Stacy's Grow a Frog Adventure

2010-03-18T07:23:00.003-04:00

thought this was appropriate to post here... aren't they cute? (no, this is not one of my frogs. my frogs are not obese, i think it's a bit cruel to feed them so much they get that fat.)

three frogs left

2010-02-04T15:04:00.002-05:00

i buried leopardy this afternoon. he looked pretty much dead for several days, but every time i went to scoop him up, he'd start kicking around a little bit. he was skinny and his body looked old and worn out. i think he died of old age. maybe hastened a bit from being the smallest and the most timid. it didn't matter how much food i put in the tank, the fat ones would gobble it all up, and he never did seem to get quite enough. well, the other three seem to be completely back to normal. we'll see. i'm not sure how long these frogs are supposed to live, but according to something i read online, it said they live a lot longer than the five(?) years we've had them.

goodbye

2010-01-29T19:23:00.002-05:00

i just buried spotty under the snow. it's been snowing all day here today. he was the second spotty frog. it was when the first spotty, a dwarf frog, died that we got the tadpoles. i blogged about it. that's what this is. you can scroll down to read the story, from the bottom up, in chronological order, if you'd like.

anyway, the first few times i thought he was dead, and went to fish him out of the tank, he started moving around. noticed he hadn't moved in a few hours, and figured that was that. it was. i feel better now.

the skinny one is still hanging in there. he looks so old. so worn out. the other three seem fine now. not entirely sure what happened. we'll keep a close watch on them.

goodbye

2010-01-27T09:35:00.000-05:00

i don't know why some people have to make fun of every perceived weakness in everyone else. i don't know why, if you show these people your soft underbelly, why do they always have to poke at it ever after?

my frogs are dying. i am sad and upset about this. three of them might make it, but the other two are definitely goners. i'm going to have to bury my pets today. they taught me a lot. and now i have to let them go, a good bit sooner than i thought i would. goodbye has never come easy for me. and when it's goodbye forever, that is far and away more difficult.

i'll be okay. eventually. right now i need some time alone if i can't have a shoulder to cry on. and today i can have neither of those things. i have to go to the dentist instead.

photos

2009-12-11T22:11:00.002-05:00

the tank isn't clean, but i did snap some photos of the frogs today...
basically, nothing has changed in the last couple years. i still feed the frogs ...sometimes. not too often. i clean their tank even less often. they are fat and happy and singing at me right now.

recent photos

2007-05-21T09:02:00.001-04:00

So I cleaned the tank last night and actually remembered to snap a few (dozen) photos afterwards! Here are my favorites.

remember, you can always click a picture to see it much larger!!

long time no update

2007-03-21T09:55:00.000-04:00

All five froggies are very healthy and happy. They are much bigger and fatter than in the most recent photos, and I promise to post new ones soon. I sometimes hear one or two of them quietly singing, especially after I clean their tank or add fresh water. I try to keep the pebbles arranged just so, with just glass in the middle of the tank to make it easier for them to find their food, but the frogs always redecorate how they want their home to be. I water my houseplants with their tank water, which is very good for the plants, and for the frogs as well. I am still using a turkey baster to suck up the goop off the bottom, but it's calming sort of work and I enjoy it for the most part. I only do that about once a month or so anyway. They aren't so shy as they used to be, except Leopardy still stays hidden most of the time. The others will come out and swim around sometimes. As soon as I turn off their filter, they know it's feeding time, and go beserk! I only feed them about twice a week, and they are still getting rather fat. I have this problem with captive animals that are obese. I know they don't have much fun besides eating, but that's no reason to shorten their life span or to create poor health in an animal, in particular a cold-blooded critter that has a much lower caloric requirement.

