Northern leopard frog aquarium

[mommyof4froglovers]

My 4 year old daughter is receiving a tadpole of this bread in a week that came free with her very small kid tadpole habitat. I have looked up info on these frogs and know we will atleast need a 10 gallon long tank that needs to be half and half land and water. What I need to know is how to make it the best habitat for her frog? Also until we get his or home set up will the tadpole how to ok in the small habitat? Thanks for the advice.

[killerecho]

I don't know just how small the habitat is, but you should probably get the tank set up as soon as possible. If the tadpole does not have any front legs yet, it doesn't need any land. 6-8 inches of water with some pebbles, maybe a branch sticking out and pond plants like water lettuce, duckweed, pothos would do fine. Tadpoles really appreciate a few hiding areas.

If you use tap water, please remember to dechlorinate it with a water conditioner. For food, algae wafers, tropical fish food and lettuce are good choices. A varied diet is always preferred.

When it develops front legs, that's when you should think about adding land elements using gravel, slabs of rock, etc. You can lower the water level to about 3-4 inches. Make sure it has easy access out of the water with ramps and slopes and such. When its tail begins to shrink, it will stop feeding until it's almost gone. That's when you should ready live food items like fruit flies, phoenix worms, 1/8" crickets.

Finally, I'm of the opinion that unless you commit to caring for the frog over its entire life, you should let them go while they're still froglets so that they get a chance to hone their hunting skills. That's assuming of course that you live in an area where they are native. If you do decide to raise a leopard frog to adulthood, keep in mind that they will eventually outgrow a 10 gallon. It can certainly survive in one, but that's akin to confining a human to a studio apartment.

[mommyof4froglovers]

Thank you for the advice. With kids there isn't much choice of letting the frog go. Plus I live in California and do not think this breed lives here. I really think something should be done however to make the breeder and or the manufacture of the children's aquarium we bought to give away tadpoles that only grow to be tiny frogs, because the tank is really tiny and not all parents would go to all of this trouble to find info.

I will be looking for a bigger tank than 10 gallons. What size is best for when full grown? I only want to have to fully set up once. Besides half and half is there anything else I should know about the set up that I might need to know? Hopefully we will get the tank and set it up no later than next weekend, that is my goal. So any advice would be nice. I saw something about waterfalls and other things, but since we are new to frogs, my 5 year old has a whites tree frog that she got last month and I just found out the pet store lied when they said the tank we got was tall enough and its not. So when I found this site yesterday I was really excited about advice from people with good advice who have frogs.

[killerecho]

Well, you've certainly come to the right place. There are plenty of friendly folks here who are able and willing to help. Unfortunately most of these "raise-a-frog/turtle/pet" outfits are woefully inadequate for the animals, and sure to make their existence miserable. Even many pet shops tend to be unaware or otherwise ignorant of the needs of what they keep around. The thing is, even the tiniest frogs need space; the more the better, with very few exceptions.

To accommodate an adult leopard, I'd go with a 20 gallon long aquarium (30" x 12.5" x 13"). Again, the more space the better. Leopard frogs grow to about 3-3.5 inches and they are active, from what I understand.

I realize you only want to set things up once, but chances are you're going to have to make changes along the way, especially as the frog grows. You can create the basic framework now but just be prepared to move something here or add something there later on. Nature is so very unpredictable sometimes =)

I would use gravel for the land. Wash it thoroughly before using it in the tank. Have enough in there to create a 4-5inch layer for your land area. For now, your tadpole may not need any land, so keep the waterline around 6-8 inches and leave the gravel submerged. When the tad gets its legs and morphs into a froglet, you can lower the waterline gradually until it drops below the gravel layer. You can then get creative and fashion a shoreline or beachhead where water meets land.

How do you plan to maintain the water quality? Do you have a filter and if so, what kind? Your filtration setup determines how often you're going to need water changes. It will also influence the design of the habitat, waterfall and all.

One thing about feeding - if you get fish food, try to get the type that sinks in water. If you have floating food (flakes and such), mix well with dechlorinated water BEFORE introducing to the tank so it will sink. This because occasionally tadpoles bobbing for food on the surface gulp down too much air and they get all puffed up and lose the ability to dive. Sometimes the condition ends up killing them; so sinking food is best.

I'll have more advice when the tadpole develops. I also suggest seeking more opinions besides mine - I've never actually kept leopard frogs as tadpoles; but I have raised green frog tadpoles to froglet stage and the species is similar - so while I have some experience, someone else might have species-specific information.

[mommyof4froglovers]

When we get it next week I will know about how far along it is in development. As far as I know when it gets here it is already suppose to be a tadpole. But I want to be ready as soon as possible the frog habitat that we got at target or walmart really either needs to be bigger or have something smaller and needing little space come free with it. I got it for educational purposes but have since learned that it tends to kill animals, froglets get stuck and bugs get stuck so I really don't want our tadpole getting to big in it.

[killerecho]

How sure are you that it's a leopard frog tadpole? Who told you that it would be? I ask that because tadpoles are notoriously hard to identify and several species look alike to non-experts. If you wind up with a bullfrog tadpole instead of a leopard, the enclosure requirements will be much greater.