# Tadpole feeding?



## Bob2 (Mar 21, 2008)

We just cleaned out our old green pool and found a heap of tadpoles in there. We have put them in a fish tank outside. When I was a kid I used to collect heaps of tadpoles from the creek and had to take them back to the creek when they got their back legs 'cause mum was terrified of them, lol. Anyway, this was 20 odd years ago and all I can remember feeding them was breadcrumbs. Any ideas on what I can feed these little fellas til they hop away.


----------



## Magpie (Mar 21, 2008)

Just about anything. 
Fishpellets or flakes are good.
Soft lettuce.
zucchini, very small pieces of meat - will have to go soft before they can eat it


----------



## jessb (Mar 21, 2008)

Aren't there laws against collecting and keeping tadpoles?


----------



## imalizard (Mar 21, 2008)

You can feed them algea i think


----------



## Magpie (Mar 21, 2008)

Probably, so your advice woule be to throw them out on the grass to die?


----------



## Frozenmouse (Mar 21, 2008)

put some lettuce or watercres in the freezer once it has frozen remove /defrost this is what they feed the tadpoles at the ARK in melbourne anphibian research center.
i think the freezing breaks the cell membrane and makes it easier for them to eat.


----------



## kakariki (Mar 21, 2008)

My son used algae and wrigglers for his Banjo Frog taddies. We enjoyed watching them eat the wrigglers, some sort of justice. We have thousands of mozzies here usually. Only good thing about it being so dry is we can go outside now without being chased back in by them! I know boiled lettuce is used also.


----------



## omg_a_gecko (Mar 21, 2008)

*Tadpoles & Amphibians license*

Check the laws for your area - Im in NSW an NSW National Parks website states you may keep tadpoles for the purpose of observing their metamorphosis into frogs, so when they start hopping let them free in your yard.

http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/nature/frogLicenceInfo.pdf

NSW's terms & conditions for what you need and don't need the license for


----------



## jessb (Mar 21, 2008)

Magpie said:


> Probably, so your advice woule be to throw them out on the grass to die?


 
Just thinking of you if you get caught - I'm not the one who will have to pay the fine!!!


----------



## SyKeD (Mar 21, 2008)

boiled lettuces... they love it.

stick it in the microwave for 3 minutes then put in it.. and in about an hour or 2 its nice and soggy for the tadpoles to eat


----------



## Bob2 (Mar 21, 2008)

They are in a tank with no lid so they will head off whenever they so please. I hardly think that would be classed as keeping them. They are only in there, as magpie suggested, to prevent them from dying on the grass. Most Parks people I've met are fairly sensible and I doubt there would be a problem with that. Thanks for the feeding ideas. I hadn't even thought of the fish food,lol. There's some wrigglers left in the bottom of the pool too so I'll chuck them in too.


----------



## missllama (Mar 21, 2008)

i had tadpoles and for some reason the petshop person said freeze pieces of lettuce then put it in the water... dont no why but i did that and mine always ate it


----------



## imalizard (Mar 21, 2008)

Do you know what type of tadpoles they are


----------



## Bob2 (Mar 21, 2008)

Wouldn't have a clue. I doubt they are cane toads as they wouldn't be able to get in the pool to start with and I think toadpoles are fairly dark which these ones aren't. Apart from that I have no idea.


----------



## meshe1969 (Mar 21, 2008)

Tadpole care sheet:

http://frogs.org.au/arc/caresheets.html

If you get some photos of your tadpoles and post them here, you will get a i.d on them:
http://frogs.org.au/community/


----------



## rach25portdouglas (Mar 22, 2008)

I thought Tadpoles could go darker or lighter depending on there enviroment such as rocks from the creek are dark pools are lighter in colour and so on any way I think its good that you can help them as long as they aren't toads of course...


----------



## meshe1969 (Mar 22, 2008)

Here is a comparison sheet for frog and toad tadpoles:
http://www.fdrproject.org.au/pages/TDpoles.htm


and one on i.d eggs:
http://www.fdrproject.org.au/pages/TDeggs.htm


----------



## JasonL (Mar 22, 2008)

boiled lettuce and chicken layer pellets


----------



## redbellybite (Mar 22, 2008)

YOU can boil the lettuce too that way is good for tadpoles dont put the leaf in b4 doing that ...and fish food is good too ........when you know what type of tadpole it is free them at a local creek area if you got a tank full of cane taddies well you know what to do with them rbb


----------



## dude_joel (Mar 23, 2008)

jessb said:


> Aren't there laws against collecting and keeping tadpoles?



there are laws, so you should definetly either put them in a pot and boil them up or tip them on the lawn to die. euthanising is the only way to handle this situation. peoples responses on these forums never seem to surprise me...


----------



## redbellybite (Mar 23, 2008)

why would you boil the tadpoles? if they are a native species? understand if they are cane taddies but gtf or some other native why would you do that for ??????????????RBB sounds sick to me dude joel..


----------



## imalizard (Mar 23, 2008)

They could be a rare unknown type of frog........


----------



## JasonL (Mar 23, 2008)

redbellybite said:


> why would you boil the tadpoles? if they are a native species? understand if they are cane taddies but gtf or some other native why would you do that for ??????????????RBB sounds sick to me dude joel..



