Froglets and Tadpoles

Kaldorn

anyone help me,I have tadpoles and froglets now in my fishtank and i have been feeding them fish food which they seem to love but I dont know what to feed frogs and i dont want the little fellas to die,I know i should let them go into the wild but i would like to keep one or two.what will i feed them and i dont wanna be digging up my garden for worms and slugs every day

derek27

^

doctor evil

Did you take them from the wild?, I`m pretty sure its illegal to do so.

seamus

Afaik, it's pretty much illegal to have frogspawn or tadpoles privately (even if you are raising them).

Insects are pretty much your best bet. Small flies, that kind of thing. Many pets stores sell them in packets.

deedee lepoopoo

tadpoles and frogs don't like heat that much so keep them cool and in shade. Try not to handle them too much either.

nollaig

Was in the bog last week and theres a **** load of frogs around. Is it around this time of year that they are born?

FranknFurter

in your fishtank???
Make sure they have a way of climbing out of the water somwhere, they are not meant to be in water 24/7 you know.

Get them back in the wild as soon as you can, they are not pets and are very complicated to keep, its not a simple matter of putting one in an aquarium and feeding it. (Ask for advice on frog-keeping on the animals & pets forum here if you insist on keeping one, there are many aquarists there who will help advise you on caring for one).

remember tho, they need a dry area as well as a swimming area, that is not an option, they must have land if they are gonna survive. you are gonna need a rather large tank for even a single native frog.

Any by the way, keeping a native frog as a pet is very much illegal.

b

nollaig

remember tho, they need a dry area as well as a swimming area,

Does that work the other way arouns too? Like, Do they need a swimming area as well as a dry area? Dont worry, Im not keeping any pet frogs, Just curious!

FranknFurter

They need both, an area to get out of the water and an area to be in the water. No in-between.

Basically, the best thing to do is (assuming your tank is big enough in the first place that is), divide it in half.
put as much gravel as you can get in and ramp it above water level about half way down the tank, like this.... (except slope the gravel up *to* the dry area)

http://image62.webshots.com/62/5/72/97/419357297guASKb_ph.jpg


Keep the water level lower than the gravel area obviously, an inch or two lower is ok,
on the gravel side, put a small layer of sphagnum moss (available at any garden center, its usually used in hanging baskets) for them to hide under.
Having a dry / damp area to hide out of the water is vital for them, it must be damp but not wet.

If you cant get moss, somthing like half a flower pot on its side (or just half bury a pot in the gravel making a cave of sorts).

Do not use anything like tissue paper, cloth etc in the tank, frogs will absorb any chemicals in the paper (like bleach etc) or in the water, through their skin, its very different to the skin a mammal has.

You need to make sure they have food also, but not too much or you will overfeed them and also you will have to change the water more often, they dont need too much food at this stage.
It is VITAL you do not use tapwater in the tank, specially as they are so small, use rainwater or if you must, use tapwater that has been boiled and allowed to go cold.
A couple of small insects such as woodlice and small worms will do for now, even fish food pellets and the odd small worm as a last resort. Put them into the water for the frogs to find, try to make sure they dont get on the land area.
Remove any food that has not been eaten after an hour.

Make sure any insects and worms you use have not been exposed to any chemicals such as insecticides or areas where weedkiller were used.
Do not use flies or any flying insect (alive or dead) as it may carry a chemical from another area. Do not place "earwigs" or spiders in the tank.

make sure the tank has a good lid, they can and will jump surpringly high, also good air circulation and no heating.
as SOON as is possible, release them back to their natural habitat, so they will learn how and where to find food themselves. At the very least a secure back garden with a decent size pond (that has a ramp to dry land, most fishponds dont, a large rock at the side or a plank of wood weighed down on one end with a rock, creating a ramp to the edge of the pond will suffice).

This is an extremely complex process, so I recommend you give it serious thought and I hope you choose to get them back to the wild, despite the fact that the native frog population *is* rising again, its a species that can die off just as quick.
Each one is important to re-establishing the species in this country.

b

nollaig

They need both, an area to get out of the water and an area to be in the water. No in-between.

