Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a tadpole named Clyde, and I was wondering if anyone can help me figure out what he will be when he grows up.

He (I guess its a he) is just under 2"long from nose to tip of tail and his back legs just started forming. He was the only survivor of my first attempt to save the tadpoles that showed up in the 'kiddie' pools I have in the yard for my dogs. The water was so murky I didn't think anything was alive in there, but Clyde swam out when I dumped the water.

He is now in a small fish aquarium with rocks for climbing and hiding and an aquatic plant. I feed him frozen lettuce and bottom feeder fish food.

Any assistance would be helpful. I will try to post the link to his picture below but if that doesn't work just type in: http://gallery.me.com/stephaninie#100024 in a browser and it will take you to the picture of Clyde.

Thanks,
Frognut
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Clyde is a species of treefrog; the lateral eyes and very high dorsal fin tapering to an elongate tip is typical for them. Where was he collected? That will narrow down the possibilities.

Clyde was collected in Northern Maryland, Harford County - close to 10 miles south of the PA Line along Route 1. He was one of a bunch of tadpoles found in a 'kiddie' pool in my yard.

Thanks for your help!!

Frognut

All right then, you've got two treefrogs in your area- the gray treefrog complex (Hyla chrysoscelis and/or H. versicolor, I'm not sure which is there) and the green treefrog (H. cinerea). I can't tell which it is based on the photo, but the fact that it's breeding in a pool makes me think it's a gray. Greens seem to prefer large permanent wetlands, while grays will breed just about anywhere there's a few inches of water.

He'll be easy to ID once he transforms: Gray treefrog metamorphs have a dark lateral streak and a pale spot below the eye, like this:

Green treefrogs look just like the adults, with a white lateral stripe (often missing in frogs in your area) and sometimes with yellow flecks on the back:

Good luck raising your little guy!

Hey - thanks a ton! Now that I have a good idea what kind of frog he is, I will have a better idea of how to care for him/her as he grows. (Like making sure the lid stays shut so he doesn't scuttle up the side and sneak off.)

Thanks again for your information.

Frognut

Update -- he is now an adorable froglet. See the attached pictures.

I didn't know he would go from tail & legs to froglet with just a bitty tail in less than 12 hours.

He actually escaped through a small hole in the top of the container because when I went to bed he was still underwater. I didn't think I needed to screen him in yet.

His only saving grace was the white cat hair on the floor that attached to him - I noticed the hopping dust bunny, but without it, he would have blended right in to the dark flooring.

What a cutie. Thanks everyone

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