tadpole care?

Question

Ok i have a pond near my house that has a ton of tadpoles in it. As an experiment i have taken 3 and they are in a half milk jug with the pond water in it. They have alge to eat ( i think thats what they eat) and i know not to put regular water in. But i want to to if im doing eveything right to keep them alive and also if my container in big enough, if not does anyone have any suggestions?

Answer 1

As long as the milk jugs are well cleaned before you added the tadpoles, that's okay as a set-up for them. They shouldn't be kept in water more than a few inches deep, and at that level, there's enough dissolved oxygen from their own movement in the water. I've raised spring peeper, American toad, wood frog, and a few aquatic salamanders in the plastic sandwich throwaway containers. The only problem I could see is if the tadpoles are larger ones (bullfrog or green frog) - they may not have enough room in your jug.

Algae is their natural diet when they're young, but you can also give them boiled lettuce, algae pellets (made for fish), or alfalfa pellets (made for rabbits). Just clean the jug frequently and add fresh water (from the pond, or add something to remove the chlorine if you use tap water). Once they start growing legs, you'll need to give them a way to get out of the water - here a deeper tank would come in handy because it will keep them from jumping out of the container. They'll also be needing small insects to eat at this time.

Here's an article written about how to raise tadpoles: http://www.mdc.mo.gov/conmag/1995/07/06.html

Answer 2

1. go to your local pet store to purchase tadpole pellets.
2. You can use regular water ONLY if you use declorinator AND take some of the pond water and put it in the jug.(this will allow the bacteria and other things to migrate to the water.
3. As soon as your tadpoles start develop legs put them in a aquarium(10 gal) you can get a 10 gal at petsmart for $9. Remember to buy places for them to rest on and a hiding area like a turtle dock and a small fake rock cave. for a substrate use the stuff from the bottom of the pond and have good water depth(2-4in). When they turn into frogs you can continue to keep them but I'd suggest you train them to eat flies or crickets then release them back to the ecosystem.MAKE SURE YOUR TADPOLES TAIL IS COMPLETELY GONE BEFORE YOU FEED THEM LIVE FOOD. also you must not feed them when there tail starts to shrink because they get energy from their depleting tail.

Answer 3

That is definitely not the best setup for them. They can feed on algae but you should get a commercial food for them. I had large tadpoles once and they did fine on tropical fish food flakes but they have specialized tadpole food. They also have sinking algae tablets which my tadpoles loved to munch on.

However, feeding is not the main concern. If they are in a milk jug, there is not proper circulation. Those tadpoles are depleting their oxygen. Basically, they are slowly suffocating.

If you are set on keeping these, you can buy a 10 gallon aquarium and a filter would be best. Then you can convert that to a frog habitat as they mature.

If you have any more questions, feel free to contact me and best of luck to your soon to be froggy friends!

Cabba

Answer 4

Be sure to change the water often, and make sure it's in the shade at all times because in the hot summer sun that water could heat up to deadly temps in minutes. I would also supplement with some fish food to make sure they are getting proper nutrition. A milk jug does not sufficiently recreate the natural enviroment so food they would normally eat can't be found.