# Frogs & Toads > Other Frogs & Toads >  Tadpole Diary

## Amy

We recently received some toad tadpoles that are pretty darn adorable!  We have them in a 20 gallon tank with a filter, heater, marimos, driftwood, salvinia, anubias, and indian almond leaves.  They are thriving and quite the little piggies.









And a couple of nerites to help clean up any leftover food.

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Cliygh and Mia 2, monster

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## Xavier

Amazing! I can't wait until when they morph, do you have small live foods ready?

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## Amy

Yes, I have darts so I always have tiny live food available!  I will be ordering a few more cultures this week just to make sure I do not run out though.  It has been fun to see how much they've grown in just the past 5 days!

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Cliygh and Mia 2

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## elly

It should be fun to watch them morph. Hope you keep us updated.

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## Amy

I am planning to  :Smile:   We have a big range in development right now.  Some have their back legs starting to poke out and yet we found a tiny bitty newly hatched tad in the tank last night.  So there must have been an egg mixed in with them that I didn't notice because the water they were in was pretty mucky.

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Cliygh and Mia 2

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## Amy

It's been 1 week since we got the toad tads and there have been some big changes already!  All of the toads have some sort of legs developing and some are getting pretty big legs already.  We also must have gotten an egg mixed in with them, because there is an itty bitty teeny tadpole darting around the tank.  It will be fun to watch him grow from that tiny stage!

13282683_10153514730226976_1892172847_o by A H, on Flickr

13282779_10153514730271976_489129468_o by A H, on Flickr

13320999_10153514730986976_708527830_o by A H, on Flickr

We also acquired some more mystery tadpoles from the pond behind our house.  It was the only thing we could find other than more toad tadpoles.

13321057_10153514730131976_776552581_o by A H, on Flickr

13313460_10153514730021976_1353126248_o by A H, on Flickr

13282844_10153515494291976_728013484_o by A H, on Flickr

13275515_10153514729986976_1696325768_o by A H, on Flickr

13275257_10153514730166976_1066782875_o by A H, on Flickr

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monster

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## elly

I'll guess that the mysterytads might be gray tree frogs because of the speckling. But I have no way of knowing for sure.

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LilyPad

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## Amy

I am hoping so but wasn't sure because their dorsal fin is a little low.  I'm thinking possibly chorus frogs or wood frogs.  Which would be weird because I have never seen them in the area but not impossible.  It's interesting to watch them because their behaviour is totally different than the toads.  The toads hang out at the bottom of the tank and aggressively start eating as soon as the food is dumped in.  These guys hang out on the anubias, the salvinia roots, or the walls of the tank.  They kind of meander down to the food as they please.

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Cliygh and Mia 2

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## Xavier

I'm thinking those mystery tadpoles may be chorus frogs, they remind me of some Upland chorus frog tadpoles I've seen  :Smile:

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LilyPad

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## Amy

I was thinking that too, however, I think they're getting too big to be chorus frogs.  They are already bigger than the toad tadpoles with not even a hint of legs yet.  The dark spots are also getting darker and some and still nonexistent on others.  We may have 2 different kinds.  It will be interesting!

As for the toads, they are growing so quickly!  Over the weekend, the house got pretty hot (before I caved and turned on the a/c last night) so I was keeping the lights turned off on all the tanks.  When it finally cooled down last night, I turned the lights on the tadpole tank to do a water change, and found this! -

20160530_213714 by A H, on Flickr

We now have 4 toad tadpoles moved over to the grow out container.  Once their tails are absorbed and I'm sure they're eating, I'll move them over to a bigger tank with substrate that has been seeded with springtails and isopods.  

They are quick little suckers though!  They're not easy to catch.  I had no idea they would morph so quickly.  When we got them, not even 2 weeks ago, they had the tiniest speck of back legs and now they're already just about ready to come out of the water.  I have a feeling that more will have front legs tonight because they had some pretty good sized lumps on their front end.

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Cliygh and Mia 2, monster

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## Amy

It's kind of shocking how quickly these little guys are growing!  We got 18 toad tadpoles (was supposed to be 20, but oh well), 16 are out of the water, 1 is still in the water, and we had 1 fatality because one little dude didn't leave the water quite like he should have and drowned.  The smaller ones are munching down springs but the larger of the group have started on D. mels and have also enjoyed some D. hyd larvae.  