You've never had Taddie soup?? It's fantastic!! and improves vigour in the bedroom


----------



## Lewy (Mar 24, 2008)

We raised up a bunch of taddies a couple of months ago. Fed them mostly on frozen spinach from the supermarket and frozen fish food we already had for our fish. They went nuts over the spinach. All grew into healthy little brown frogs. I did a bit of research at the time and I remember reading that it is legal to keep them for 7 days after metamorphis. In Qld that is. After they become little froggies it is really important they have somewhere to climb up out of the water or they will drown. I piled the gravel up in one corner of the tank and used to move my little froggies into their own container once they left the water. It had sand in it with afew leaves, a log and a shallow water bowl. Yes they were spoiled. I also used to put a small bit of ripe fruit in the container every day to attract the little flies for the baby frogs. It was fun to watch them chase the flies around the container. The container was one of my young snake ones but with heaps of holes in it. I also dampened the sand to keep the environment moist. A bit overboard perhaps but I had fun doing it.....better add that its the missus here. Wouldn't want you all thinking Lewy talks like that!


----------



## Kimbully (Mar 25, 2008)

Would boiling them be against the law?
I've been feeding mine turtle sticks and fishfood, but I will try lettuce now too...


----------



## Moreliaman (Mar 25, 2008)

i remember someone telling me you can feed them sliced cucumber & bacon or ham....no idea if its ok though

.....i know fish flake & tablet food is fine...plus all the other stuff people have already mentioned. 
I think they eat just about anything dont they ? including their own brothers & sisters:lol:


----------



## Kimbully (Mar 25, 2008)

I'm hoping mine don't eat their brothers and sisters! I have a couple of different sized tadpoles but I only have one water heater so I don't really want to separate. I have mine from my sons childcare as they had so many tadpoles and didn't know what to do with them. They are GTF and I'll be selling them once they become froggies.
Kim


----------



## Moreliaman (Mar 25, 2008)

LOL...its ok kim, ive never heard of them attacking eachother (you never know though eh ...some species might!) I think its just when one of them dies & then its just a case of recycling

.


----------



## tadpoles (Mar 25, 2008)

I curenty have 6 different species of tadpoles.- perons, g&g bell, stoney creeks, banjo, albino spotted grass, normal spotted grass. (many of which will be for sale in the coming months) I love tadpoles:lol: hence the username

I use frozen romaine (cos lettuce) or boc choy. I used to use the boiled lettuce but you will find it dirties the water alot quicker, so switch to the frozen stuff for cleaner water.
I also use a peice of frozen butternut pumpkin at the bottom to keep them happy inbetween feeds.

About different size tads, tadpoles naturally emit a hormone that stops other tads growing, this is a survial techinque to make sure a predater doesnt come along and eat all the morphling frogs at once. Therefore it is perfectly for tads to be different sizes.
Thats why when you have just one or two tads in a small amount of water thay take a very long time to morph

The only other common prob is canabilism, which is normally caused by overcrowding and the need for more food, It is easily fixed with a bigger tank for the taddies and once daily feeding


----------



## tadpoles (Mar 25, 2008)

earlier this year i had a bunch of perons taddies that ate over half the taddies!!!!!:x


----------



## jessb (Mar 25, 2008)

dude_joel said:


> there are laws, so you should definetly either put them in a pot and boil them up or tip them on the lawn to die. euthanising is the only way to handle this situation. peoples responses on these forums never seem to surprise me...


 
I'm just comparing it to the response you would get if someone said "I was renovating and found a clutch of snakes/lizards/a baby possum/kangaroo etc and I'm keeping them in my home without a licence or any proper authority until I decided whether to release them."

I'm not having a go at the original poster here, and I don't really care one way or the other, but I'm guessing NPWS might have a problem with it...


----------



## Kimbully (Mar 25, 2008)

ok cool. I think they have enough room and enough food. I have had them for a couple of weeks and I was worried about the freshly hatched ones (only a couple of mm in size!) staying in with the big ones. So far no cannibilism or death. Of course I don't know the exact numbers of the tiny ones I got but they have grown alot.
Will be trying some lettuce shortly.
Kim


----------



## Kimbully (Mar 25, 2008)

BTW Bob2, I think it's a great idea. You have just replaced the pool with a tank, you are not "keeping" them as pets or to sell. 
Kim


----------



## JasonL (Mar 25, 2008)

Magpie said:


> Probably, so your advice woule be to throw them out on the grass to die?



you bet!, heaps better than Dynamic Lifter, your lawn will never be so green again...


----------



## Moreliaman (Mar 25, 2008)

wanted to post something but this sites playin up again
the drop down menus dont work .....or smileys....& if you try & reply with someones quote it comes back all gobble-degook......weird.


----------



## Moreliaman (Mar 25, 2008)

dude_joel said:


> peoples responses on these forums never seem to surprise me...


 
Its called "having an opinion on everything" which is why some people manage to rack up 6-700 posts in the space of a few months !

APS smileys are broken....ill use my own!


----------



## aqua (Mar 25, 2008)

> I'm just comparing it to the response you would get if someone said "I was renovating and found a clutch of snakes/lizards/a baby possum/kangaroo etc and I'm keeping them in my home without a licence or any proper authority until I decided whether to release them."
> 
> I'm not having a go at the original poster here, and I don't really care one way or the other, but I'm guessing NPWS might have a problem with it...


 
..but if you have a pond in your yard in which frogs breed of their own accord you are not in trouble for them being there, nor need a permit. 

You are always allowed to relocate tadpoles within your property if they would otherwise be in danger where they originally were.


----------



## mrmikk (Mar 28, 2008)

Bob2 said:


> Wouldn't have a clue. I doubt they are cane toads as they wouldn't be able to get in the pool to start with and I think toadpoles are fairly dark which these ones aren't. Apart from that I have no idea.


 
Yeah, the cane toad tadpoles are virtually black


----------

