Tadpole Diary

[LilyPad]

I can't wait to get home just so I can see how he colored up after coming out of the water I have 2 more that should pop their front legs within the next day or two now.

[LilyPad]

Sooo...this next batch of tadpoles is likely all Grey Tree frogs. I would venture to guess Hyla versicolor because that is what I hear calling in the area that we found them. I also have a few more tadpoles that I bought because I was not thinking I would be lucky enough to get grey tree frogs...but those guys not quite as developed as these. Some of them are actually pretty teeny yet and the bigger ones have no legs so far. As of this morning, there are 2 tree frogs out of the water and 3 more in the sloped, grow out water dish because they had 3-4 legs before I left for work this morning. The toads are doing excellent and are little fatties. I can barely keep up feeding them! They are on a mix of D. hyd's and D. mels. The only tree frog that is eating so far is munching down D hyds without a problem.

Tadpoles are a surprising amount of work though. Their only job is to eat and grow at this point. That means there are constant feedings and a lot of waste to be cleaned. I feed them every morning before work. I chop frozen spinach up into pretty small pieces to make it easier for them to eat. When they started popping back legs, I started mixing in protein twice a week. Usually in the form of chopped blood worms or frozen brine shrimp. That is just the morning. Then, when I get home from work, I vacuum out all of the poo that has accumulated in the last 24 hours (which is A LOT) using an aquarium airline tub as a siphon. That usually ends up taking 25-50% of the water so that much ends up being replaced. Then I chop up more food for them. In addition to those daily responsibilities, I also have to keep a close eye out for any tads with 3 or more legs. Because my tads are at various levels of development, I cannot just lower the water level for them to climb out. So once they pop the first front leg, I move them over to the grow out container. And let me tell you, these suckers can be QUICK when a net comes anywhere near them. I am always afraid of damaging their teeny fragile legs too!

The first guy to come OOW-
20160615_101217 by A H, on Flickr

This guy came OOW this morning-
20160616_094116 by A H, on Flickr

First froggy is turning green!-
20160616_094029 by A H, on Flickr

Another one that I'm hoping will be OOW by the time I get home from work -
20160616_073934 by A H, on Flickr

[Cliygh and Mia 2]

Amazing! One day I hope to collect some Hyla savignyi and raise them too!

[LilyPad]

Even though it's a lot of work, it really has been a great experience. It will be especially awesome knowing that the frogs we keep will have been raised by us since they were only a few days old tadpoles.

[LilyPad]

My home is being overrun with froglets! Currently, we have 17 toadlets. Out of those, we will only be keeping one. The only reason we're keeping this guy is because he appears to be stunted or dwarfed for some reason. Poor guy was late coming out of the water and when he finally did, he was considerably smaller than the others where when they came OOW. For the last two weeks, I have been feeding him a steady diet of springtails and now have also started giving him fruit fly larvae. However, he's barely grown in that time! Because of that, he'll stay in our care and live a nice cushy life

(Ignore my garden worn hands )
20160622_190555 by A H, on Flickr

As of this morning, we had 15 grey tree frogs OOW. So far, everyone appears to be doing well and has been munching down a considerable number of pinheads and fruit flies. Last night I added a plastic viney plant to help them feel a bit more secure, and they pretty much thought it was the greatest thing ever. This morning I woke up to find all 15 of them on it haha.

20160622_204448 by A H, on Flickr

20160622_185321 by A H, on Flickr

We have quite a lot of tadpoles to go yet. 3 of them appear to be bullfrogs or some other big mystery frog, I'm not really sure. They are about twice the size the gray tadpoles have been when they come OOW yet they only have the teeny tiniest legs so far. I might give them away as I do not know what I would do with them when they're OOW...I'm at my tank limit! All the rest appear to be grey tree frogs

[elly]

Tiny! Where are you going to let the extra frogs go?

[Cliygh and Mia 2]

Beautiful! So all of the grays were on the plant? Maybe you should move them to one of the larger "Kritter keepers" so they have space to climb