# Frogs & Toads > Frogs >  Tadpole Care - not eating

## suzic1163

I have a number of tadpoles from the dam on my property which I want to grow out enough to identify them. I know the species that should be in the area, but not what are on my property. 
Any how, the point being, is it seems that they are not eating. At least they are not eating the fish food flakes that I have supplied them with until I can manage to get my hands on some Thera pellets (I read in another thread that fish food was good to feed them). 
They are kept in a glass lasagne dish in water, sediments and vegetation from the dam that they come from. They are local frogs so used to this temperature and are placed were they get direct sunlight at certain times of the day.

Does any one have any suggestions for me?

Also does anyone know (roughly) how long it takes tadpoles to become terrestrial?

Thanks,
Alisha  :Smile:

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## wesleybrouwer

Firstly, get them out of the sun.

Because you don't know what they are ,
Try a variety of foods.
You dont have to see them feed by the way.

Good food souces are algues, you can get tablets of spirulina and grind it.
Live food like waterflees (not sure how you call those ) 
Some leaves and sediment would be ok to.

We usually use leaves of the beuk and eik  and the little pineapple like fruits  of the els,
Also not sure how this is called by you guys  :Big Grin:  

I'll try a translation tool to change the dutch names to English 


the time it takes them to metamorphose can't be told.
it can differ for different species and also depends on food available and temperature of the water.

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## Jace

*I agree with Wesley to remove them out of the sun.  It will heat up the limited amount of water in your lasagna dish too fast and could be part of the reason your tadpoles are not eating. * 

*I fed my tadpoles a mix of fishflakes, algae discs and blanched lettuce.  Once they discovered the fish food and algae discs, the lettuce was all but forgotten.  I never actually saw them eat and was worried that the food was disolving into the water before they were getting it...until a very wise member said: "Everything poops".  Sure enough, there was poop everywhere, and tadpoles don't poop unless they are eating.  Relief!!*

*Are your tads showing any leg growth whatsoever?  Once the frog legs pop, tadpoles will stop eating the food you are supplying them. *

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## wesleybrouwer

First the proper translation according to the google translate

waterflees=daphnia
eik=oak
beuk=beech
els= alder so it will be the props of the alder  :Big Grin: 


Using the food sources named will be fine,
altough not all tads take live food.
Most live of algaes or parts of the sediment.
The tablets used for the algae eaters will sink to the bottom, same with fishfood.
It don;t get solved in the water  :Big Grin: 
They just eat it and turn it to waste  :Wink: 

Like Jace said, if the tads will have their limbs and get ashore,
they will still have their tails.
They first live of this, they "eat" their tails wich can do for up to a week.
When the tail is resolved or almost, they will start eating springtails or for larger species up to the little fruit flies.

Letting the tads check by someone with a good knowledge on them can give you an indication of the species due to certain caracteristics.
Probably they can guess the feeding habits by the mouthparts as well.

Good luck and i'm curious how they develop and turn out to be  :Big Grin:

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## suzic1163

Thank you for your replies.

I only had them where they could get some sunlight as that is were they were on the edge of the dam. They have sediments from the dam in there as well as some vegetation and a whole variety of insect larvae. 
The biggest of them is only about 10mm in the body, then plus the tail.
The fish food flakes are still floating on top, but will get some algae flakes when I'm out later.

Silly question, but what does tadpole poop look like? (lol)

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## Greenlove

I'm not sure if all tadpole poop looks alike, but I have Gray tree frogs and when they were tadpoles, it was greenish-brown, thin and about a 1/4 of an inch long.  It might be a little hard to see with all the stuff you have in with them.  If you have a magnifying glass that might help :Big Grin: .  Good luck.

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## wesleybrouwer

Some pictures i have to clearify it a little.
The brownish thin things you see is the poop  :Big Grin: 

May have some more but those are the ones i saw quickly

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## suzic1163

Thanks for that.

Well there you go, there is tadpole poo in there, but I have no idea what they are eating. Mind you they do have their own little ecosystem in there with all of the stuff out of the dam...

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