# Tadpoles eating all the frogs! :O



## ferretfreak (Jun 20, 2011)

So i have been raising some common frog tadpoles in a fish tank for the past couple of months as none seem to survive in our pond each year.

They are now at the stage where they are growing legs, losing their tails and looking very much like frogs, but some are still very much tadpoles, over the past week or so when i have been cleaning them i have been pulling out dead bodies of the more developed ones and i have since noticed many of the tadpoles almost fighting over the remains of the little frogs.

I have been able to get another tank so now have the tadpoles seperated from the frogs and since i seperated them yesturday afternoon i have not seen any mre dead bodies

They have pond weed in their tank at all times, i feed them frozen chopped up peices f cabbage and spinach as and when they need it and have been chopping up garden worms (on the advice of a friend) which they seem to be loving

they have rocks in the tank and broken peices of terracotta plant pot as hiding places and when they were in together i made sure the frogs could get out of the water

am i doing somthine wrong? are the tadpoles killing the frogs or are they dying from something else? and is there anything else i need to feed any of them?

thanks in advance guys


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## frogman955 (Feb 7, 2010)

It sounds exactly like what my mate had happening last year.
I gave him a load of tads which were still in the pond as winter was looming so he hoped to rear them and let them go in the spring.
As they were ready to come OOTW they just died.
He lost lots that way but did find a way round it which I forget right now.
You`ll probably find the tads are late developers because of food shortage and when they see a dead froglet they look on it as just a nice ready made meal.

Mike


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## colinm (Sep 20, 2008)

I am guessing that the froglets are drowning,then the tadpoles are eating the dead bodies.The tadpoles wont eat live frogs.

Try to remove the frogs to an aquarium with only an inch or so of water when they get their front legs.Put plenty of cork bark or stones in there so they can get out of the water.When frogs get their front legs they are very bad swimmers and easily drown.


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## ferretfreak (Jun 20, 2011)

Thanks for the help

I have since found another dead froggy thing, one of the nes with all his legs but still a good tail on him

i have got the ones with 4 legs in a seperate tank with only about 2 inches of water in and a couple of bigish stones which are easily accessable from the water and i have seen several of the ones that still have tails sitting on the edge of that today which i hope is a good sign

I did question whether or not they were drowning, but most of the dead ones are ones that have lost their tail and are able to hop and i have seen them sat up on the rocks out of the water, they seem fine one day then the next they are floating at the bottom, it just doesn't make any sence!?


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## frogman955 (Feb 7, 2010)

I`m sure what your saying is right Colin.
I think they were struggling with getting out of the water for some reason and my mates wife cottoned onto the problem and then helped them from there as the deaths stopped.
I`ll try get a hold of him and ask him.

Mike


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## REDDEV1L (Nov 27, 2008)

It's amazing how little water they can drown in... and they're definitely terrible swimmers. If spooked, they'd dive under the water and dart around like mad, but would soon run out of oxygen and just float under the water motionless...

For the last lot I raised (last year) once they started climbing around out of water they were moved to a terrestrial tank, kept on very damp kitchen roll and had 5mm of water in an exoterra feeding dish so there was no possibility of them drowning.
Seemed to work well.

Vigilance is definitely key, and moving them as you have done should definitely cut the losses... but i'd drop the water level for the fully emerged froglets even more (I've had some drown on a long cocofibre strand in 2cm of water) as they start moving away from the pond as soon as they leave the water in the wild.


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## ferretfreak (Jun 20, 2011)

Thanks very much, i will reduce the amount of water again

I'd like to try and keep the little frogs for a little while longer and release them when they are a bit bigger so they have a better chance at surviving with all the cats and birds out there, is there anything different i should be feeding them or are they fine with the cabbage, spinach and worm??


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## REDDEV1L (Nov 27, 2008)

Froglets will need live food.
Micro Crickets, springtails, bean weevils, aphids, baby/tropical woodlice etc.

Some reading - http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/amphibians/315708-common-frog-care-sheet.html#post8826121


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## ferretfreak (Jun 20, 2011)

Thanks for all the advice everyone

the frogs are now living in the original tank with sloping gravel with a couple of centimeters of water at the lower end with pond wead so they can get a grip on something while in the water. i also have half a terracotter pot at the raised end so they can hide if they like. I went foraging for baby woodlice and slugs (i felt like i was 5!) and offered them to the frogs and a couple attempted to eat them, but i think they are too big for my little frogs :/ so i am going to chop up some worm for them to try and get them to eat something as the tadpoles absolutely love their bits of worm


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## CHUNK (Dec 8, 2006)

*Tadpoles eating all the frogs!*

Hi ferretfreak,

Obviously your intentions were good regarding rearing the tadpoles and froglets under controlled conditions. But please dont ignore the advice from REDDEVIL, the froglets need small livefood to survive and grow. Chopped earthworm, while as tapoles they enjoyed this as food, as froglets they do need small livefood items. Please take note of the livefoods REDDEVIL mentioned and also include wingless fruitfly at the early stages and move onto flightless fruitfly when the froglets are slightly larger.

Also if you intend on doing the same next year, please think again on your tank design. Rather than an all water tank with a few rocks etc, maybe opt for a 50/50 water and land setup with easy access for the froglets to the land section.
Then you can provide cover for the froglets and an easier platform to offer livefoods to them.

I wish you the best of luck with your surviving tadpoles and froglets.

Chunk.


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## ferretfreak (Jun 20, 2011)

Thanks
I'm not ignoring advice given to me, on the list of food for baby frogs on REDDEVIL's common frog fact sheet is baby slugs and baby woodlice which i am able to find with ease in the garden which i did, and i gave them to the frogs, they are still in the tank so if they want/are able to eat them they can, i only said i will offer them some more earth worm as i am worried they haven't eaten in a while and i am unable to get anything else off the list of food for them for the moment

and i also followed advice about how to keep the tadpoles (in a tank full of water) before i took the spawn in and asked lots of questions on what to feed them on etc etc i just didn't realise they wouldn't be able to get out of the water very well which is something which can only be found out from experience

if i can refer you to my original thread you can see that i asked all the right questions as to how to look after the tadpoles
http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/amphibians/821410-pond-help.html


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## Chris taylor (Dec 14, 2009)

If you wish to hatch and grow a large volume of frogs an old bath is best,fill with canadian pondweed(rockets and gravel trap waste altering the ph),then you can pull the plug to remove the waste and top up with rain water.Tadpoles eating the young frogs is a food issue,a large lump of meat (washed liver) should keep the tadpoles busy. A piece of wood to enable the frogs to climb out into the garden or another tank to grown on


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