# Rana temporaria Tadpole Keeping



## philo (Jul 7, 2009)

Hello,
Next spring I hope to captive hatch some Rana temporaria, I want to know, have any other people done this and what are the positive/negative of these things

Heater,
External filter
Internal filter
Tadpole tea (almond stuff and other things bought off pollywog)
Individually housing (live food containers with holes to allow water flow)
1 large tank with all the live food containers and 1 water system,
Individual Metamorphosis containers


Thanks,
Bye,
Also as the spawn is all in one ball is it possible to separate out individual eggs or are they all attached to each other ?


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## pollywog (Oct 6, 2005)

Just keep things simple; put a small clump of spawn in one tank, do regular partial water changes & / or provide a sponge filter, no heating, no lighting, a bit of pond weed, & feed them a good quality fish flake. When they come to morphing just put a floating platform for them to climb out on to (cork, polystyrene) and then when they've morphed release them where you took the spawn from.


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## philo (Jul 7, 2009)

How deep should I make the water ?


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## pollywog (Oct 6, 2005)

depends on the size of your tank, the more water you have the easier you will find it to keep the water quality good


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## REDDEV1L (Nov 27, 2008)

That's what I raised my CB R.temporaria in... a 24L storage box
Cheapy air-pump driven sponge filter with 1/3 mature media from my ADF's.
I kept the brick in from the start, somewhere for the tads to rest near the surface, plus a place for algae to grow but only added the turtle-dock when they popped their legs.
I kept it in my garage with only natural sunlight and ambient temps.
They demolished the elodea, loved cucumber, watercress and boiled spinach and ate flaked fishfood but it was hit & miss with floating pond sticks.


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## philo (Jul 7, 2009)

When they have metamorphosed why is their container like ? And as for the adults what size tank do you keep them in ?
Sorry for all the questions,
Thanks,
Bye


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## REDDEV1L (Nov 27, 2008)

I keep the froglets in an XL Flat Faunarium with plastic taped over the lid.
The adult trio are in a 48"x15"x18" fishtank


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## philo (Jul 7, 2009)

Is the plastic to keep humidity or to stop them from escaping ? Alsoooo do you have any pics of the setups ?
Thanks,
Bye


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## colinm (Sep 20, 2008)

REDDEV1L said:


> image
> I kept it in my garage with only natural sunlight and ambient temps.
> They demolished the elodea, loved cucumber, watercress and boiled spinach and ate flaked fishfood but it was hit & miss with floating pond sticks.


Dont boil the spinach for too long,just wilt it or put it in raw.You could also try bits of kidney or liver on cotton when they are carnivorous.They really like these.Only small pieces as they will putrify the water if you put too much in there.


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## REDDEV1L (Nov 27, 2008)

colinm said:


> Dont boil the spinach for too long,just wilt it or put it in raw.You could also try bits of kidney or liver on cotton when they are carnivorous.They really like these.Only small pieces as they will putrify the water if you put too much in there.


I've never given meat to any of my taddies, I just upped the amount of fish flake they got, although I did add tubifex cubes and sinking bloodworm/shrimp/earthworm pellets as they got closer to morphing.


Philo...
Yeah, the plastic is to keep the humidity in.
Even so, you need to make sure you check it often as I lost a few frogs not so long ago from dehydration.

Reading material in a post I did a while ago about keeping common frogs - http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/amphibians/315708-common-frog-care-sheet.html#post8826121

Froglet tank...









Not a brilliant pic, but it's just a basic set-up. When young I like to keep their set-ups as simple as possible to aid finding food etc; Waterdish, hide, plastic plant, and line the tank with kitchen roll (Sometimes with cocofibre underneath) The reason is cocofibre generally sticks to frogs when its fresh and even a small bit can hamper a young frog.
I use exo terra small/medium feeding dishes as waterbowls while they're really small as they tend to easily drown (as daft as it sounds!!). 
Once they get to about 4-5 months old I give them a deeper dish and at this time I stop using kitchen roll and just give them cocofibre.

Adult tank









This is pretty much the same as it has been for years, with the exception of now having a big ugly block of polystyrene in it as per the vid on the link above.


The froglets I raised are being released in spring, and if i'm happy with the adults, they'll be released too. (Last year one wasn't feeding so good so I kept them back)
So if all goes to plan, I'll just have my one eyed frog, Eyeball


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## philo (Jul 7, 2009)

Aww what happened to eyeball ?
And would they grow quicker if there is a heater set on low in their tank ? (the tadpoles)
Thanks,
Bye


