I have 3 new bullfrog tadpoles.


To: ribitphrog@...: slkros@...: Tue, 22 Apr 2008
03:08:59 +0000Subject: [R Ibit Phrog] froglet food




I have tadpoles living outside in a 'natural' environment but the food in the
location is poor. I give them miner's lettuce (it looks like mini lily pads with
a flower on a stalk, it's edible for humans--also called winter purslane or
montia perfoliata). They seem to thrive on that, they're growing pretty fast. I
also give them algae or moss from a seasonal creek that's drying up. And I give
them fish flakes mashed up with mashed miner's lettuce. They've been eating it
for 2 weeks to a month but I'm wondering if I could give them other food items.
Does anyone know if it's safe to give tads raw potato chunks or pieces of potato
peel? In the care pages associated with this group I saw the info aboutt pine
needles being poisonous, and thankfully so because some of the algae I harvest
from the creek is mixed with pine needles. Though tads live in the creek, better
to be safe.I noticed a few of them began swimming or floating upside down and
unable to right themselves. There are over a hundred tads of varying ages
depending on when the eggs hatched. Of those hundreds, relatively few have died.
I looked up the bloat problem. One survived, it's been alive for days. I
isolated it in a bowl in case it was infectious and the bloat went down after a
day, but there's a blue blotch on the tummy and I suspect the tad's internals
may have a rupture or maybe it's herniated. It was very slow and lethargic to
the point where I thought it was dead a number of times. Then after the bloat
went down it became more active. I dangled the bowl in the pool so it could see
its mates but so that it was isolated against hassle or injury since they might
nip or bother it. This afternoon it acted like it wanted out of the bowl,
flipping around to get out with its friends. It was deformed, lopsided, with the
tail off to one side and sunken belly on that side as seen from above but round
on the other. It seemed to swim normally and be energetic, I felt sorry for it
so I let it go with its friends. Most are just healthy, happy, active,
inquisitive little tads. The biggest have tiny hind feet starting. They're tree
frogs and I look forward to seeing them become frogs and go off into the woods.
I worry about the local predators, some of which are cats. But hopefully many
will survive to escape into the woods. During froglet season (late spring
throughout the summer into fall) I have to be careful as the new frogs are so
tiny they're hard to see and sometimes come in the house. I leave water down for
them now just in case so they'll survive til I can find them and put them
outside again.They're so cute to watch. They have a lot of personality. Some of
the things they do that I love, they eat a hole in the miner's lettuce leaves
then lay in the hole and sun themselves. It's so cute watching them peek out.
They lay in the leaves as they float like little lily pads. Also when they come
up for air they blow a tiny bubble and then sit there peeking at me over the
bubble while it's still attached to their mouth. They nuzzle each other and nip
each other, seem affectionate with each other and one time two of them touched
mouths like they were kissing. I do food drops from a spoon and sometimes they
come up and immediately start nibbling, or they float or lay in the food as it
falls from the spoon. Their patterns are so pretty, in the sunshine they're
mottled shades of brown or olive, and seem to get darker if the sun is high,
almost black. Their tails are striped. Their little eyes are gold with
horizontal 'cateye' slits. I can see them watching me. It's just so cute. They
range as adults in colors from kermit green with white underbellies and face
stripes, to mottled tan or gray, and dark brown mottled. It'll be fun to see
what colors they all turn out. I love the little croaking noises of the adult
males, sputtering and making funny little 'fart' noises. This is one of the
first places I've lived that has native frogs just living wild. Sadly it's so
dry here in California that their breeding holes often dry up before the tads
can grow feet.






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