
So if you have any questions just ask.

[Perocore]

Whoo, Louis (if I may call you that), that is some very helpful information! I'm not using pond water simply because I didn't want to include many of the little parasites and such in our pond. I do happen to have a small air pump (betta tank size) handy, so I'll see about setting that up, and when we go shopping for pet supplies next I can pick up a sponge filter, my sister has one in her fish tank and it seems to help keep the water clean a lot. Thank you for all of the helpful information, I'll be sure to keep it all in mind!

paul3col, thank you for the welcome!

Mentat, thanks for the welcome ;D

As an update the "toadpoles" are doing well, all 7 of them eating well...water's getting dirty already so I'll be doing a water change soon.