A place to learn, share and inspire others to create a haven for you and for wildlife.
Sign In or Register to join the conversation
To my surprise (and frustration) most of my tadpoles this year seem to have died... Well actually, they have died. I've only got one left!
Now I'm a bit old to keep tadpoles, but I try anyway because the poor frogs think the swimming pool is a pond and like to winter in there... that's fine, but I'm worried that when spring comes and we chlorinate the pool again, the tadpoles die.... so i spent a whole day catching as many as I could with a net and moving them to various places... i put some in a calm bit of the stream, but I think most of them were swept away... I tried to make the pond safer for them, but I think the stream washed them away as well... so to be extra safe I put some into an old fishtank, with a couple of rocks and some weed and algae that i'd caught with them, hoping they could take care of themselves...
Anyway, I think they got hungry and ate one another because I only have one left but I have NO idea what to feed it... its got loads of live pond weed and I even caught some little pond bugs and put those in, but it's not growing, not metamorphosing, and not doing very much at all!
Help please! Thanks!
"Watch with glittering eyes the world around you, because the best secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it."
Hi Woodsi,
There's a lot of advice on the Froglife website www.froglife.org. There are two nasty diseases that frogs can have, so it's best never to put tadpoles into a new place as they may be carrying disease and pass it on to the resident froggy population.
My friend currently has a tank of tadpoles rescued from a quickly-drying-out pond, and they're enjoying a holiday fish feeding block (the sort that you drop in the fishtank and it releases the food slowly over several days) and a bit of cucmber. She also doesn't know what to do with them once they get legs, she's hoping the pond will have refilled by then...
Good luck with your last remaining taddy!
LB
That is lovely, I am so pleased for you Tweet.
I must be one of the few people who frequently burn lettuce! (I start doing other things and forget about it.)
If you put a lettuce leaf on the surface of your pond, you should find lots of water snails enjoying a good feed
PS If the froglets are crawling out onto stones, make sure they are well-shaded, many little frogs can be "fried" trying to escape onto stones which are in full sun. Apologies if you already know this. :-))
Kind regards Jane.
Hi Tweet,it would be nice to have an update on the froglets.
An optimist sees the beauty of the complete rose.A pessimist sees only the thorn .
saw my firsty froglet in my garden about 10 feet from one of my ponds havent seen any in one pond and only one froglet hopping at the edge of the other usually I see them with tails but none this year
waterboatmen are in large numbers in the new pond also dragon fly larva and nwets so the tadpoles have alot to to contend with
aduilt frogs also in the pond since the warm weather
frogs travel along way from the ponds i recon atlest half a mile away
when the tadpoles grow legs they are not seen much
black birds eat foglet so long grass around the pond is a good idea also ground cover in other parts of your garden like flowers beds
the friedly bid watcher
Wow, it's not fair- all you lot are having so much success! I've still got just the one tadpole... it didn't eat the boiled lettuce (though the water fleas and water snails loved it) and doesn't do much except sit there.... Not only has it not grown legs yet, it's still got a really long tail- i'm considering giving up and releasing it into the puddle that I like to call my pond and hoping it finds whatever it needs there.... =/ I did have another tadpole in the tank for a bit, but its gone now, i guess it must have died...
I've moved the tank into the sun a tad, so it gets a bit warmer than where it was near the freezer... that doesn't seem to have helped....
I fed him lettuce (it's so difficult, it must be male :P ) and he didn't want it...
He's got pond weed to eat, but he doesn't like that...
He's got plenty of small insects to eat if he wanted to, but he doesn't seem to want those either...
I'm at a total loss what to do!
try putting gravel stones and soil into tank mine eat something on the stones and the soil also