# Tadpole problem



## rockybar (Apr 13, 2020)

Hi, I have rescued some tadpoles from a drying out puddle
which is best thing to do?
Transfer them to a pond that already seems to have tadpoles in it - about a mile away?
Transfer them to a nearby flowing stream?
Keep them in the bowl till they're ready to leave?
Thanks in advance
Martin


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## ian14 (Jan 2, 2008)

What tadpoles are they? Are you from the UK?


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## rockybar (Apr 13, 2020)

Hi, I don't know what kind they are- I have no knowledge at all about tadpoles unfortunately
Yes I'm in Wiltshire UK
Theyre in a plastic bowl at the moment.
I gave them some lettuce leaves to eat.

I think some died overnight...


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## elishacoombes9 (Sep 5, 2017)

rockybar said:


> Hi, I don't know what kind they are- I have no knowledge at all about tadpoles unfortunately
> Yes I'm in Wiltshire UK
> Theyre in a plastic bowl at the moment.
> I gave them some lettuce leaves to eat.
> ...



They won’t eat lettuce leaves... 
Try fish food. We raised our dart frog tads on fish food. I know not the same but will work a treat as used to do same when we used to get in pond years ago. Put into a pond if you can. Especially if some are dying.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## rockybar (Apr 13, 2020)

Ok I'll try some fish food,
are pet shops open these days?


And transfer them to a pond in the local nature reserve during the week.


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## ian14 (Jan 2, 2008)

rockybar said:


> Ok I'll try some fish food,
> are pet shops open these days?
> 
> 
> And transfer them to a pond in the local nature reserve during the week.


Yes they are open. The best you can do is release them asap in a pond.


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## rockybar (Apr 13, 2020)

All done, they're in a pond now, thanks for the advice!


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## ian14 (Jan 2, 2008)

rockybar said:


> All done, they're in a pond now, thanks for the advice!


That's good. 
Well done for rescuing them and also for taking the advice to release.
They are difficult to keep, you have done absolutely the right thing.


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## soundstounite (Sep 6, 2009)

Guys for future reference:

do not move tadpoles in the UK. We have two nasty diseases here they are called RV rana virus and chytrid Bd the uk strain of RV is nasty.

Bd is responsible for the largest global extinction since the dinosaurs walked the earth. In the last few decades a third of all amphibian species on our planet have become extinct yup one in three species.

So although the thoughts of care for the tads is fantastic . There is the possibility of transferring a disease from said little puddle to a pond with potential disasterous consequences for the phibs at the new pond.

Common Frog and common toad tads will eat slightly boiled lettuce leaves i've reared hundreds years back when I was a lad, used this as a starter.

I know this thread has run it's coarse and the tads are released now but I felt it best to ammend the info for the next guy . I adore the fact someone want to save some tads and the time taken by you guys to help. But we need to be incredibly careful now I guess the only real option now to save is to home rear get some tests done and then ponder release.

With regards to home rearing it's a doddle but...BUT they have to have enough space. So you need to not rescue a 1000 tads just a few and then do right by them.

R temporia and Bufo bufo have huge clutches of eggs,there is massive mortality, this is how nature works All we need is a pair from all those eggs to reach maturity and breed,to have a stable population. The puddle eggs/tads will probably only be from one pair and as hard as this is to say maybe the best thing is to leave alone. The potential in the above case is to sacrifice a whole colony for those few tads. If one can't bare the thought of leaving them ,then save a few and do it properly ,make a commitment to them 

PS I'm not sure if the form of chytrid that effects newts and sals is here in blightly, but yup they can be effected too.


Ian Elisha,sorry to contradict the advice given,no malice here guys, I just felt a need to put this straight it's so SO important we don't make things worse than they already are for our amphibians. We as keepers should also know about these potential risks to our own captive stock,these are grave diseases. WE have a virus C19 VERY sadly killing a tiny percentage of our population,and it's rocked our world . Our phibs have lost a third of all species and it's barely talked about.....the saddest thing !!


take care ya'll

stu


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## s6t6nic6l (May 15, 2010)

My initial thought after seeing this thread was that the birds n such have just been denied a tasty morsel :lol2:

Well stated Mr unite


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## ian14 (Jan 2, 2008)

soundstounite said:


> Guys for future reference:
> 
> do not move tadpoles in the UK. We have two nasty diseases here they are called RV rana virus and chytrid Bd the uk strain of RV is nasty.
> 
> ...


No need to apologise, you make an excellent point. I'm well aware of these infections, but I wasnt aware that the tadpoles carry it so thanks for highlighting that.


