# Frogs & Toads > Other Frogs & Toads >  Tadpole Identification Help??

## froglover27

Hi guys(: I happened to come across a puddle that was quite shallow and noticed some little tadpoles...of course I RESCUED them!! I am just curious to know what type of frog they are? I'm positive they aren't toads because they are gray and speckled.....maybe gray tree frog? I will try to get some pics up soon, but who knew tadpoles were so hard to photograph? :Embarrassment:  Thanks for the help in advance guys!! I know you will be so helpful!!!(:

~Justine

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## Heather

Where are you located? Sounds like greys but it's tough to guess without a picture. I'll be interested to see what yours look like. How big are they?

I too am raising some tads. Tiny ones  :Smile: .

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## froglover27

Im located in Virginia, and I know!! they are just so darn hard to get a pic of:/ they are about 1.5 inches.

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## Heather

Awe  :Smile: . What are you feeding them?

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## froglover27

First and Second pics are close-ups of two of 'the tads' Third pic is the enclosure(for now) Fourth is the food I have been giving them, I also give them som tropical fish flakes from time to time(: Last pic shows some of the tadpoles under the lily pad(: Any of these help Heather?

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## Heather

Nice  :Smile: . Still hard to tell their species. Cute though  :Smile: . 

You can feed them dried seaweed from the fish section and boiled romaine lettuce too  :Smile: . I freeze the lettuce in the ice cube tray then and toss the cubes in a baggie in the freezer. I use similar tad bites. My tads are only about 4 to 5 mm big though, lol.

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## Heather

These are mine  :Smile: . Tiny little fellas. I move them to the terrarium once they have 3 legs. They stay in the big grey water bowl for about a week then hop out them selves. 

So cute  :Smile: .

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## froglover27

aww they are reeeally cute!! :Smile:  Do you know what kind yours are? and also how long do you boil the romaine lettuce?? thanks for the reply!!!

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## Heather

You're welcome  :Smile: 

Mine are toads...either American toads (bufo americanus) or fowlers toads (bufo fowleri). It's tough to tell yet. Thanks!  :Smile: 

We are not going to keep them. We rescued them from a tire track that filled in with rain water that we knew would dry up, and did. There were hundreds of them. We only saved about 50 or so. It's the best I could do at the time. 

I have lost about 4. One drowned itself when I shallowed the tank water in the aquarium tank they started in. I shallowed it with a rock mound in the middle. It didn't work well so I started pulling them our when I saw 3 or 4 legs. Two died when I was trying to feed them flightless fruit flies and realized they were too big for them. One got stuck in the aquarium filter even with the netting over the intake tube. The rest are doing well.

It's going to be tough, yet rewarding, the day we set them free. 

I'm trying to feed them the way they'd hunt in the wild. I toss the bugs in with a bit of grass. Their natural instincts are awesome  :Smile: . We love watching them  :Smile: .

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## Heather

It has to be romaine, not ice berg lettuce. Boil it in dechlorinated water for about 20 to 30 minutes. It will look mushy and limp when it's ready. I froze it in ice cube trays and used the water I boiled it in as the ice. That way the nutrients are still partially in it. 

They love it  :Smile: . It's been toasty here lately too, so the cubes cool the water a bit. 

I change their bowl water daily and do partial water changes in the tank every few days. 

I can't wait to see your grow and morph  :Smile: . 

Do you have a filter in yours?

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## froglover27

no i dont have a filter....which causes the water to 'dirty up' real fast! :Disturbed:  but its all good :Smile:  they are a pleasure to have!! Anyway...... I discovered this morning when turning on their light that one of my tadpoles has four legs!! SURPRISE!!!!! What should I do different to its daily life now??

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## Heather

It's time to take him out of the aquarium and into his regular tank. 

You can use paper towel as substrate. Provide a shallow water dish that's easy to climb in and out of. Put in just enough dechlorinated water to barely cover him and put in some rocks they can climb out of the water onto. 

It's time to get some bugs. What size is he now? Flightless fruit flies work well. Mine are too small to eat them yet. I am feeding scooped up aphids and gnats from our grass. I ordered springtails today though, bc it's tedious work scooping the yard for bugs. 

Dust the bugs with calcium/vita d3 every 2 or three feedings. I do it twice a week. 

They'll begin hunting once they absorb their tails. Change their water daily or every other day in the water bowl. Mist twice a day.

Congrats!  :Smile:

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## Heather

Oh, you may want to use a nylon as a lid to keep the bugs in  :Wink: . 

If you can't get bugs at your local pet store, joshsfrogs.com sells them in their food section.

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## Heather

Peek at my middle picture above. The larger pond is where I have the new toadlets still with tails. I do still put the seaweed in but not much bc they usually don't eat much if anything until their tails absorb.

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## Heather

I took the substrate from my big viv bc it has a few natural tiny bugs in it, but not enough to keep up with their big appetites  :Smile: . 

Do you have any pics of him with legs?

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## froglover27

okay, so I should put 'him' into a shallow water dish that he can climb in and out of? with a moist paper towel substrate? Also, they are about one and a half inches. so could they eat fruit flies? thanks for the help guys!! :Smile:  :Smile:

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## Heather

Wow! At 1 1/2 inches they should be able to eat fruit flies and baby crickets  :Smile: . That should be even easier  :Smile: .

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## Heather

Yep, just set it up like a mini vivarium or terrarium. At that size you should Be able to even add plants. 

That's awesome!

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## Heather

Put the misted paper towel on the bottom of the tank and the water bowl in a corner. That way he has room to hop around in case he's terrestrial. 

Be sure to have the top covered. You'd be surprised how well they can climb. Even my tiny toads climb to the top of their 10 gallon.