13304994_1636523970001643_7369857064282231730_o by A H, on Flickr
13350394_1636523973334976_7759854661265455384_o by A H, on Flickr
13323772_1639552623032111_1650278253331732619_o by A H, on Flickr
13351009_10153534809631976_1764666221_o by A H, on Flickr
13396504_10153534809536976_1166052952_o by A H, on Flickr


The mystery tads are what my kids and I call "super poopers."  I have to vacuum the floor of the tank DAILY with these guys.  They are quite a bit bigger than toad tadpoles, which isn't very hard to do though.  They act differently than the toad tadpoles.  They enjoy "hanging" from things like the salvina and anubias that are floated or even an IAL if it is lifted a bit.  The toads mostly just scavenged through the bottom of the tank and rested there at night.  I still have no id'd them, but I am really hoping they end up being greys.  They have hit the point where they are too big to be Pseudacris sp. but have grown too rapidly and are starting to develop legs, but are too small to be the bigger rana species like greenfrogs or bullfrogs.  Still looking at leopard frogs, wood frogs, and grey tree frogs.  I have a feeling it will only be another 2 weeks before we find out!

We call this guy "Mr. Crooked Tail" (I know, very original  :Smile:  )
13350309_1639552083032165_2760876557211633222_o by A H, on Flickr
13301348_1637168863270487_7935147646840353131_o by A H, on Flickr
13268351_1637168859937154_4788933951306235360_o by A H, on Flickr
13405228_10153534809176976_1063823430_o by A H, on Flickr
13388922_10153534808791976_1566920634_o by A H, on Flickr

About a week after we got the toads, we noticed a little speck zipping around the tank.  We weren't sure what it was at first and initially thought it was a very tiny tadpole.  Turns out that it was a little fish!  So we're raising him right along with the tads.  He's very tiny but growing every day and we do not have to try to strain to see him anymore.
13405277_10153534808666976_1248174834_o (1) by A H, on Flickr

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Cliygh and Mia 2, monster

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## gut

Wonderful!! Eagerly awaiting the next update

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Cliygh and Mia 2, LilyPad

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## Xavier

As am I!

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## Amy

One step closer to id'ing the mystery tads!  One of the big guys had a whisper of a leg when I left for work yesterday and some pretty good sized legs when I got home from work last night!

20160607_072049 by A H, on Flickr

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Cliygh and Mia 2, monster

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## Xavier

Can't wait to see what they turn out to be!

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## Amy

The toads are finally all out of the water and ALL on D. mels, which is great.  They eat a ton and are also starting to get that chubby toad look.  They're still tiny but so adorable!  Out of all 18 of the toad tadpoles, we lost 1 because it did not come out of the water like it was supposed to and drowned.  Other than that, the remaining 17 are thriving!  I was a little concerned about the last one to come OOW because he was much tinier and skinnier than the others when they did, but he has perked up fast and is just as chubby as the rest now.

20160612_205316 by A H, on Flickr

20160612_205050 by A H, on Flickr

This morning we woke up to a surprise that one of our mystery tadpoles had 3 legs!  I moved him over to the grow out tank (separate from the toads) and within the next 5 minutes, we got to watch the 4th leg pop through.  About 10 minutes later, he came out of the water.  Our first mystery tad OOW!  I do believe they're tree frogs, judging by their toe pads.  I am fairly certain that this guy is a grey tree frog because there is some yellow on the inside of the back legs and he turned pretty red when I caught him in the net.  The next day or two should tell us though!

20160612_205208 by A H, on Flickr

20160612_205121 by A H, on Flickr

20160613_073006 by A H, on Flickr

20160613_084230 by A H, on Flickr

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Cliygh and Mia 2, monster

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## elly

congrats! The mysterypole certainly looks like it's going to have tree frog toes.

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Cliygh and Mia 2

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## Xavier

Yup, I agree, it seems to be a H.versicolor/Chrysoscelis  :Smile:  Good work!

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## Amy

I can't wait to get home just so I can see how he colored up after coming out of the water  :EEK!:   I have 2 more that should pop their front legs within the next day or two now.

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Cliygh and Mia 2, monster

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## Amy

Sooo...this next batch of tadpoles is likely all Grey Tree frogs.  I would venture to guess _Hyla versicolor_ because that is what I hear calling in the area that we found them.  I also have a few more tadpoles that I bought because I was not thinking I would be lucky enough to get grey tree frogs...but those guys not quite as developed as these.  Some of them are actually pretty teeny yet and the bigger ones have no legs so far.  As of this morning, there are 2 tree frogs out of the water and 3 more in the sloped, grow out water dish because they had 3-4 legs before I left for work this morning.  The toads are doing excellent and are little fatties.  I can barely keep up feeding them!  They are on a mix of D. hyd's and D. mels.  The only tree frog that is eating so far is munching down D hyds without a problem.  

