Tadpoles
Growing Baby Frogs
Growing Tadpoles into Frogs
Tadpoles are frogs in the early stages of their lifecycle after they have hatched from eggs and are growing their legs. Tadpoles change gradually into frogs. Frogs are everywhere on every continent of the earth. There are hundreds of species and kinds. Maybe you have heard the Spring Peepers singing in the wet evenings? These frogs are great to have around because they eat aphids and mosquitoes. besides making amazing music.
Some frogs found in North America are :
- leopard frogs
- Bullfrogs
- Chorus Frogs
- Cricket Frogs
- Green Frogs
- Pacific Tree Frogs
- Gray Treefrogs
- Wood Frogs
- Green Treefrogs.
The bullfrog is the largest. He can jump ten feet!
Pollywogs? Hunting some frog eggs and keeping them in a jar or tank to watch them hatch into tadpoles (or pollywogs as some people call them, ) until they grow legs and can hop is a great learning adventure. Why not try it?
Going on a frog egg hunt:
For your hunt take:
- A dip net with a long handle
- Several strong plastic bags, like Zip-loc freezer bags.
- A plastic container
- Rubber boots
- Two gallon glass jars, small tanks, or goldfish bowls ready at home.
Collect a few of the eggs to grow into tadpoles. At the same time dip water from the same place as the eggs or tadpoles are taken. This water will have the same temperature, some of the stuff the tadpoles will eat, like decompasing plants and bugs. Though it will look dirty, this is the best for the tadpoles. Clean tap water could hurt them.
March, April and May are the months when you find frog eggs in masses in ditches and the edges of ponds and lakes. Be careful--don’t fall in. You will see the globs of eggs which look like dark yet clear jelly with dots like black beads in them. Use your net to scoop up some from several clumps of eggs—not too many! You can only have about six tadpoles in a gallon jar of water, but get a few more because some won’t hatch. Collect some plants and some water from the place you take the eggs and tadpoles.
The eggs are slimy and slippery. Be sure you only take a few from a clump. Leave the rest to hatch. Very large eggs might be bullfrog eggs and they take two years to develop into frogs. They will probably not survive that long so look for small frog eggs.
To catch the tadpoles just scoop with your net around the egg globs and you should easily catch a few.
Home Sweet Home:
You will need a large glass pickle jar or a small aquarium or glass container to grow your frog in. Keep two containers—one for frogs and another for tadpoles—each about ¾ full of pond water. Not tap water! The one with tadpoles should have some plants floating in it, but no plants in with the eggs.
Place your jars in a nice warm place away from sun or heaters. Every day the black dots will grow and divide and change shape. They will change until the tadpole hatches out of the egg on the eighth day. (Since you can’t tell how many days old they are when you found them, the eggs will likely hatch in five or six days or even sooner. Be waiting and watching.)
If you use a magnifying glass you will be able to see the black part of the egg change and grow a head and tail and begin to move around. Since frogs come in many types and sizes from tiny spring peepers to huge bullfrogs the time from hatching to tadpole and the time from tadpole to frog varies. Most frog eggs hatch in 3 to 25 days depending on the type of frog and the temperature. Warmer water develops the eggs faster. A bullfrog take two to three years to develop into a frog! Most smaller frogs change in a few weeks.
Hatching:
After the tadpole hatches put a leaf in his water and he will attach itself to the leaf by some sticky spots on his head. You will notice that he has no mouth yet! After feeding for a few days from the yolk that is still attached and breathing through gills it will begin to swim around.
Feeding : Soon he will swim around in the jar with his mouth open looking for food. Feed him with some more pond plants or if you can’t get anymore, try a little piece of lettuce or boiled spinach. If more than six hatch you will need to take the extras back to the pond or put them in another container.
A Baby Frog:
The tadpoles will grow for several months developing lungs and learning to breathe on the surface. When his legs are grown and his tail is gone, he is a baby frog. If you have an aquarium and know how to feed frogs, (They must have live moving food, small enough to swallow.) cover the top of his tank with plastic screen so he won’t jump out. If not, return them to a pond or creek.
The change from tadpole to frog is called metamorphosis--just like caterpillers changing into butterflies.
Children have always loved tadpoles and liked to keep them to watch them grow into frogs. Have fun with yours this spring!
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