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## froglover27

should I place him in the bowl for now? I REALLY don't want him to drown:/ thanks for the replies heather :Smile:

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## froglover27

oh and hold on! I will try to get some in a couple minutes :Smile:   sorry, missed that post..got distracted by your pics!! :Cool:

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## Heather

Or just put very shallow water in the bottom of the tank. Be sure he can lift his head out if he wants. He'll likely start hopping about. Do you have any shallow bowls? Does he have small pads for toes?

Lol! That's funny  :Big Grin: 

You're welcome  :Smile: .

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## Heather

You can look on YouTube too. See what has worked for others.

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## froglover27

If I use rocks from outside..do I have to clean them first?

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## Heather

Yep. I rinse all dirt and debris off then boil them for at least 10 minutes. Then I rinse with dechlor water.

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## froglover27

UPDATE!!
two of the tadpoles now have four legs and are resorbing their tails! :Big Grin:  A couple look like they will soon grow their front legs too. this is so exciting!(: :Big Applause:  The tadpole I mentioned earlier that grew all the legs has now almost completely resorbed its tail! This morning I awoke to find the 'oldest' tad on the wall of his tank! :Watermelon:  And yeah they have small pads for feet. Oh! and is it safe to use a terra cotta pot holder as the 'shallow water dish'? thanks guys!!! :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

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## Heather

Awe  :Smile: . Sounds like tree frogs. What do their markings look like?

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## froglover27

basically just solid gray.......and  is it safe to use a terra cotta pot holder as the 'shallow water dish'?

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## Heather

Hmmm....I've never used terra cotta. I am not sure. Send a private message to Donlisk. I'm sure he'll know  :Smile: .

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## Heather

Does he look like any of these?

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## froglover27

um....no not really :Ambivalence:  .....I will try to post pics of the new froglets...Getting a better camera later :Smile:

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## Heather

Hmmm...not sure then. Awesome! Can't wait to see them  :Smile: .

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## froglover27

PICTURE UPDATE!!!!! :Smile: 



In the first pic, is the oldest tad that almost has its tail completely, 100% resorbed!!
The second one, has the oldest tad next to the second oldest. You can see the markings really well :Smile: 
The third pic shows one of the tads resting on the 'shoreline', sticking his head out of the water
The last pic shows the 'newest addition' hahaha still has a pretty big tail!! :Smile:  
I hope these can help with further identification...... Also, how many of them should be completely out of water??
FOUR OUT OF THE SEVEN ARE OUT OF THE WATER GUYS!!!  :Smile:  WOOHOOOO

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## Heather

Awe  :Smile: ...I think they are likely grey tree frogs. So cute!!! Great job! How are they eating for you?

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## froglover27

All but about two have absorbed their tails finally, so i purchased some flightless fruit flies today...nasty things haha :Smile:  I put a few in and they took to them pretty quickly! YAY!! haha and thanks! It has just been a pleasure raising the tads :Wink:

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## Heather

You're welcome. For me also  :Smile: .

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## froglover27

Sad update;
I woke up this morning to find five of the seven froglets kind of shriveled up and even a couple on their back :Miserable:  The other two were perfectly healthy on the side of the tank......What I don't understand is why this happened. They were all in perfectly good health last night, and eating too!! I examined the five sickly lookingones and some had 'bloody' toes, while others had fully stretched out legs. In the end, I figured three of them were completely gone :Upset:  and two of them still had some life in them. What did I do wrong??

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## Heather

Not sure...everything seemed to be going well  :Frown: . I'm sorry  :Frown: .

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## froglover27

Thanks, but its okay......I still have two healthy froggies<3 And I don't know either

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## Heather

Have you started dusting their ff with calcium?

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## froglover27

> Have you started dusting their ff with calcium?


No...is there a certain type of calcium to use?

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## Heather

Just need a tiny pinch in a baggie, tap the ff in and give them a gentle shake. Then feed the ff to them. Dust every 2 to 3 days.There are quite a few brands. Any amphibian calcium with vitamin D 3 powder. It's important to get the ones with vitamin D 3, bc the calcium is absorbed best having vita D3. 

For an example, I use fluker's brand. I also use an itty bitty pinch of reptivite vitamin powder once a week, and not on the same day as the calcium.

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## froglover27

okay thanks a bunch!! :Smile:  :Smile:

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## Heather

You're welcome  :Smile: . 

We set ours free today with a little prayer of good luck  :Smile: . Too many for us to keep. We already have 3 retf's and 3 pacs, plus 2 red-spotted newt adults. I hope they do well. 

Yours are growing fast  :Smile: .

We found a puddle when camping this weekend with a bunch of grey tads. It was so tempting to bring them home  :Smile: .

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## froglover27

> You're welcome . 
> 
> We set ours free today with a little prayer of good luck . Too many for us to keep. We already have 3 retf's and 3 pacs, plus 2 red-spotted newt adults. I hope they do well. 
> 
> 
> We found a puddle when camping this weekend with a bunch of grey tads. It was so tempting to bring them home .


Yours are growing fast  :Smile: .
Awww:')  Good for you!! I hope they do great! And wow thats a bunch!! haha I only have a White's tree frog and the babies :Smile:  Thanks!! and Oh I bet it'd be like torture!! Hahaha

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## Heather

Lol! I have to admit it was tough letting them go. I'm hoping they will do well. I know they know how to hunt, so that's at least relieving. It was a nice cool damp day. We let them go back beyond the barn area at my inlaws, about 50 yards into an unused pasture with nice tall grasses and puddles. Not too many wildlife critter come in that close because of the cows and horse in the pasture by the house. Hopefully enough to keep them somewhat safe from predators. I set their moss there with them because they love it  :Smile: .

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