Reptile & Amphibian Forums

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.

Argh. The linkage worked fine in the post preview, vanished in the live post. Here are links to the larger pictures:

Tadpole

Green froglet (top)

Green froglet (side)

Both of them

The one that's developed legs looks like a Grey Treefrog.

Tim

Third Eye

The critter's skin now looks slightly granular, which is definitely a point in the gray treefrog's favor. Between that, the date the eggs were collected, the overall profile of the tail, etc., I'm getting fairly well convinced that's what I have. But what's with the red tail, or lack of it? There has definitely been no trace of red on the tails, and every tadpole reference I've checked says versicolor tads have distinctive red markings on their tails, sometimes even an entirely red tail. These have been eating algae (from their source water) and an algae/fish-based fish food; perhaps they're missing something required to develop the red pigment?

I was originally planning to take them to a wetland near the collection site this weekend but I think I'll keep them around for a week or two to watch their growth for a bit before I launch them. I have a rather elderly female gray treefrog, and the difference between her and the little guy is pretty amazing.

The transforming one is down to about half a tail as of this afternoon. His jaws still don't seem to be finished, but by tomorrow he should probably be ready to eat some fruit flies. I hope they're small enough.

Update: The tail is down to a little nub; the froglet has been moved to a damp terrarium, and is now adhering happily to the side like a proper treefrog. Unless barking treefrogs have made a move north that I don't know about, it's Hyla versicolor, red tail or no red tail. It's kind of hard to call a critter a "gray" treefrog when it's bright, almost metallic, green! I'll try to get a picture of the newly transformed little guy up later.

I'm in Maryland, and my 4 Gray's (that were raised from tadpoles) looked just like that one. I never saw any red in the tails and one of them was such a pale green as he morphed that I thought it was a green tree frog instead of a gray. But as it is growing (much slower than the rest, I might add) - it still has the same characteristics of the Gray, like the spot under the eye and the leg markings.

I'm not an expert by any stretch of the imagination- since these are the first frogs I've EVER had - but they all resembled your's exactly. And they did all develop at different times and sizes, even though the last 3 came from the same batch of tads). The first one was huge, and the second and fourth were medium and the third was the little one that was pale green (I'm referring to the time they went from swimming with all legs and tail to froglet with barely a tail).

Hope that helps