# Frogs & Toads > Frogs >  How long...?

## Jace

Just curious as to a rough estimate on how long Poe the American Bullfrog will take to turn from tadpole into a frog?  I can see where rear legs will most likely form, but no sign yet of actual legs.   He is being kept in a 5 gallon filtered, no heat but room temperature, tank for the time being.

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## Paul Rust

*Only a few months if you keep the water at room temp 70 F or so. In colder climates it can take up to 3 years.*

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## Jace

Whoa...I was thinking a month or so.  What if I put a heater in the tank?  Though I read somewhere that the longer they are in a tadpole stage, the better.....what have I gotten myself into????  Lol.

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## Paul Rust

> Whoa...I was thinking a month or so. What if I put a heater in the tank? Though I read somewhere that the longer they are in a tadpole stage, the better.....what have I gotten myself into???? Lol.


 *Don't push it dear. 70 F is as high as I would go on a cold climate frog.*

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## Jace

Okay, I will let Mother Nature do her thing, then.  It might be a good for Poe to take his/her time-I have absolutely nothing to put a fully formed American Bullfrog into!

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## Paul Rust

> Okay, I will let Mother Nature do her thing, then. It might be a good for Poe to take his/her time-I have absolutely nothing to put a fully formed American Bullfrog into!


 *They are fully aquatic so you can make a wonderful pond with live plants and rocks and stuff. I am so jealous.*

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## Jace

I have an idea for an outdoor enclosure-looks great on paper so far!-but I'm not sure what to do during the winter.  It might be too cold to keep Poe outside year round, and I like to shower and bathe, so the bathtub is out......hmmmm.  Stay a tadpole, stay a tadpole!!  Lol.

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## Kurt

> *Only a few months if you keep the water at room temp 70 F or so. In colder climates it can take up to 3 years.*


If you put him in the microwave, it will only take a few minutes. Be careful though, if you don't do it right, your tadpole can explode and then you will be cleaning little bits of it out of your microwave. You will never want to cook a hot pocket in it ever again.  :Big Grin:

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## Cristen

> If you put him in the microwave, it will only take a few minutes. Be careful though, if you don't do it right, your tadpole can explode and then you will be cleaning little bits of it out of your microwave. You will never want to cook a hot pocket in it ever again.


Forgive me I'm new but..... You can actually "nuke" a tadpole" - or are you joking?

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## 1beataway

One of my friends had a tadpole. We believe it was a bullfrog; it was huge. I netted it out of the comet goldfish tank at work. When she got it, it didn't have legs yet. I don't know exactly how long it took but seemed like weeks in a small tank with no heater before the legs developed. They were well developed while she was on a 2 week vacation, and following her advice, I moved it into a tank that was half land/half water, and within a couple days almost the entire tail was gone. It was fun to watch.  :Big Grin: 

I'm not sure if what we did was right or best. But that's the story of her bullfrog.

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## Paul Rust

> Forgive me I'm new but..... You can actually "nuke" a tadpole" - or are you joking?


* No you can't nuke them. Kurt is probably attempting to create genetic mutant bullfrogs.*  :Big Grin:

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## Jace

I am having a heck of time keeping the water clean...I just did a water change last night and the water is super cloudy this morning.  Starting to get a bit frustrated!!!

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## Kurt

> Forgive me I'm new but..... You can actually "nuke" a tadpole" - or are you joking?


It was a joke. Whenever you see this " :Big Grin: ", that means I (or someone else) was making a joke.

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## Jace

I put another filter in the tank-hopefully the water will be better.  Soon as I cleaned the tank, it started pooping..sigh, I just can't win.

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## 1beataway

> It was a joke. Whenever you see this "", that means I (or someone else) was making a joke.


Kurt likes to throw jokes into his posts quite a bit. On rare occasion, you'll spot a funny one.  :Big Grin: 




> I put another filter in the tank-hopefully the water will be better. Soon as I cleaned the tank, it started pooping..sigh, I just can't win.


Ever notice how many different types of animals poop right after you clean their cage? You would know if you worked at a pet store.

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## Cristen

> * No you can't nuke them. Kurt is probably attempting to create genetic mutant bullfrogs.*


I thought that seemed a little odd, but like I said, I wasnt sure.  LOL 

A mutant bullfrog... that might be a little terrifying  :EEK!:

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## Cristen

> It was a joke. Whenever you see this "", that means I (or someone else) was making a joke.



LOL... K gotcha, dont know everyone's humor yet, and I am a little on the gullible side :Embarrassment:

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## Jace

One thing about us frog lovers...we're kind of weird to begin with, so our sense of humour can be kind of warped, too.  Some more than others  :Smile: .  Just to warn you, it gets worse the older you get.  

Tadpole poop is a new one for me.  Even my fish used to wait for a bit after the tank was cleaned...this one goes when you look at it.  Sigh.  Guess I'll be doing cleanings every day for the next while.

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## AmericanBfrog

Hi, i bought a bullfrog tadpole from a local nursery a couple of weeks ago. When i bought him, he already had his back legs (Part of the reason why i chose him because i read they can take around a year to fully develope). And about a week ago he popped his front legs out and is looking more and more like an actualy frog every day. I was wondering if anyone knows about how long it might take for him to fully abosrb his tail after getting his front legs? Thanks!

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## Jace

Wish I could help you!  My tadpole, whom I have affectionately named Poe, is still in the legless stage.  Sigh.  It shouldn't take too long, though.  Maybe a couple of weeks to a month would be my guess.  I would love to see some pics of your newly morphed frog-what are u feeding it?  What are you keeping it in?  I know, questions, questions!

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## AmericanBfrog

I currently keep him in a ten gallon tank with a plant and a rock thing to hide under and a platform with a ramp he can climb up on which gives him access to lower water levels and to dry land. It is a very simple set up that i plan on making larger and more realistic as he grows. I have been feeding him bloodworms but now that he has all his legs he starts to absorb his tail so he will eat little to nothing at all. I will gladly take pictures but i am not sure how to post them, as i just joined this forum today.

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## Jace

If you go to your profile page, you can create a photo album or you can post using this thread.  Just hit "Go Advanced" and use the "attachement" function.  It will allow you to download from there.  Poe is eating every flake of fish food, but is not fond of the bloodworms at all.  For being a bullfrog, it sure is picky at this stage!

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## AmericanBfrog

I have created an album and taken pictures but i am just trying to upload them to my computer so it'll be a couple of minutes... and i never tried flakes before wich probably would have been a good idea. I tried to feed him these store bought tadpole pellets but he never touched em. He devours the blood worms tho!

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## AmericanBfrog

It has only been three days since i posted this question and now my bullfrog tadpole has fully abosorbed his tail and became a frog!!!! i havent tried to feed him yet but i think i will try and feed him small crickets... any suggestions for food?

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## Paul Rust

> It has only been three days since i posted this question and now my bullfrog tadpole has fully abosorbed his tail and became a frog!!!! i havent tried to feed him yet but i think i will try and feed him small crickets... any suggestions for food?


* Gutloaded and dusted small crickets, any that are smaller than his mouth is wide. Baby frogs are voracious and need lots of food.*

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## Jace

Congrats on you new little froglet!  That is very exciting and didn't take very long at all.  Still no sign of any legs on Poe, but he/she is an eating machine and loving the new Tetra Algae Vegetable Crisps I bought.  I was worried that Poe wasn't eating properly as I couldn't find a shred of poo in the tank-until I moved the rock cave.  Every morning Poe is in there and that is where all the poop is.  So easy to clean-just like my geckos!

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