2006-06-11T07:41:00.000-04:00

Sorry it's been so long, not much new to tell. The froggies are getting bigger and eating much more but less often. And pooping much more. But froggie poop is very very good for plants, so now they have a job as fertilizer producers for my houseplants!
Here they are last night at feeding time:

The biggest one, on the left, in the back, is Buggy Eyes. I can always tell him because he's still a good bit bigger and fatter than the rest. He's always the first to eat, too (imagine that). But mostly it's impossible for me to differentiate between the frogs anymore. You can tell that Spotless is the lightest one, and Leopardy is the darkest one, but the other two is anyone's guess which is which. All five frogs are apparently males. I suppose that's a good thing, as we don't need any babies! My children have decided that since the guppy tank is becoming overpopulated, we just might have to feed some of them to the frogs.

2006-01-22T12:47:00.000-05:00

It is getting harder to tell the three original GAF frogs apart, and I have given up attempting to guess what sex any of them are, we'll just have to wait and see. Zeyonda is now almost as large as BuggyEyes, Spotty and Leopardy are the smallest of the five. Here are some pics I took last night at feeding time.

BuggyEyes (top), Spotless (bottom left), and Leopardy (bottom right)

from left to right, BuggyEyes, Spotty, Zeyonda, and Spotless

The three original frogs that we raised from tadpoles. I'm not sure now, but it looks like probably Spotty on the left, Zeyonda top/middle, and BuggyEyes on the right.

2005-12-29T14:56:00.000-05:00

I believe that Leopardy is a girl... seems to have the bump in back over her cloaca that serves as ovipositor on female frogs. I still occassionally hear singing, but am uncertain which of the frogs is doing it! So that would make, if I am correct, three females and two male froglets. Buggy-Eyes, Zeyonda, and Leopardy being the females and Spotless and Spotty the boys. They could prove me wrong, they are still quite small and it is hard to see much detail. None of the froglets have black arms, but Spotty's arms are a good deal darker than those of the other frogs.

chirp chirp chirp

2005-12-16T09:39:00.000-05:00

I hear singing! It appeared to be coming from Spotless, as he was the only one not hiding and as soon as he saw me walk past the tank, the chirping stopped and he ran away to hide. All of the frogs are still a little skittish, but seem to be getting more used to my presence. They know when I turn off the filter and make a tapping sound that it's time to eat. I have started feeding them twice a day again, but much much less at a time. I am cleaning the tank whenever I think of it, and doing a partial water change once a week. I can't imagine how messy the tank will get when they are big frogs!

I do have some recent photos to share:

Zeyonda (top) and Spotty. You can't really tell in this photo, but Zeyonda has really grown to be a bit larger than Spotty now.

Spotless in the food dish (never mind that brown algae - yuck!)

Leopardy peeking out (he is still the most shy of all five froglets)

And two photos of Buggy-Eyes, just because she is a camera hound :)
first with a very full belly (see the lump?)

and her typical standing pose in the plants

Spotty is a boy...

2005-12-14T08:51:00.000-05:00

I think Spotty is a boy. Not real sure, but now Zeyonda has grown larger than him, and he has dark arms and hands (sometimes). Zeyonda and Buggy-Eyes I am certain are girls, but they might suprise me some day! They are still quite small. The two new guys I still think are boys, but they do not have the darker hands and arms that Spotty sometimes has, and they are big and fat like Buggy-Eyes. I have new photos I need to crop and upload, hopefully will do that later today!

a few more photos!

2005-11-17T09:15:00.000-05:00

This really illustrates the difference in size between our froglets. Spotless (top right) is somewhat smaller than BuggyEyes, but still quite a bit larger than Zeyonda (bottom left), as you can see here:

and..... drum roll please....

some photos of the elusive Leopardy
front

and rear

a few new photos

2005-11-16T10:10:00.000-05:00

I had absolutely no luck getting a picture of Leopardy, he is really pretty, but very timid and would not come out to say "cheese"!

Here is Miss BuggyEyes, our largest froglet.

and

BuggyEyes and Spotty (in the background)

Spotless!

Spotless and Spotty

Spotty

and Zeyonda, the smallest of them all. To get an idea of what Leopardy looks like, imagine this frog just a bit bigger with darker spots and a whiter belly.

Little frogs poop a lot, y'all!

