About two months ago, I found a small clump of very tiny frog eggs in a garden center's disused (and about to be drained) former outdoor display area for water plants. I brought them home, they duly hatched out, and five tadpoles remain. One (which was actually a tadpole when I collected the eggs) is well on his way through metamorphosis; two have small hind legs; and two are lagging way behind.

I can't figure out what these things are. I was assuming spring peepers originally, from the size of the clump, the eggs themselves, and the tadpoles. However, as of this morning, the tad who sprouted his front legs yesterday was showing a greenish tinge, and by late afternoon, he was lime green, with a dark mask.

The tadpoles started out dark, have gotten increasingly lighter as they grew, and right at the very end of the development (after the hind legs appeared) developed dark patterning on their tails. Before the increasing green covered it, the near-froglet had darker splotches on his hind legs as well.

The eggs were collected in Amherst, NH.

The little fellow with the legs looks like some kind of treefrog to me, but he's definitely not a peeper (being lime green rules that out, not to mention his head isn't nearly pointy enough), and the grey treefrog has a distinctive red patch on the tadpole's tail, which there has been no trace of in these tads. That pretty much runs me out of treefrogs that live in this area.

Here are some pictures of the tadpoles (click for larger images). For reference, the little plastic boxes I put them in so they'd hold still for their portraits are 1" x 2". I increased the image brightness slightly to compensate for the inadequate lighting conditions I photographed them under.

First, a large tadpole just starting metamorphosis:




These two are the little green dude, top and side views:






And finally, both tadpoles together for comparison:



Note: They started out almost identical in size.


So, anyone have a clue what I've got here? I'd say Hyla versicolor except for the absence of the supposedly diagnostic red markings on the tail. I'm out of guesses.

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