Tadpole identification assistance

[teslas intern]

I hear grays, everywhere! Though last night I did notice they were louder at areas that previously they weren't calling from... I'll look again this weekend maybe.

[teslas intern]

Sure enough, I found some in a bumper boat pond over the weekend. There are toad TADS, and another species with the eyes on the sides of the head, it's got to be them, they've been singing at that pond for years... I'll have to get as many as I can before they shock the pond... I'll keep some and release the rest into my goldfish pond. As a side note, does anyone know how to harmlessly drive away green frogs, so they don't eat all of my tads when they hatch? I like them around, but there is like a dozen frogs in a hundred gallon pond, a very dense population...

[Cliygh and Mia 2]

To drive away green frogs, why not make them think that there is a predator, play eagle or hawk sounds, my family did that when some squirrels got in our attic once, and it worked, but I am not sure how it would work on a frog though...

[teslas intern]

It's worth a shot... And that way once the sounds stop they should come back! Thanks!

[LilyPad]

Honestly, the pond behind my property is loaded with green frogs and bullfrogs. We still have a huge amount of greys. I wouldn't worry about them, they're all beneficial to our ecosystem! I found the greys to be quite busy at the pond the last two nights though!

[teslas intern]

Well I collected a bunch of tadpoles from the bumper boat pond (and saved about seven adult toads that were stranded, my sister rocks for climbing in that pond by the way...). Hopefully I'll have a chance to go back so I can stock my pond. If I have enough of the little guys perhaps the green frogs won't eat them all. It's better than getting dosed with chlorine... Anyway I'm pretty sure they are grays. They have a metallic patch on the side, and are a light brown with dark mottling. Eyes sick out the sides. No red fin, but there are no predators in there except for boat propellers...

[UncleChester]

This link has good diagrams of the eyes and other physical characteristics used to ID tadpoles: http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/tadpole/tutorial.htm

The big complicated key: http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/tadpole/

And an easier to use reference for many of the tadpoles of eastern North America: http://fl.biology.usgs.gov/armi/Guid...dpoleGuide.pdf


Unless you physically remove the green frogs (which would be a temporary measure) or make the pond uninhabitable, you're unlikely to be able to remove them as they're pretty stubborn when they've found a spot they like. Gray's can lay a couple thousand of eggs so some of their offspring has a chance to make it past the gauntlet of pond predators, so overloading with tadpoles is the best bet.