Basically, the best thing to do is (assuming your tank is big enough in the first place that is), divide it in half.
put as much gravel as you can get in and ramp it above water level about half way down the tank, like this.... (except slope the gravel up *to* the dry area)

http://image62.webshots.com/62/5/72/...7guASKb_ph.jpg


Keep the water level lower than the gravel area obviously, an inch or two lower is ok,
on the gravel side, put a small layer of sphagnum moss (available at any garden center, is usually ued in hanging baskets) for them to hide under, having a area to hide is vital for them, it must be damp but not wet.
If you cant get moss, somthing like half a flower pot on its side (or just half bury a pot in the gravel making a cave of sorts).
Do not use anything like tissue paper etc, frogs will absorb any chemicals in the paper (like bleach etc) through their skin, its very different to the skin a mammal has.

You need to make sure they have food also, small insects such as woodlice and small worms will do for now. Put them into the water for the frogs to find, try to make sure they dont get on the land area.
Make sure any insects and worms you use have not been exposed to any chemicals such as insecticides or areas where weedkiller were used.
Do not use flies or any flying insect (alive or dead) as it may carry a chemical from another area. Do not place "earwigs" or spiders in the tank.

make sure the tank has a good lid, they can and will jump surpringly high.
as SOON as is possible, release them back to their natural habitat, so they will learn how and where to find food themselves. At the very least a secure back garden with a decent size pond (that has a ramp to dry land, most fishponds dont, a large rock at the side or a plank of wood weighed down on one end with a rock, creating a ramp to the edge of the pond will suffice).

This is an extremely complex process, so I recommend you give it serious thought and I hope you choose to get them back to the wild, despite the fact that the native frog population *is* rising again, its a species that can die off just as quick. Each one is important to the species.

b

Really, Who would want that bother??? They are great to watch in the wild though. I love the way they just throw themselves into the water with total abandon!

FranknFurter

nollaig wrote:

Really, Who would want that bother??? They are great to watch in the wild though. I love the way they just throw themselves into the water with total abandon!

Yep, keeping a frog in captivity (or any amphibian for that matter), is not somthing most people would do because of the work involved and the fact that they can be extremely delicate and sensitive to their enviroment, part of the reason they are so rare now in this country.
You have to be serious about wanting to undertake such a thing (as with looking after any animal really).

b

nollaig

part of the reason they are so rare now in this country.

They are rare??? How many are there?

FranknFurter

Not as many as there should be.
There are pockets of areas when they have begun to thrive again.
They are also a protected species and are illegal to keep as a pet.
Even taking frogspawn or tadpoles from the wild and *putting* them in your pond is illegal. But its ok if they find their own way there.

b

nollaig

Not as many as there should be.
There are pockets of areas when they have begun to thrive again.
They are also a protected species and are illegal to keep as a pet.
Even taking frogspawn or tadpoles from the wild and *putting* them in your pond is illegal. But its ok if they find their own way there.

Well, they are thriving near where I live. Theres certainly no shortage of them

FranknFurter

...in *your* area.
I have'nt seen a single one since I was 18 (im 28 now).

you are very lucky, In lotsa ways I would love to have a native frog in my garden, but I know it will be a long time till that ever happens anywhere remotely near here again.
Basically, concrete and tarmac have covered most of the places they flourished.

b

Kaldorn

I have returned my froglets to the wild(my garden pond),good luck to them

FranknFurter

Great to hear
If you have actually been feeding them fishfood till now, no harm in throwing the odd bit into the pond till they are a bit bigger and used to catching their own again

b

Chris_533976

Haha tadpoles are great, despite the country-wide lack of them the ones in our pond produced ~27 lumps of spawn this year.

They eat anything, they demolish a ton of offcuts from meat whenever we have it. We also put one or two in the fish tank to clean it (more effective than any chemical). They've now been released into the pond again, along with the baby fish.