New, but not very good, frog baby Momma ... help!! Apologizing in advance for the long post!!

[Melynda]

In the past we had a small water feature in our back yard... only about 20 gallons of water with a fountain. There are acouple of areas on the side of the neighborhood streets wherepuddles occur regularly. For the as 3 years, my 7yr old daughter has collectedtadpoles from the puddles during the spring/early summer before thepuddles completely dried up and placed them in the fountain. We always made sure the little frogs had away to climb out safely once they grew their legs. Really, the only care we evergave these tadpoles was dropping a little frog food in daily. Although we've gotten to watch hundreds of tadpoles mature and hop away, we've never actually taken care of any of the little frogs.

This year things were alittle different. We never saw any frogsin the roadside puddles this late arriving spring.I don’tknow if it was just too cold or what.InSeptember, a neighbor came across tadpoles living in a puddle of water in theback corner of his boat.Before hepulled the plug to drain the water, he called to see if we were interested incaring for the tadpoles.We had alreadydisposed of the outside water fountain, so we cleaned out an aquarium in thehouse and let the tadpoles hang out in there.As the tadpoles grew front legs, we released them outside.We have a platform in the tank for frogs toclimb on when they are ready to leave the water … and we’ve learned that if wedidn’t get them out fairly quickly, we would often find them dead on the bottomof the tank within a couple of hours of seeing them sitting on the above waterplatform.Most of them were realeasedright away back when the weather was warmer, but I really don’t know how theydid after that point.

Earlier in the week, one ofthe little frogs grew legs. I put apotted plant in a little butterfly net with a small bowl of distilled waterthat containted some of the frog food he ate while he was a tadpole.I was worried about the weather gettingcolder.I wanted the frog to get used tothe outdoors, but while he was so tiny, I didn’t want him to have to deal withthe cold night air just yet.In anycase,the poor frog died before I brought him back in that night .

Yesterday, we found two morefrogs with front legs …sitting on the platform in the aquarium. They still had bits of tails, but asmentioned earlier, I was afraid to leave them in the aquarium much longerbecause I didn’t want them to drown and get eaten by the other tadpoles.So, we got a 2^nd aquarium.We covered the bottom of the aquarium withdirt from outside, added some dry leaves and a couple of live plants.We also added a bowl of water with tadpolefood and distilled water to the tank.Weput popsicle sticks in the waterbowl so the frogs could climb back in if theyweren’t actually ready to leave the water.We then removed the two baby frogs from the water filled aquarium andput them into the bowl of water in the dirt filled tank.It didn’t take long for the little frogs toclimb out of the bowl and up onto the dirt.Last night one of the little frogs was snuggled beside the water bowl,while the other just sat in the dirt in the middle of the tank.I touched both of the frogs with one of thepopsicle sticks to see if they were doing OK.The one neslted beside the bowl moved away from the stick.The other one didn’t move at all.This morning, it was clear that the frog hadpassed away.Sadly, the other frog seemsto be moving very sluggishly today also.I’m worried he won’t make it through the night.I still have about 5 tadpoles left … I’mguessing we started with more than 100.Because it’s so cold outside now, I don’t know if the baby frogs canmake it if I let them go.I was hopingto let my daughter take care of them through the winter and then possibly letthem go in the spring?Unfortunately, I’mguessing that we are doing something wrong in the care of these newbabies.The temperatur in the house isabout 73 degrees.Both the water anddirt filled aquariums are located in an aread of the room surrounded by windows… but I don’t have a heat lamp or anything like that for the frogs.I have not fed the frogs anything other thantadpole food.Do you think the lightingor lack of anything other than tadpole pellets is the reason the baby frogsdied?Is letting the frogs go in thesprings even a humane thing to do?I’vejust never had frogs this late in the season.I could dump the aquarium with the five remaining tadpoles if theoutcome is going to be the same … but I really hate to do that.Sorry for the long, long post … any advice iswelcome.

[elly]

can you identify the frogs? Different species do well at different temperatures. Also, sorry I don't much experience, but it does seem that froglets are vulnerable, fragile things. Did you use declorinated water? That tends to be the best, since distilled water lacks minerals. As far as letting them go in the spring, I'm guessing they'll be used to captivity by then and might not be able to hunt well, but you might want to ask someone else's opinion about that.

[Crunchy Frog]

While I'm not a tadpole/froglet expert, I do have a little bit of experience, and there's a few definite things I would change.

From your description, I think it's possible that the froglet may have dehydrated. Most people here will advise you to set up newly morphed froglets with a wet paper towel substrate, and a shallow water dish that they can easily get out of. I believe that distilled water is not recommended. I personally would go with water from the aquarium, since that's what they're already acclimated to. You also don't want tadpole food in there. Once they get their front legs, they won't eat it anymore, and it will only breed bacteria. The next food they eat will be live food, probably not until after they absorb their tails.

I doubt that the temp is the problem, since they are local and adapted to the climate. My best guess is that it's to do with the lack of humidity. I would not think that dirt would be a good substrate for a froglet, and if it's dry, he would likely dehydrate very quickly.

I don't know what kind of frogs these are, or how big they are, but my instinct would be to get the froglet out of the tank and into a smaller container with the damp paper towel substrate. If you haven't got a suitable container, I would empty out the tank, and do the paper towels in there. I would give him the chance to get fully hydrated, while making sure that he's not able to drown.

You will want to find some very tiny insects for him, probably wingless fruitflies or pinhead crickets. Your immediate concern right now is just getting them through metamorphosis. After that you can worry about what you'll do with them over the winter.

Hopefully, the real experts will be along soon to give you better info. I know it will help a lot if you can post more info about species, size, etc.

[Melynda]

I don't really know what kind of frogs they are I'm in North Carolina, so I assume its some garden variety frog found around wooded areas. I will definitely try the wet paper towels. Hopefully that will help keep these little guys hydrated ... and it will make it easier for me to find them in the tank. They seem to blend in with the dark soil ... which makes it a little hard to find them sometimes Unfortunately, both of the little frogs I moved to the tank with dirt didn't make it. Hopefully the changes you suggested will help as the other tadpoles mature!! Thank You!!

[Melynda]

I just thought the 2nd frog was gone He started moving when I went to empty the dirt. I've placed wet paper towels in the tank now, rather than the dirt, and he does seem to be doing a little better

[UncleChester]

Pictures would help with the identification if you're able. Otherwise here's a list of your state frogs Frogs and Toads of North Carolina

Good luck

[Crunchy Frog]

Is there any way that you could post a picture of it? We might be able to narrow it down to a particular type. They could be toads, or treefrogs, or ranid frogs. Getting it ID'd, or at least narrowed down to a particular type, will enable you to set them up with the proper conditions, if you decide to keep them over the winter.

Does it climb up the sides of the tank, or does it stay at the bottom? Is it really tiny (like a fingernail) or is it somewhat larger? Does it walk or hop, or does it leap?

Do you have access to tiny insects such as wingless fruitflies or pinhead crickets? The baby will need food very soon, and tiny enough insects can be a challenge to obtain. You may need to go online and order some.

Good luck with everything.