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## Suzan (Jun 16, 2020)

*Baby Frogs need feeding - Help!!*

Soundstounite - I found your post very interesting and you sound like you know a lot about tadpoles / frogs - so I'm hoping you can give me some advice. I too came across a couple of drying up puddles about 12 weeks ago and managed to scoop up about 1,000 tadpoles that were about to die. I brought them back to an unused small pond in my back garden, which I refilled with water and dumped them all in, feeding them cucumber. I fished out about 20 and put them in a small fishtank in the house, to increase the chances of survival. Luckily they thrived in the house (not one has died yet) and when the first one started to develop legs I moved them to a large fish tank with gravel, rocks, sand and a clodge of earth/grass one side, and water the other side. I now have 2 tiny frogs in there and here is my problem, they are so small I don't know what to feed them. 
I have been to pet stores and they sold me mini mealworms, but the mealworms are bigger than these frogs. I also tried fish pellets but no good. The frogs (Freddo and Hoppity) are about 3mm wide and 6mm long and I just don't know how to feed them. 
In the water are loads of tiny stick shape, wriggly bugs. I have been fishing these out of the water and putting them on the rocks and occasionally the frogs have eaten them but I'm concerned they may not be eating enough. 
I have built a frog habitat in the garden but don't want to release the frogs until they are a bit bigger to give them the best chance to survive. Do you have any advice on what / how I can feed these frogs until they are big enough to release please? (There are lots of birds and possibly a couple of grass snakes in my garden)
I now have a 3rd froglet which is a lot larger (about 5mm wide 9mm long) which has just crawled onto land but still has it's tail and I think it may only be a week or 2 before I have a lot more. 
Not sure if this is relevant but I think there are 2 different types of frogs (or toads). Both frogs are tiny but one is light green and one is very dark.
Please help! I would really appreciate any advice on how to feed them.


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## soundstounite (Sep 6, 2009)

Suzan said:


> Soundstounite - I found your post very interesting and you sound like you know a lot about tadpoles / frogs - so I'm hoping you can give me some advice. I too came across a couple of drying up puddles about 12 weeks ago and managed to scoop up about 1,000 tadpoles that were about to die. I brought them back to an unused small pond in my back garden, which I refilled with water and dumped them all in, feeding them cucumber. I fished out about 20 and put them in a small fishtank in the house, to increase the chances of survival. Luckily they thrived in the house (not one has died yet) and when the first one started to develop legs I moved them to a large fish tank with gravel, rocks, sand and a clodge of earth/grass one side, and water the other side. I now have 2 tiny frogs in there and here is my problem, they are so small I don't know what to feed them.
> I have been to pet stores and they sold me mini mealworms, but the mealworms are bigger than these frogs. I also tried fish pellets but no good. The frogs (Freddo and Hoppity) are about 3mm wide and 6mm long and I just don't know how to feed them.
> In the water are loads of tiny stick shape, wriggly bugs. I have been fishing these out of the water and putting them on the rocks and occasionally the frogs have eaten them but I'm concerned they may not be eating enough.
> I have built a frog habitat in the garden but don't want to release the frogs until they are a bit bigger to give them the best chance to survive. Do you have any advice on what / how I can feed these frogs until they are big enough to release please? (There are lots of birds and possibly a couple of grass snakes in my garden)
> ...


Suzanne sorry slow I don't come here that often at the mo ,so damn busy. Mate I'm stu:2thumb:

Back when I was a child i'd grab wild food,alot of baby spiders greenfly etc. for you now i'd buy in some sprinftails Ff fruit fly cultures,just simply for ease of feeding. Like any phib in captivity i'd also add in some vit suppliments 

We keep darts Sue your best bet will be talking to someone like Marc at dartfrog,or any other good Dart food supplier. Once they start to grow all manner of things can be fed. But you need volumes of small food for what you want to attempt

Honestly your probably best off returning them to the others in you little new old pond and letting them do what nature intended. 



Mate I'd lay a guess you have common frog and common toad tadpoles

Suzanne you have to feed them things that are alive and move and to feed many froglets and feed them well, you will really have your work cut out.

Simply you will struggle 

What You have to realise is, that they have lots of babies and hardly any of them actually make it to adulthood in nature. You have already made a huge difference as the tad mortality is so low,and it just wouldn't be in the wild.

