Hello from MsBlueRose in St. Louis, MO

[MsBlueRose]

Hello Everyone, nice to meet you all and to be a part of this WONDERFUL online family. My name is Amy.

Thank you for all the wonderful people I have meet thus far and the great advice I have been given as well. I believe I have found the perfect site for me and my froggies and I want to introduce myself and my babies! I am a happy mother of 5, though only 3 are mine biologically - Jerry Jr., Rebecca, Alex, Nicole, and Jaden; and a loving wife, my husbands name is Jerry. We have several pets; the 3 Cope's Grey Tree Frogs - Kermit, Lillypad, and Buddy - a Pomeranian named Toby - and 3 cats, Patches, who goes by Chie actually, Angle, our kitten, and Marley, named for Bob Marley because he is just so laid back - and 2 Leopard Frog Tadpoles that will be here as soon as the mail runs! ALL my pets are rescues except for my new tads, though I consider them a rescue as well because of the awful enclosure that they sell with the poor little guys. If anyone is familiar with the Grow-A-Frog kits you know what I mean. Well thats the family, 2 legged - 4 legged - slimey or furry - they are all my babies and pride and joy!

Now on tho the important part of this thread...

I thought I was ready for my new babies to arrive today but it turns out I was just excited... I am in a state of confusion. I feel like I am going to do something wrong and kill my new Leopard Tads on their first day home! I am sure I am only over exaggerating, but thats how I feel at the moment. ANYONE at all who has had experience with tadpoles please give me some pointers? They should be here in about an hour or less at this time. I am trying to have a temporary home set up for them before they get here and I can not figure out what to do as far as the water...? I have dechlorinator and heavy metal remover for the tap water but I am reluctant to use it, I think I am gonna go with the bottled spring water instead; though I have read that I have the best combo for water treatment right now for frogs. I have AmQuel Plus water conditioner which removes Nitrate, Nitrite, Ammonia, Chlorine, and Chloramines; and I have NovAqua Plus water conditioner which adds a protective slime coat agent to the water, detoxifies Chlorine and Chloramine, and removes Toxic Heavy Metals. I originally bought the combo for my tree frogs because I lost one from heavy metal poisoning and since I got them all from the same source I did not want to take the chance with the remaining 3. SO I bought these upon recommendation from another site that deals with frog ailments and was instructed to stop using tap water and add these to their pools and change their water daily for several months so that they could slowly remove the metals from the frogs, the toxins removed would not be reabsorbed, and they would have a better survival rate. Should I use these in the spring water I am going to use for the tads, too, or is it not necessary to add such things to spring water for tadpoles? Also, I have some plants that I ordered with my tads, I am going to put these into their enclosure but should I put some of my fake plants leaves on the bottom for them to hide in and do they need a branch yet. I don't know how far along they are in their development yet, I am just guessing but I don't think they are very old... I will know for sure when they arrive this afternoon. I know as they grow they will need to be able to climb out of the water. I have a 55 gal in the process of being set up for them as a permanent home, but the build is going slower than I had wanted it too, so I can not put them in there yet. Also, should I let them stay in the smaller enclosure I am setting up today for a longer period of time or will they be happier in the bigger tank as they water side of the tank will be between like 5 - 10 gals when set up. The temporary home is just a plastic small tote that will hold about 2 gals of water. I am not sure which they will be happier in as baby tads? Any help or information I can get would be fantastic! I looked through the care sheet section of the forum and I did not find what I was looking for. I found a page on Leopard Frog care and one for Dart Frog Tads, but the Leopard Frog page did not say anything about tad care and I don't know if the Dart Frog Tads need the same requirements as Leopard Frog Tads...? I look forward to hearing from anyone that has useful info for me and my new babies. I will post pics of them as soon as I get them! So long as my camera does not die on me, I am still waiting for my new cable to arrive, I can't charge my camera... Thank goodness I have a card reader to get the pics off the camera or I would be in trouble as far as that goes, lol. Talk to you all again soon! Thank you all in advance!

Sincerely,
MsBlueRose and Family

[MsBlueRose]

So I got the babies yesterday! I set them up a little small storage tote as a pond for them. I gave them a sand bottom, a live water plant, and a sturdy branch and they seem to be happy enough and doing well. I will post pics of them soon and keep updating on their progress. They are an adorable little pair with two very different personalities already, it is cute. You can't keep them apart for long, they follow each other around everywhere. I can't wait til I can get some pics of them up, if I can figure it out, I will try to post a short video of them, too!