2005-11-10T14:44:00.000-05:00

Brown Algae

A few days ago, I noticed this brown discoloration of some of the decorations in the froggy tank. Today, I finally realized it was brown algae and the tank got it's first scrubbing, inside and out because I know that stuff can take over a tank in no time at all. EEEEWWWWWW!!! Little frogs poop a lot, y'all! I thought, since the tank is half bare-bottom and rocks are only in part of the tank, that as long as I fed them over the glass, and kept the poop and extra food regularly sucked up (using the turkey baster, still haven't justified in my own head the expense of one of those fancy dancy gravel vacuums) that it would be pretty clean. okay then... so today I decide to really clean the tank. I started by sucking up any gunk from the edges of the rocky places. Oh, that was nasty. Really really nasty brown goopy grossness. EEEWWWWW - so I wonder what is under the rest of the rocks and get to cleaning everything really really well. I got three gallons of dark brown gunk from under the rocks and decorations, which I used to water my houseplants, they should love it. I scrubbed the brown slime from the food dish and hidey holes, then realized there was brown gunk (algae) growing on the glass, too. *sigh* It looks as though I've been greatly overfeeding the little frogs and undercleaning the tank.

2005-11-04T16:56:00.000-05:00

the little frogs have been getting bigger and bigger... so big, in fact, I had to lower the water level because they were hitting their heads on the glass when they came up for a breath of air!!

Had a scare a few days ago. I thought Buggy-Eyes had eaten one of her sisters. I walked by the tank, and noticed something sticking out of her mouth. Upon closer inspection, it appeared to be a frog's front leg, and it was moving, waving at me!! I totally freaked out. After calming myself down, and sending an urgent question to the froggy friends yahoo list, I gave the frogs some tubifex worms to tempt them out of their hiding places. I counted all five froglets, so nobody had been lunch. It must have been some shed skin or something. I didn't think she could fit one of the little ones in her mouth, but at the time, I couldn't think of any other explanation.

and now there are FIVE!!

2005-10-27T09:57:00.000-04:00

We adopted two more froglets that needed a new home. They just arrived this morning, and I realize these are not the best photos, but just have to share them!!! I'll take more pics later today, when I feed them. DD had no trouble choosing names for the new guys.

Introducing....

Spotless!

and Leopardy!

new froggy photos!

2005-10-23T10:59:00.000-04:00

I wish I could get a picture of all three together, to show you how much larger Buggy Eyes is than the other two...
here's Miss Buggy

she is at least twice the body mass of her sisters (and I'm still convinced they are all female, but may be proven wrong in time)

here is Zeyonda
does that not look as though she has a cloacal flap or scute or whatever they call it that serves as an ovipositor? She is the smallest of the three frogs.

and here is Spotty, hiding as usual

for more information....

2005-09-25T19:27:00.000-04:00

Check out some of these links. Surf around these sites for lots of helpful info:
http://clawedfrogs.tripod.com/
http://fluffyfrog.com/
http://allaboutfrogs.org/
http://www.geocities.com/mamafrog0538/froggy_place.html
http://aquaticfrogs.tripod.com/
http://www.froggyplace.50megs.com/
http://www.mypetfrog.org/
http://www.xenopus.com/husbandry.htm
http://www.pollywog.co.uk/
http://members.aol.com/sirchin/afc.htm

...or google for african clawed frog or xenopus :)

Please let me know if you want me to add another link to this list!

Here they are!

2005-08-31T10:05:00.000-04:00

We have no problem differentiating between our three frogs. I was afraid we might. My daughter has stood firm in her choice of names, and the three frogs have kept the same names they were given when they first morphed from tadpoles into frogs.

From left to right, this is a photo of Spotty, Zeyonda, and Buggy-Eyes. I think they are all three females, but I know it might be too soon to tell. It looks as though they all have a cloacal flap, but maybe they are just always pooping! LOL

Buggy-Eyes has always had the best appetite, was the first to transform, and is now at least half again larger than the other two.

Spotty is indeed the spottiest, even though we didn't know that when she first morphed from tadpole to frog. She is also the shyest and spends her time hiding unless she's eating.

