Tadpoles

[momalito]

I recently rescued hundreds of tadpoles from a rapidly drying out puddle and put them in a (rain water filled) half barrel in our garden. There was plenty of algae and duckweed in it and was home to a host of water beetles and the like. However, the tadpoles don't seem to be growing very big. Does anyone know if I should be supplimenting the tadpoles and if so, with what? Any advice will be welcome.

[gen2]

One big problem you will encounter with a barrel that is half full, is that they will all die as soon as they metamorphose into frogs. They need a shallow area leading onto land so the young frogs can leave the water and start the land phase of their life cycle.

[bookermel]

Tadpoles need protein in order to develop legs etc, if you give them blood worms which you can buy from petshops either dried or frozen (in little blocks) they will grow and develop well They will need an Island to climb up onto when they are ready and route to crawl out of the water butt. e.g. a plank, not too steep Frogs are great for the garden they eat slugs and bugs!!

Good luck!! Mel

[bookermel]

p.s In addition they like a little pinch of fish flakes

Mel

[hammerman]

Yep....i feed mine pond pellets at work and flake

[momalito]

Thanks for your help. I'll take it all on board. One thing I did notice in other questions about frogs, apparently once they've changed and gone their own sweet way, they come back to their breeding place the next year. What I don't understand is, how any managed to survive the original puddle to come back this year and breed. The puddle was deep(ish) originally, but like I said, it was rapidly drying out in the sun (we did have some!! - bearing in mind I'm from SE Scotland). It would have been the same last year - so how come?

[WendyS]

Well done for saving the tadpoles from a certain death in their puddle. Frogs do mate in some surprising places !

I get lots of tadpoles in my mini pond and supplement their diet of algae, etc with lots of boiled lettuce. (the old fashioned butterhead variety with lots of green flesh seems to be best) plus goldfish flakes. However, if they are not moved to somewhere with a shallow end where they can escape out by the time they're developing legs they will all drown and die as they need to move to dry land and feed on tiny insects and slugs and worms when they grow bigger.

I'm sorry as your good deed now seems to have landed you with another dilemma in finding a more suitable watery area for your babies !! However, perhaps a small washing up bowl sunk into the ground and a mini plank running out of the water to ground level so the froglets can escape may be possible to build.

Who knows, you may be so hooked on watching them develop that next year you'll build a pond so that all the survivors will return.

[smudge]

Glad your taddies are doing well now Wendy.

Our's are really thriving & we can't wait to find hundreds of frogs hopping around - then give some of them to our family & friends!

[shivvy]

What a lovely thread.

I too rescued a blob of frogspawn and now have a host of little taddies in a more suitable spot.

I keep meaning to look up a website about this but I am sure someone here can tell me - how long does it take for them to develop into frogs?

[smudge]

Hi Shivvy - this link is quite informative & if you scroll down the page to No.5, it tells you how long it usually takes for taddies to develop into frogs.

Enjoy your taddies - so fascinating to watch!

[Thunderbird+]

Well done momalito, a good temporary solution!, maybe a piece of sacking draped over the barrel will enable them to climb out when they develope into froglets and ready to find their own way in the world. the tadpoles in my pond where rescued from a similar fate and have done a sterling job of munching through masses of blanket weed, I guess soon i'll have to watch out for them while cutting the grass. All the Best.