# General Topics > Vivarium, Terrarium & Enclosure Discussion >  Pacman Tadpole Setup

## Radical Ribbits

Hello Everyone!

I am very new to this.I have wanted a true pet frog for a long time now. As a summer project for the kids we allow them to catch a toad or tadpoles and keep them in my terrarium for the summer then release them before school starts up. This summer we rescued some Grey Tree frog tadpoles from our pool. We placed them in a dish in the terrarium and raised them up and released the froglets! It was soooooo much fun watching the tadpoles grow and metamorph into frogs and got us thinking a little harder about getting some pacmans.

 I wanted some colorful ones that the boys would be able to see easily and haven't been able to find any good ones at our local pet stores. I began to search online and stumbled upon a good breeder with tadpoles available and we ordered some. They are due to arrive next week. I have been trying to do a bunch of research and establish a setup long before they arrive . 

I have found a lot of info on pacman frog setups, but not so much about tadpole setups. I did read that they should be seperated and jars work? I set up some jars on a flat and have filled them about 2 inches deep with water that I treated with a conditioner for amphibians. I also read that they may need to be kept at a warmer temp. Our home stays around 70-73. I read that the daytime temp should be around 85? So, I was thinking of placing an insulated heat pad under the flat and using a probe thermometer to monitor the water temp. I was wondering if any of this info is accurate, and if this setup will work for my tadpoles? Also, I wanted to know if they need any kind of plant material in the jars? I read that some tadpoles need something floating to attach to or almond/oak leaves in the water for tannins? I hope someone can set me straight and get these tadpoles off to a good start!

Thanks!

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## Jason

Hey

individual jars is not a good idea imo, pacmans will produce thousands of tadpoles and so you'd be needing to change these probably serval thousand jars a day. You need a huge amount of space to cater the tadpoles, you'd need large plastic water troughs or paddling pools or loads of aquariums equipped with filters and heaters. You'd also need a lot of frogs and a lot of space, individual plastic storage boxes with heating, lots of food to feed them and you'd probably not be able to breed them for a few years until they mature. Imo unless you wanting to invest a lot of money and space to begin commercial breeding, I'd pick another frog for a project for fun. A good option would be fire bellied toads, they're easy to breed, you can keep them in large groups so won't take up much space and they produce only a few hundred tadpoles

Jason

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## Jason

I've just read that wrong, so you've ordered horned frog tadpoles, tbh i never even knew you could purchase them. I'd just use a standard aquarium with a sponge filter and feed them heavy. However if you only have a few the individual conteainer method will be fine and heat tape connected to a thermostat should do. For babies you can also keep them together with a heat lamp for heating but again, feed them heavily and they shouldn't eat eachother but see if they do, I think you should give them the opportunity as in the wild they would and it will give them a good calcium boost. It's really good that you're doing this as a activity with the kids, parents rarely do stuff like that nowadays and just buy kids iPads and phones and leave them to it, rather than do educational and fun stuff like this! Best of luck and have fun!

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## Cory

Hi, I copied this from a great website called anapsid and thought it could help you out abit on top of what Jason said.

( Tadpole management is         very time consuming. The tadpoles are total carnivorous, and can be raised         on live tubifex worms. They will also readily eat each other, and there         are two ways of dealing with this. The first is to place each tadpole         into its own small jar, and the other is to place all the tadpoles into         a large tank of water that is filled with masses of floating plants (real         or plastic). Food can then be placed on the floor of the tank and the         tadpoles will swim down, feed, and then swim back up to hide in the plants.         Both methods require labor. The first involves changing dozens of individual         jars to keep the water clean, and the other involves morning and evening         siphoning of the large tadpole tank. I prefer the large-tank method myself,         even though you may loose an occasional tadpole to cannibalism.
The tadpoles will grow         rapidly, and after about a month, they should begin transforming into         little frogs. They'll need a place to haul out of the water at this point         and, once again, you will be faced with a husbandry decision. If kept         together in large numbers, almost every day you will find frogs with siblings'         hind legs sticking out of their mouths. The other alternative is to place         each frog into its own individual plastic cup. The little frogs are easy         to feed, they will eat anything that moves, such as crickets, mealworms,         other frogs, small goldfish, or your fingers. They will grow quite rapidly.         Horned frogs are really fun to breed, but be prepared to spend a fair         amount of time on your project in order to succeed.)

And Jason I know what you mean about parents not doing much educational wise with there kids these days, that's why im so glad my kids are active and into all kind of sports and have a very high interest in our frogs, my 8 year old always ask to bring them to school.

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jasonm96

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## Radical Ribbits

Thanks Jason! Do you know if they need any kind of plant material in with the tadpoles?

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## Radical Ribbits

Thanks Cory that helps. Still not sure about what temp. They should be held at? Since my kids will be involved I would like to try my best to reduce any losses. Death is part of nature and they understand that, but we would like to practice the best husbandry we can! So, any info that can help us succeed would be great!

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## Jason

Probably not a must but it will help with water quality. A really good book that covers breeding, raising tadpoles is AVS Chacoan Horned Frogs, if you want the best results I'd recommend you purchase that as it's wrote by one of the first to breed the Cranwell's horned frog in captivity and is very detailed unlike most other books I've came across. 

Water temp for the tadpoles should be in the high 70 to low 80s F, basically what they frogs will need.

It's not about death, allowing the froglets to eat eachother (within reason) could prove quite important for the best development as it will be a huge calcium boost with the bones and what would probably happen in the wild. Many have been raised individually to prevent this and turned out fine, I'm just saying if it does happen it's nothing to feel bad about as it's healthy for them and probably perfectly natural, so maybe the best husbandry depending on how you look at it

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## Radical Ribbits

Thanks so much! I will definately check into that book. Always looking for a good book!

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## Jason

No problem  :Smile:  It's a good interesting read and covers other species as well. I've purchased two other books on Horned frogs and they've been bad reads, outdated husbandry and more like a child's book than anything, so be careful if you purchase any others. That one I recommended is the only one directly on Horned frogs that is good that I know of IMO, however Frogs and Toads by Devin Edmonds includes their care but it's only a small section of the book, so not as in depth but otherwise good

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