Zeyonda was the last to transform, and has the darkest markings, looking nearly black at times.
They all three do change color from time to time and depending on where they are resting. They look greener when they are hiding in the plants. They all looked a pale yellowish-tan color when they were living in the pickle jar which had beige and yellow sand in the bottom of it.

Peekaboo!

2005-08-21T12:19:00.000-04:00

They love their new home!

2005-08-19T11:31:00.000-04:00

feeding frenzy

hello

We moved the froglets into the 40 gal tank last night.
The thinnest, darkest one was the last to transform, and is now much smaller than the other two, who are growing at an alarming rate and getting fatter by the hour! But they are all doing well, it seems, and really love their new home.
I do have to turn the filter off in order to feed them.
They are pretty smart, and have already figured out that I put the majority of their food in the terra cotta dish. I was worried at first when they didn't seem to be able to find food unless they accidentally landed on top of it!

If they could talk, they'd be saying wheeeee!

2005-08-16T09:24:00.000-04:00

The most recently morphed froglet is now eating, but not as voraciously as the other two. Buggy-Eyes is still the piggiest, and gets way more of the food than the others. His belly is the fattest, as a result. I'm so afraid I'm going to over feed him, as I'm trying to make sure the other two get enough. They are no longer afraid of me, and will come up to the side of the jar and stand up like they are begging for food everytime anyone walks by. The third froglet is still a bit darker and a bit larger than the other two, I'm hoping that one is female. They love to play! It looks like a game of tag where they chase each other around, and almost do loop-de-loops in the water. My husband said last night, "If they could talk, they'd be saying *wheeeee*!"

The tank is now set up

2005-08-15T07:47:00.000-04:00

Just waiting a little longer before the froglets are moved into their new home. I chose large and medium sized pebbles, leaving part of the bottom bare glass to make it easier to clean. Will probably add many more plants later this week, but we think it's pretty the way it is right now.
I piled the rocks up over the half-flowerpot hidey cave to give the tank another level. There is also a resin hollow log for them to hide inside, and I put a terra-cotta dish to make it easier to feed them (and clean up what food does not get eaten). The plants are suction-cupped to the sides, but they look very realistic for the cheapest plastic plants I could find at the petstore! Hobby Lobby was closed yesterday, Sunday, so I didn't get to check out what sort of artificial plants they had. I'm sure their prices would be much better than those at the petstore.

I'm continuing to do a fishless cycle. The old dirty filter from our guppy tank is inside the big filter on the frog tank, and I have been using the turkey baster to suck up the scum and gunk from the bottom of the tadpole jar and from the gravel in the guppy tank, doing small partial water changes every day, and putting all the dirty water and gunk in the new tank to give the good bacteria stuff to eat.

and then there were three

2005-08-13T12:27:00.000-04:00

The third tadpole has very nearly completely absorbed its tail. That one is still slightly larger than the other two, and for now at least, is darker in color. It is not eating the frog pellets yet. The other two froglets have turned a yellowish-tan color, apparently to match the color of the sand in the bottom of their jar. One appears to have a line going down its back, which helps to tell the two apart. The other one is fatter and a more voracious eater, and I think that one is Buggy-Eyes. But we are still going to wait until they are bigger before we decide which one gets which name (DD is still adamant that their names are Buggy-Eyes, Spotty, and Zeyonda - we just don't know which one gets which name right now). Those two will gobble up all the pellets I can put in there with them, so I'm trying to be careful not to overfeed them. It's amazing how large their bellies will stretch! They look fat and happy, and don't seem so afraid of me anymore.

I did a partial water change in the tadpole jar as well as the guppy tank, and put the dirty water into the empty frog tank to help it cycle faster. I used my turkey baster (I finally found one at Kmart) to suck up the gunk from the bottom, so the beneficial bacteria would have more to eat. As soon as the bio-wheel in the filter looks like it has a good bacteria colony, I'm going to put the froglets in there. Tomorrow we are going shopping for greenery and maybe some rocks and sticks and things to decorate the tank. Right now it only has a hollow log and half of a plastic flower pot in there. I have decided it would probably be best to leave the bottom bare rather than put gravel/substrate down.