Tadpoles are a surprising amount of work though.  Their only job is to eat and grow at this point.  That means there are constant feedings and a lot of waste to be cleaned.  I feed them every morning before work.  I chop frozen spinach up into pretty small pieces to make it easier for them to eat.  When they started popping back legs, I started mixing in protein twice a week.  Usually in the form of chopped blood worms or frozen brine shrimp.  That is just the morning.  Then, when I get home from work, I vacuum out all of the poo that has accumulated in the last 24 hours (which is A LOT) using an aquarium airline tub as a siphon.  That usually ends up taking 25-50% of the water so that much ends up being replaced.  Then I chop up more food for them.  In addition to those daily responsibilities, I also have to keep a close eye out for any tads with 3 or more legs.  Because my tads are at various levels of development, I cannot just lower the water level for them to climb out.  So once they pop the first front leg, I move them over to the grow out container.  And let me tell you, these suckers can be QUICK when a net comes anywhere near them.  I am always afraid of damaging their teeny fragile legs too! 

*The first guy to come OOW-*
20160615_101217 by A H, on Flickr

*This guy came OOW this morning- 
*20160616_094116 by A H, on Flickr

*First froggy is turning green!-
*20160616_094029 by A H, on Flickr

*Another one that I'm hoping will be OOW by the time I get home from work - 
*20160616_073934 by A H, on Flickr

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Cliygh and Mia 2

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## Xavier

Amazing! One day I hope to collect some Hyla savignyi and raise them too!  :Smile:

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LilyPad

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## Amy

Even though it's a lot of work, it really has been a great experience.  It will be especially awesome knowing that the frogs we keep will have been raised by us since they were only a few days old tadpoles.

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Cliygh and Mia 2

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## Amy

My home is being overrun with froglets!  Currently, we have 17 toadlets.  Out of those, we will only be keeping one.  The only reason we're keeping this guy is because he appears to be stunted or dwarfed for some reason.  Poor guy was late coming out of the water and when he finally did, he was considerably smaller than the others where when they came OOW.  For the last two weeks, I have been feeding him a steady diet of springtails and now have also started giving him fruit fly larvae.  However, he's barely grown in that time!  Because of that, he'll stay in our care and live a nice cushy life  :Smile: 

(Ignore my garden worn hands  :Embarrassment:  )
20160622_190555 by A H, on Flickr

As of this morning, we had 15 grey tree frogs OOW.  So far, everyone appears to be doing well and has been munching down a considerable number of pinheads and fruit flies.  Last night I added a plastic viney plant to help them feel a bit more secure, and they pretty much thought it was the greatest thing ever.  This morning I woke up to find all 15 of them on it haha.

20160622_204448 by A H, on Flickr

20160622_185321 by A H, on Flickr

We have quite a lot of tadpoles to go yet.  3 of them appear to be bullfrogs or some other big mystery frog, I'm not really sure.  They are about twice the size the gray tadpoles have been when they come OOW yet they only have the teeny tiniest legs so far.  I might give them away as I do not know what I would do with them when they're OOW...I'm at my tank limit!  All the rest appear to be grey tree frogs  :Smile:

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Cliygh and Mia 2

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## elly

Tiny! Where are you going to let the extra frogs go?

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## Xavier

Beautiful! So all of the grays were on the plant? Maybe you should move them to one of the larger "Kritter keepers" so they have space to climb

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## Amy

They're in a 12x12x18 exo right now  :Smile:   They move into an xl k keeper when they're getting close to coming oow,  I keep a sloped water dish in there.  Once their tail is mostly resorbed,  they go into the exo.

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Cliygh and Mia 2

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## Xavier

Ahh, okay. Once again they are very pretty, you've done a nice job raising them!  :Smile:

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## Amy

I thought I would give a final update on these guys.  We gave away 14 of the tree frogs, kept 3 tree frogs and the stunted toad, and released the rest after swabbing and testing them for disease.  The kids named the stunted toad "Hagrid" and he is living up to his name!
First picture was June 23 - Second Picture was September 17.  He's still growing too.

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Cliygh and Mia 2

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## Xavier

Amazing! I've been waiting for an update for a while, lol

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## Amy

Yes, life gets a bit busy sometimes, sorry.  I honestly cant believe the stunted toad even lived.  The first several weeks of his life, he could only eat springtails because fruit flies were too big.  He is getting a tank upgrade over the weekend.  He has been in a 5 gallon because he was so bitty, I didn't want to lose him!

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