Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Through a shipment of feeder fish, I stumbled upon a tadpole. I took him home. He's eating and growing, he has legs and little bumps that will soon become his arms. i'm not sure what he's going to turn out to be, and i'm not exactly sure whats required for him when he grows into a complete frog, or stages in between for that matter. someone please assist me, give me info on how to care for this new member of my aquatic family. thanks much!

K

That is EXACTLY what happened to me!
I've raised tads for a long time, and when I stumbled across my tadpole in a feeder fish tank, I decided to raise him. He's now a healthy little Southern Leopard Frog. (See the thread right before this one for a picture )

First off, you'll probably want to get his enclosure right- Which is pretty simple, except you must have something for him to get ontop of and out of the water. He may not be a fully aquatic frog, and if his lungs develop before you have anything for him to climb onto, he may drown. Make it a sloping area out of rocks. That way, if he isn't fully aquatic but he also isn't a climber (tree frog), he'll still be able to kind of come up onto a beach.

Food isn't too much of a problem at this point. Once their front legs begin to come through, they stop eating and absorb their tail into their bloodstream- thus providing any and all nutrients. So if you're putting food in there and he stops eating, this is why, don't be alarmed. Tropical Fish Flakes will work fine, but I usually feed mine those along with bloodworm larvae and algae flakes.

You'll want to search google for a Tadpole Identification Guide. I have a brilliant one bookmarked on my home computer (I'm at school right now) so when I get home I will post it for you. You'll need to do a bit of research along with it but it's pretty worth it.

Without that website, that's all I can provide for now. Once you find out his species, you'll know what kind of enclosure to have.

I'm going to go see if I can find that identification guide for you.

Would you believe I found it?

http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/tadpole/

Brilliant website. Just scroll down and click on the different families. Or read the physical description it provides below, and if it matches, click the link. It's kind of like guess-and-check. Be sure to closely examine your tadpole- the slightest differences in color or markings could completely change the species of frog.

Good luck, keep us posted!

shopunke@yahoo.com if you need anything else