40 gallons is a lot of water!

2005-08-11T12:20:00.000-04:00

The new tank is full and cycling now. I'm using a dirty filter from my fish tank to help cycle the new frog tank, and hope it works okay. I did a bunch of reading about fishless cycling online, but I might still put a guppy or two in there for a while, just to speed things up a bit.

The last tadpole is now starting to absorb its tail. The other two only have tiny black spots where their tails used to be. They are eating machines and will gobble up as much food as I put in there! I was worried about it a little bit when Buggy-Eyes was hogging all the food and Spotty wasn't getting as much, but I started breaking the pellets up into smaller pieces and not dropping them all in the same place. Now Spotty has a big fat belly, too!

Tiny thorn-tails

2005-08-08T08:46:00.000-04:00

Buggy-Eyes and Spotty still have the tiniest remnants of their tails. Just a little black thorn-like protrusion on their backsides. They started eating frog food yesterday, stuffing the bites into their mouths with their hands. The room in which I plan to locate their permanent home now has one coat of yellow paint, and should be finished this evening so I can start cycling the tank soon. The frogs are so tiny! They are about half the size our full-grown dwarf frog was, about the size of a dime or maybe a nickel if you include their legs, and I no longer have reservations about keeping them in a one-gallon jar for a while. They actually seem a good bit smaller now than they were when they first arrived here as tadpoles!

almost froggy

2005-08-06T09:09:00.000-04:00

Buggy Eyes' tail has turned black and is about as long as one of his toes. I beleive it will be completely gone later today. The other tadpoles are developing at the same rate. One has a tail about the same length as Buggy's tail was yesterday at this time. The other is still swimming head down and gulping water, and seems to be about at the stage the other two were at on Sunday or Monday. Next weekend I will have three tiny little frogs! It's very difficult to get decent photos of these little guys! Bear in mind that the glass jar has distorted the image of the tadpole in the background.

update

2005-08-05T19:37:00.000-04:00

Buggy Eyes' tail is now shorter than his/her hind legs, and is acting like a frog now instead of a tadpole. DD has named the other two Spotty and Zeyonda (I have no idea where that name came from). She said we can wait until they are bigger before deciding which one is Zeyonda to make sure it's a female that gets the name. :) Both girls are now very excited about the froggies, and have been checking on them all day long. I have decided where the tank should go, but am waiting for DH to paint the walls first, because it won't be possible after there are 40 gallons of water and rocks in the way. Plus, I don't want the paint fumes (even though we are using low-fume latex indoor wall paint) to hurt my froggies, either. I hope I like yellow walls in here, because it will be another ten years before I can get him to paint again!

Buggy Eyes

2005-08-05T07:47:00.000-04:00

DD has named the most developed of the pollywogs Buggy Eyes. It fits. That one is already absorbing its tail! The other "frogpole" has twice the tail that one has. Those two are breathing air from the surface now. And the third tadpole now has arms. I bought a 40 gallon aquarium yesterday, as well as a filter meant for a 75 gallon tank, and I also ordered a glass top for it. That ran me about $200 in total (including the top that I don't have yet). I went ahead and got a larger tank so to avoid the expense of having to buy another if they outgrew their first one. I can't imagine three frogs outgrowing such a large tank! As soon as I figure out exactly where I want it to be, I will start filling it to let the water cycle for a week or a month or so before introducing the frogs to their new home. Tank decorations will have to wait a while, I can't justify spending more money right now. I do have some decor for the tank, hidey holes and plastic plants, but not near enough for such a large aquarium.

shrinking heads, Oh my!

2005-08-04T11:32:00.000-04:00

Now I realize why the less developed of the three tadpoles seemed a little larger and lighter in color than the other two! It was a gradual change, so I didn't notice until yesterday that as the tadpoles develop into frogs, their heads shrink and their skin loses transparency. The frogpoles' heads are half the size of that of the remaining tadpole. It appears the last one may develop arms today or tomorrow.

WOW! a "frogpole" already!