Temporia require a good bit of space I'd release into your garden as they morph out and if you really want to rear some further on only do a handful. I mean 4 or 5 or 6 . Few enough so they can spread out a bit in their quarters and few enough so you can feed the hell out of them

Sorry this is so late ,it's possibly of little use now but maybe not. I'm no expert Suzanne just kept a fair few phibs through childhood and somehow ended up with a room full of dart frogs as an adult:blush:

all the luck 

stu


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## Suzan (Jun 16, 2020)

Thanks Stu  no, it's not too late, I do now have 4 little frogs and another that looks like it will crawl on land by tomorrow. 
I will try to get hold of springtails as they won't be able to fly out of the tank like fruit flies. 
Do you know if ants would be any good as I know I can find lots of them in the garden?
Cheers,
Suz


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## soundstounite (Sep 6, 2009)

Suzan said:


> Thanks Stu  no, it's not too late, I do now have 4 little frogs and another that looks like it will crawl on land by tomorrow.
> I will try to get hold of springtails as they won't be able to fly out of the tank like fruit flies.
> Do you know if ants would be any good as I know I can find lots of them in the garden?
> Cheers,
> Suz


Suz, there are types of FF that have wing genetic wing mutations, that cannot fly. It is these us dart keepers use to feed, our frogs So they ,FF, are still an early feeder of tiny froglets for you to utilise.

Do you have compo bins for your garden waste, If So pop flat bits of cardboard on top. Obviously each compo heep is different, but often times you can collect all manner of springtails small spiders woodlice on the card then knock it or brush ( really soft makeup brush) into a container. mix with a bit of vit dust ( repashy Ca plus buy from repashy.co.uk . Tell Nick what you are doing Suz ,he'll see you right lovely folks,I've delt with Nick and Amanda for years.

Search all you roses hazels sycamore plum etc etc for green fly, mate I don't spray ,mum nature looks after my garden ,so they are here but the same is applicable for you providing collection site is organic and NOT close to roads.

ok next up again wild grub.field sweepings. you need a proper collection net, have a dig on line,,,,,,,,,, a pooter again dig online. Simply get permission to walk through a hay field ( organic) swinging net about through top of grasses. You'll collect all manner of froggy goodies use the pooter to collect all the little beasties for you little frogs

one more for fun

Moths set a light up outside use collection net and pooter to collect small moths for the frogs. 

Study what exactly your frogs will eat , obviously all manner of stuff is going to figure especially as they get older 

Mate somewhere in this section is a thread of mine,it's called Da dartroom, there is all manner of stuff in there. Mate it is huge I mean massive essentially outlining one couple building a whole frog room with little money

Sadly most of the images were posted through photobucket ,who suddenly told us pay money or we delete, so I lost alot of the images,which was a shame. That thread is huge ,but despite me being as mad as a march hare,there is a real volume of practical help. Methods to culture harvest grub ,all of it really,it just might help you .

Suz be under no illusions you have your work cut out here. But if you read like hell and graft like hell you can win this. 

You want folsumai springtail wise...temperate species not I repeat NOT tropical species 

Avoid ants most of ours squirt formic acid......I have actually seem wood ants try to take down a toad,unreal huh !!

Oh look out for baby garden spider nests,they are like a little round bowl of a web ,i'm sure you'll find piccies on line. a big glass and a card can take a good few for you to feed the are tiny at first only around a mm you simply tap them out slowly an dangle infront of froglets, lol the hours I spent playing that game as a kid

Take care mate and all the luck with it. If we had of spoken earlier in this I'd have probably tried to steer you away, the reasons are there in my earlier post in this thread. but now you are here head down and graft: victory:

stu


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## Suzan (Jun 16, 2020)

A quick update on my progress - Freddo and Hoppity are thriving and there are now 8 tiny frogs with another 4 due to crawl on land in the next day or so (and over 30 tadpoles yet to grow legs).

I bought a pot of the fruit flies, they worked quite well but were all gone in 2 days so when I saw the larvae/maggots in the pot the next day I tried those. They loved them, but I ran out in another 2 days. There are lots of pupae in the pot but as they will take a few days to hatch I bought another pot of fruit flies today, hopefully I can alternate them.

I will try some of your suggestions on catching bugs, not sure how well I will do at it though as I'm one of those people that screams and runs from a spider, I'm surprised how well I've managed with the little flies.

I've also been catching those tiny red clover mites - hope they are okay to feed. I'm definitely glad I didn't use ants now!

I've built a frog house in the garden and will release them a few at a time when they seem big enough to fend for themselves. At first I saw fruit flies climb over their backs, then their heads and down overs their noses and walk away but now they do seem to be hunting them a bit more, thankfully :whip:


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## Suzan (Jun 16, 2020)

Thought I'd write a quick update - I now have over 25 little frogs jumping around. I think it's a mixture of common frogs and common toads as some are dark and some are golden brown. Don't think I've lost one yet but feeding them is time consuming. Most of them are pretty useless when it comes to catching flies (the fuitlfies crawl over their backs and heads!), so I've resorted to feeding them maggots (on the end of a cocktail stick to the ones that don't seem to catch anything). You were right about them being time consuming, hopefully they will grow quickly and learn to hunt so I can release them.


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