May. 15, 2007
Raising Tadpoles
Posted in Science and other Hands On activities
I learned a few things about tadpoles today to help us out with the ones that we are raising.
What should you keep your tadpoles in?
Glass or plastic containers are the best. Plastic buckets are fine just make sure that they didn't previously have any chemicals in them that would be harmful to the tadpoles. Metal is completely out of the question even if it is coated with enamel or porcelain don't use it.
What water should you keep your tadpoles in?
If you collect your tadpoles from a clean stream without pollutants than the best would be to collect the water from where you got your tadpoles from, but if this isn't a good choice then you can use rainwater that you have collected. If neither of the previous options are available then you can use tapwater but it needs to be treated before you use it. You can buy water treatment tablets from a pet store that will remove chlorine and other chemicals from the water or you can pour tap water into a plastic or glass container and let it sit for about 5 days for the chlorine to evaporate out of your water.
How do you make sure your water is oxygenated?
If you collected your tadpoles from a running stream than it would be a good idea to run a pump in the water to keep the oxygen levels up but it they came from stagnant water then a pump may be stressful and agitating to them so putting aquatic plants in your container would be the best idea and will provide the essential oxygen that they need. A good way to tell if your tadpoles are not getting enough oxygen is if they are spending time hanging vertically to the water's surface.
What should you feed your tadpoles?
Apparently they enjoy lettuce, preferably organic to avoid pesticides. Make sure you boil the lettuce for 10 - 15 minutes then strain it and freeze in ice cube trays. Pull out a frozen lettuce cube as needed for feeding. If you have a small tank that you are raising a few tadpoles in then you probably won't want to put a whole cube in because it will dirty your water to quickly. So freeze your lettuce on a sheet in small pieces so that you can take out a couple pieces at a time.
Tadpoles also need a protein once or twice a week and increased more frequently as they begin to get legs. Bottom fish food tablets are a good type of food to use and the tadpoles will eat them. You want one that has a high protein algae like spirulina.
Why are some of my tadpoles smaller than the others?
This is because there are to many tadpoles for the amount of space you have provided for them. Ideally you will want about 1 liter of water per tadpole.
How long will it take for my tadpole to start to turn into a frog?
The length of time really depends on the frog that the eggs are from. It could be 6 - 9 weeks or as long as 6 months.
What do my tadpoles need now that they are getting legs?
Once your tadpoles are starting to get legs they need something to get out of the water onto because their gills are going to start to close up and their lungs will begin to work. Lilly pads, sticks or even a mountain of rocks will be suitable things for them to climb out onto.
What do I feed my baby frog?
If your baby frogs aren't big enough to start eating crickets and are to big for the frozen lettuce then a good thing to start with is small insects or blood worms which you can find in pet stores. You can drop some into the water or you can put them in a little jar with a little bit of warm water and put them into the tank for the frogs to find.
Frogs also like to hide so some ground cover in the tank like plants or rocks will make them happy : )
Now that I know what to feed my little tads I'm sure that they will be much happier!
BChsMamaof3
Comments
May. 16, 2007 - And there you have it...
Posted by ThreeLittleLadies
...everything I ever wanted to know about tadpoles and more! Thanks for sharing your newfound treasure of knowledge. I hope you are having a good week.
Carol
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May. 18, 2007 - Untitled Comment
Posted by DanielleW
Thank you, thank you, thank you. We had tads and they all died. I see from your post things that I did wrong. Now I feel I'm better armed for trying again.
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May. 23, 2007 - tadpoles
Posted by Anonymous
Dear BChsmamaof3 your ideas are not that bad actually but you could add a little more info on what sort of tank like an certian amount of space,and what to do if you only have one one tadpole in your tank
but your ok for handiling pets how many do you have?... Bart
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May. 23, 2007 - tadpoles
Posted by Anonymous
Dear BChsmamaof3 your ideas are not that bad actually but you could add a little more info on what sort of tank like an certian amount of space,and what to do if you only have one one tadpole in your tank
but your ok for handiling pets how many do you have?... Bart
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May. 23, 2007 - Untitled Comment
Posted by BChsMamaof3
Hello Bart,
We have a 10 gallon tank that we are using and we have 10 tadpoles in it. If you have only one tadpole then you could use one of those small glass fish bowls or a small plastic one that usually hold about one liter of water sometimes 2 liters for goldfish or Beta fish. This will be good until it sprouts legs and then needs to get out of the water periodically. After that you will want something a little larger perhaps a cheap 5 gallon fish tank or a one of those 2-3 gallon plastic buckets (go to a restaurant and see if you can get one from them for free or a bit of change. They usually keep relish or mayonaise in them which you could wash out really well and would do) You want a shorter and wider bucket rather than a tall and narrow bucket so that you can keep the water shallow and put in the rocks and sticks for it to get out on : )
Hope that answers some questions you had and maybe I can help you if you have more.
Best wishes,
BChsMamaof3
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Jan. 10, 2008 - Thanks for the tadpole information
Posted by Anonymous
Thanks for the tadpole information. We're in New Zealand and also homeschooling. Our tadpoles are starting to sprout legs so we're trying to figure out what to do next.
Thanks from sunny Auckland, New Zealand
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May. 11, 2008 - my tadpoles
Posted by kennedy
hello, all i needed to no for my 3 baby tadpoles i just found out thanks here is no better website ! TOOTLES ! thanks
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May. 25, 2009 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Ezzy-jae1997
This website of info is great :]
i have raised my tADPOLE TO A BABY FROG SUCCSESFULLY BY THIS WEBSITE :)
thanks so much
Ezzy-jae1997
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