2005-08-03T11:36:00.000-04:00

One of the tadpoles looks more like a frog now, just with a tail. It doesn't seem to be gulping as much water anymore, and spends its time horizontal more than vertical head-down like before. Its arms look like froggy front legs, too! The less-developed one does not seem to be changing as fast as the other two did, and still has very small hind legs. The middle one seems to be just a day or two behind the most frog-like one in development, its arms are still tiny and it still looks more like a tadpole than a frog. They look different every time I check on them! Gotta get that tank set up soon...

As always, click on any of the pictures to see a bigger image.

arms!!

2005-07-31T23:12:00.000-04:00

Like magic, arms have appeared! We got back from having dinner, and one tadpole has two tiny arms, complete with fingers, where bumps were earlier today, one tadpole has only one arm and one bump, and the third tadpole has no arms yet (the one with less developed legs, previously the largest of the three tadpoles). Pretty cool, huh?

lookit them legs!

2005-07-31T10:21:00.000-04:00

It sure is hard to get decent photos of tadpoles swimming around inside a gallon sized glass pickle jar! It makes it that much harder that they absolutely hate the camera's red auto-focus light and try to get away from it as soon as they see me with the camera in my hands! These little guys are a lot smarter than I ever would have imagined.
They now have visible spots and markings on their faces, but you have to look really really closely to see them. It looks somewhat like freckles across their noses. The tad with the smallest legs is no longer larger than the other two.

I'm running into much resistance with the names I keep coming up with. Nobody likes my choices. I did tell DD that she could pick their names, but I can't stand it that they don't have any names yet. So I thought Marilyn, Bobby, and Jack would be good names. No dice. What about Jimi, Janis, and Elvis? Nope. Winken, Blinken, and Nod? Hippy, Happy, and Hoppy? Flip-Flop, Plip-Plop, Hip-Hop? *sigh*

2005-07-29T12:34:00.000-04:00

here are some photos of what they look like today. The largest tadpole still has the smallest legs. The other two now have much more froggy-looking legs, and they are constantly kicking with them. Maybe if you look real close you can see the bumps where their arms will be! In the second photo, you can see the larger tadpole hoovering the floor of their jar. Filter feeders they may be, but they do suck up food particles that have fallen to the bottom.
I still have yet to find a turkey baster to clean their jar with. Wrong time of year, I suppose.

arm buds!

2005-07-27T17:33:00.000-04:00

All three tadpoles now have tiny bumps where their arms will be! Can you see the whitish spot in the picture?

ghost arms!

2005-07-26T17:07:00.000-04:00

I did a partial water change today (about 1/8 of what is in the jar). Not because the water was cloudy (it's not) but because of the slimy gunk in the bottom of the jar. I think I've been overfeeding them. I need to get a turkey baster to clean the bottom with, but can't seem to find one anywhere this time of year. Two of the tadpoles have what look like ghost arms starting to grow just under their skin, with a slight bump there. I'm guessing/hoping this is where the arms will sprout in just a few more days.

A tadpole's life must be dreadfully dull.

2005-07-25T10:09:00.000-04:00

The water is no longer the least bit stinky. Smells faintly "fishy" but not stinky. But it is also not cloudy or brown or green, like the GAF handbook says it should be. I put a few algae-covered pebbles from my fishtank into the tadpole jar and am giving them a little more sunlight (*not* direct sunlight!) to see if I can get some algae growing in there for them to filter out of the water. I figure if people feed their tadpoles spinach, algae must be really good for them. They seem to really enjoy playing in the sunlight, then hiding behind the brown paper, and back and forth like a fun game. A tadpole's life must be dreadfully dull. I also added some ground up floating reptile food stick to their GAF tadpole powder. But it really seems to me that the GAF food is made of ground up reptile food sticks mixed with a little sand or something to bulk it up.
They still have no signs of arms, and just bumps on the sides of their mouths where their whiskers should be, but their legs appear to be getting larger.

quick update

2005-07-24T11:02:00.000-04:00

Finally, the tadpoles are starting to look a little bit different, and I can tell them apart now! The smallest one is slightly darker in color than the other two, and is much more active. The largest one is the lightest color and has the least developed hind legs. The middle one, well, is in between, but looks much more like the smallest one than the larger one.