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## soundstounite (Sep 6, 2009)

this thread has so taken me back to childhood,some little things I'd stress when grabbing you spawn get a real small bit,you'll be amazed at the numbers that that produces,other things for diet,ha the tiny bits of meat on cotton i remember, ground nettle,wilted nettle is another. froglets love baby garden spiders.I wouldn't personally heat the water only because there is more wild grub available a bit later in the year if morphout is slower.Finally be aware that now releasing to different areas might have negative consequeneces,ie spread of ranovirus etc.My reason for doing this as a kid,i was playing the odds game and re releasing the vast majority to start new colonies, which quietly worked hugely well.But there are dangers now to this that maybe weren't there then.
I always set me tank up months in advance,for plently of algal growth, ha can't stop the enthusiasm of a child,getting me temporia spawn was almost better than chrimbne of those little colonies is still running 35 plus yrs later:blush:
Stu


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## philo (Jul 7, 2009)

Are you suggesting I should setup the tadpole setup now to allow for algal growth ? Also should I just keep the water at room temperature ?
And when the time comes how much spawn should I take ? I want to leave some for the frogs in the pond but I have no idea how much say, half a spawn would produce,
Thanks,Bye


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## colinm (Sep 20, 2008)

I wouldn`t set up the tank yet.It wont be at least another couple of months until you find the spawn.
Half a clump of spawn will give you more than enough.I personally wouldn`t keep more than fifteen or twenty in one of these plastic boxes.You will find that you will need to change the water too often if you keep them in large numbers.Also if you keep just a few you will find that the tadpoles grow larger and thats got to be better.
They will also be larger if you dont heat the box.Keep it at room temperature,they will be fine.


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

Heating could actually cause them harm- R temporaria don't do well at all at higher temperatures.


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## philo (Jul 7, 2009)

Ron Magpie said:


> Heating could actually cause them harm- R temporaria don't do well at all at higher temperatures.


No heating then,
Air driven sponge filter ?


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

philo said:


> No heating then,
> Air driven sponge filter ?


That should be ok.


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## soundstounite (Sep 6, 2009)

QUOTE=philo;9452505]Are you suggesting I should setup the tadpole setup now to allow for algal growth ? Also should I just keep the water at room temperature ?
And when the time comes how much spawn should I take ? I want to leave some for the frogs in the pond but I have no idea how much say, half a spawn would produce,
Thanks,Bye[/QUOTE]

I'm telling you what i did as a kid yonks ago,yeah i did set up months before,i ran an old under gravel filter and and let it all settle.but i do do things slowly,way slower than most,to illustrate see how long it took me to buy a dartfrog after wanting to keep 'em but i'm cool with that,it always works for me. Someone of the other guys herel understand water quailty better than i but if one gives water time to age one seems not to get problems
I did successfully raise probably hundreds of these as a child as the yrs went by.I can see no reason that room temperature should be other than too warm for a frog that might lay in late january in devon, at least in our climate.I'd argue go put your hand in a pond for a while where your spawn is or maybe even one of those fancy thermometer thingies if you want a working temp,without debate. They will do fine at room temps i'm sure utterly this i know. maybe they would do better slightly cooler as nature intended,that i can't say as i reared mine in an unheated aquarium on a window ledge. 
All this is not as important as the ability to judge not to take too much spawn and so end up with way more tadpoles than you desire,in too small a body of water,that is the biggy,and that is where you will potentially come unstuck.Keep them too dense and all manner of problems will occur,but then that applies to all animals.
There are so so many variables with rearing animals,that it is always be a case of one method for me,one for you,all we can do is tell each other why we think it went right or more importantly why it went wrong and when it does go wrong react damn quick 
Stu


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## philo (Jul 7, 2009)

How about lighting for the tadpoles ? Will this have any effect or will it all just be the same ?
Is a day/night cycle beneficial ?


And finally how do you put beef on cotton and is it a swab or a earthingy ?
Thanks,
Bye


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## colinm (Sep 20, 2008)

Just keep them in a room with windows or better outside.
Kids have been doing this for ages they are simple enough,dont try to complicate the issue. :2thumb:


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## philo (Jul 7, 2009)

I will do my best !
Thanks For all the help guys,

Thanks,
Bye


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## cathalmire69 (Apr 20, 2013)

*"Rana Temporaria"*



philo said:


> Hello,
> Next spring I hope to captive hatch some Rana temporaria, I want to know, have any other people done this and what are the positive/negative of these things
> 
> Heater,
> ...


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Hi here are sum things you should do to help, keep light on the spawn as this helps with the growth. If like this year was very cold to start you should wait to warmer weather to get them or keep them inside so they dont freeze, as this would kill the egg cells. they do not separate az they are held together.
Az they grow, the egg will fall apart so you will see sum falling out of the sack this is normal. Feeding them fish flakes or even better dry daphnia.. they go crazy for it. Use a reptile humidifier in the tank, keeping quite high.
If you have a half and half tank use moss to help with humidity, and put gravel or stones in to let them climb out when they are growing legs.
You can get a solar pump on ebay saves you electric, leting the water run down the stones keeping it clean an fresh. 

Hope this helps.


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## cathalmire69 (Apr 20, 2013)

*extra help*



philo said:


> I will do my best !
> Thanks For all the help guys,
> 
> Thanks,
> Bye


I have a site on yahoo all about frogs it should help if need any more info.

[email protected]


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