I need help!

[grinzy]

Hi-
During the summer, gray tree frogs laid eggs in a fountain I have on my deck. Before I knew what happened, I had a fountain full of tadpoles. Another frog dropped off another load of eggs, and there were even more little guys swimming around. I was getting algea from a local lake since I read that's what they eat, but they never developed past tadpole stage. I live in Northwest NJ and the weather started getting cold so I brought them into my heated garage. I started giving them boiled romaine lettuce when the algea supply dried up and they started sprouting legs pretty quickly. I have had about 10 turn into frogs so far, but they don't seem to be eating and two have died. I have a large rock in the new home I built them so there's plenty of dry land for them, and I started feeding them tadpole and small frog food as well as wingless fruit flys. Is there something else I should be doing? If they all survive, I'm going to have more than 125 of frogs. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Grinzy

[Jace]

Despite the best care, some just won't make it. If you have some that have fully morphed, I would separate them from the adults and set them up in a terrestrial setup with lots of cool branches, leafy greens and a small water dish for their soaking pleasure. Keep offering them the fruit flies and dust them with supplements if you can. For the tadpoles, make sure the water is just enough to cover them and no more. If all four legs have sprouted, they may not eat until their tail is absorbed. If they only have back legs, offer them fish flakes or algae wafers. If you see poop, they are eating, whether you see them chow down or not. If you do have a large amount of frogs that are suddenly doing well, I'm not exactly sure what you could do with all of them. Perhaps local schools would appreciate a classroom pet??

[grinzy]

Thanks Jace. As much as I love these little guys having 125 or more is a bit scary...
Being they'll be in my heated garage, do they hibernate instictually, or will the warmth keep them from going dormant?

[Jace]

I have a lot of frogs and I could not deal with 125 of them. The cost of food alone would be a lot to handle. If your garage is heated, then they probably won't hibernate fully, depending on the actual temperature.

[Greenlove]

From my research on Gray's, they are not going to be able to hibernate, they are too young. If they have just started to morph, they have not built up enough fat to hibernate. I fear that if you don't keep them heated you will have a lot of dead froglets and tadpoles. I rescued 17 and ended up with 11 because some of them died. I can't imagine raising 125. If you decide to keep them over winter, I suggest you research A LOT right now on how to culture your own feeders (fruit flies, crickets, etc.) unless you can afford to buy them which will get a little pricey. There are many people on here that can help you with your questions. There are also many posts and threads on here that will be of great help to you. I have asked a few questions on the caring for Gray's, so if you want, you can go to my page and look under statistics and then under total posts, click on "find all posts by Greenlove", or "find all threads started by Greenlove", then scroll through them to see if any can help you. Good luck and thanks for helping the helpless.