The water is not stinking nearly as bad as it was last night, so I think I did the right thing. They are pooping, so they must be eating. I think I'll cut back on how much I feed them. The booklet says one level scoop every other day.

stinky water!

2005-07-24T08:42:00.000-04:00

peeeyoooo! Tads' water started smelling foul yesterday, very much like a compost pile that has not been turned often enough. So I made an uneducated decision to aerate their water by gently scooping up a ladle-full of water and slowly pouring it back in a few times, twice a day. I removed the plastic dome that came with the GAF box (I'll just have to be extra vigilant that no little fingers or foreign objects get into the jar), gave them some more bottled spring water and also dribbled some water out of the "bio-wheel" from my fishtank into their jar, to get some of the good bacteria growing a little faster.

I wonder if those weird dots on their backs, right behind their heads are arm buds? I have no idea where the arms will sprout, this is getting exciting! I am also shopping around to figure out what sort of permanent home they will live in once they are froggies. I believe I'm going to go with a 29 or 30 gallon glass aquarium and glass top, with the biggest, baddest Penguin Bio-Wheel filter they sell (I think it's intended for 50-70 gallon tanks, but I've read that you need to overfilter). It's much more affordable than the Whisper filter, and I have no complaints about the little one in my fishtank. Plus, they've redesigned it, and it looks like it would be more secure and help prevent escapes. I was wanting to do a natural look, but I think I'll have to go the cheap route and use terra cotta flower pots for hidey holes at least at first, with as many soft fake plants (I read that hard plastic can tear the webbing between their toes, ouch!) as I can put in there and still be able to see my froggies.

(as always, click on any pic to see a larger image)

A new home for the tadpoles!

2005-07-22T20:26:00.000-04:00

I couldn't stand the idea of those little tadpoles swimming around in that #3 (PVC) plastic box. I know that kind of plastic leaches dioxin, and I also know amphibians are particularly sensitive to such toxins. But mostly they didn't seem so happy in there, kept bumping their heads in the corners. The little palm tree looked like it could poke a hole right through the little guys' bodies if they happened to swim too close to it, and I decided to remove it as well. Our tadpoles appear to be much happier in a glass one-gallon pickle jar. Oddly enough, the one-gallon pickle jar holds at least 1/4 again as much water as the "one-gallon" plastic box that came with the tadpoles. I poured in a nice layer of the habitat sand I bought from GAF when I ordered the TadVentures Kit. The water "bloomed" as soon as I poured it into the jar, it must have just needed a little agitation to get things going. (It means the water got cloudy as the good bacteria started to grow.) I used a plastic punch ladle to gently transport the tadpoles themselves, with as much water as the ladle would hold. All three have been more active, (lazy tad no longer spends most of its time resting on the bottom) and overall they just seem to be doing much better. I taped a piece of brown paper to the side of the jar, so they could have some privacy and hide if they wish.

They have learned to be afraid of the camera, so it is already getting harder to take photos. I'll have to stop until there's something new to show. They don't like the red light the camera uses to auto-focus, and now they run away as soon as they see the camera, before I even try to take a photo!
Oh, and with some further research, I now realize that my plans to house them in a 10 gallon aquarium will not be adequate. To be fair, some websites say it is, some don't. I think it makes sense that too small a tank will stress them and shorten their lives so I'm going to err on the side of caution instead of possibly having to buy another larger tank when they outgrow the first one.

"They look more like fish than frogs. Are you sure they're tadpoles?"

2005-07-22T08:03:00.000-04:00

Click on any of the images to see a larger picture! My apologies for the fuzziness, still getting the hang of my digital camera, and their home is a clear plastic box that distorts everything if seen through the wrong angles.

Well, they seem to be okay. When we put them in their new home, it didn't take very long before one of them started bouncing around, and a little later, swimming in one place, head down. The info booklet that came with them says this means they are happy tadpoles. A few hours later, the second one started bouncing around, too. What's funny is when they bounce on each other's heads. They don't like that much, apparently, and that's the most active they ever get. The third one is still spending most of its time resting on the bottom, but is occasionally seen floating head down, happy tadpole style. They are all identical, except one has slightly more substantial hind legs than the others - that one was the second to acclimate to the new home.

I set everything up exactly as the booklet instructs. I had to go to the store and purchase spring water. I let the water and the tadpoles sit for an hour (well, probably more like two hours because the piano movers came with our new-to-us piano) to adjust to the temperature in our house. I put the water, decorations, tadpoles, and one level scoop of tadpole food in the tank. And then I posted my report yesterday. After that, I decided the water was just too clear (they are filter feeders and need cloudy, mucky water) so I gave them a tiny bit more food. It should take a couple more days before the water is right.

DD1, four years old, is too excited about the piano to care much about the tadpoles, but she did sit and watch them a while. Her comment was, "All they do is sit still and look at their reflection" (see photo) and then she said, "They look more like fish than frogs. Are you sure they're tadpoles?" DD2, not yet two, however, is absolutely mesmerized by them! I'm smitten. I can't wait to set up a big aquarium for them once they metamorphose!

:-)

They're here!

2005-07-21T17:12:00.000-04:00

The tadpoles arrived safe and sound today, and didn't seem to be phased by the 95 degree weather we're having. Mostly they are just laying on the bottom of their tank (a yellow one, of course, as it's DD's favorite color), each in its own corner, but one is already jumping around a little. I took photos to share, if I can figure out how to post them here. The gray-brown things in the corners are the tadpoles. They already have little hind legs, and you really can see their insides like the Grow-A-Frog website said you could. DD decided to wait a while before naming them.

Rest in peace, dear Spotty

2005-07-19T13:49:00.000-04:00

We buried Spotty in the garden, wrapped up in red tissue paper, next to DD's marigolds. She said she was sad, and I told her that even though his body is gone, he will always be with her in her memories. We talked about how he jumped and swam around, how he would glide to the bottom of the aquarium, and it made her feel better to know that he will always be with her in her memories. Now she's finally getting excited about the tadpoles, trying to think up some good names for them. I believe one will have to be Spotty. She said earlier, when Spotty first started seeming not-quite-right, that she wanted another frog and would name it Spotty, but she may change her mind between now and then.

Spotty still hasn't croaked

2005-07-19T08:34:00.000-04:00

Spotty, the dwarf African frog, is still alive. Barely. We had decided to bury him in the garden with our flowers. He had been laying on his back in the same corner of the fish tank, not moving, all day long. But when I reached in to get him out of there, he kicked. Feebly, nothing like a healthy frog would kick, but he's not dead yet. I brought him to the surface for some air and gently put him on top of the decorative plant where he always liked to rest and where maybe it would be easier for him to come to the top for air. He has moved his legs a little bit, but other than that is exactly where I left him last night. DD is sad, but has not shed any tears for her little frog. She has seen many fish die and knows all about the cycle of life. I also told her back when we got the frog that we didn't know if he'd live very long (you just never know with petstore animals how healthy they are, how well they've been taken care of, or how old they are when you get them). *sigh* poor Spotty.... we did everything we could to make his life a little better. Maybe he hurt himself eating too many guppy babies. He sure did like snapping them up, but always left a few behind to keep the fish population steady. But I really think he's just old. He looks old. He looks like he hurts all over when he moves (well, when he was still moving the other day anyway). He eats less and less and has been getting skinnier and skinnier for a while now.

Placed my order today!

2005-07-18T16:38:00.000-04:00

I ordered three African clawed frog tadpoles from www.growafrog.com today (TadVentures kit). Am very excited to watch them grow into froggies with my daughters! DD's dwarf african frog, Spotty, is very sick and will die any day now, and it's good to have the replacements on the way. Hopefully these will fare much better. Have been reading lots and lots about them, and apparently they are much less picky about what they eat. Plus, they grow a bit larger than the dwarf ones.