Frog spawn

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chris 2

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Been out this afternoon with the kids collecting frog spawn.Weeve put them in a old fish tank and now kids want to keep them in there bedroom.Just wondering if it will be to warm in the house,when i was a kid my mam wouldt have them in the house.
 
captain carrott

captain carrott

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did you put tap water or lake water in the fish tank?

is the water nice and green if the answer to these 2 questions is yes and no then you've killed all the frogs already.
 
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Steve Spiller

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My son took some out of my pond and put it in a bucket outside the backdoor.
They seem to be forming into tadpoles, don't know if they will survive though?

Probably too warm in the house.
 
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chris 2

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Used the pond water were we got them from,the water is nice and green.Will the tank be ok indoors or will the water stagnate further and kill the spawn.
 
captain carrott

captain carrott

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stick a small air stone in it to keep it oxygenated, the tadpoles will live off the algae in the water at the point when they begin to meatmorphose you need to put some where in the tank for them to leave the water a stone will do the trick. but it must be easy for them to climb out.
the only thing the temperature will do is make them change quicker.
when they begin to change you need to start feeding them on fruit flies while they are in the water the odd bit of live blood worm or daphnia will help. you can get both from aquarist shops. mostly they will eat the algae.
 
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Tony Rocca

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Chris, they will be fine indoors, but you must let them go when the legs start comming or they will die if they cant get out.

Feed a bit of bacon rind, as they like that too.
 
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chris 2

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When the tadpoles start to look like frogs i`ll put some stones in the tank.Iam going to let them go once they turn,dont want 100 odd frogs jumping around the house.Kids will have a right job nameing them all.
 
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Lee Swords (The new and improved)Satans little he

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Keep them for a few weeks and then make a deal out of their release!

the tank is better outdoors
 
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Gnasher

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why don't you put it back where you found it then you wouldn't have to worry about it and the tadpoles would be happier. There's probably a law against taking frog spawn and if there isn't there should be
 
captain carrott

captain carrott

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in the scheme of things they won't be missed there's only around 1% of tadpoles which survive to maturity and successfully breed.
 
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The Monk

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yes it is illegal under the 1981 Countryside and Wildlife Act to remove or interfere with frog spawn, although we`ve all done it as kids, in fact i used to collect birds eggs, many of us did in the 60s until the law rightly came into place.

One of my garden ponds is full of frog spawn at the moment and in a few months the garden will be riddles with small frogs, lovely to see them making a mass exadus towards the woods, tha cats have a field day
 
Graham Whatmore

Graham Whatmore

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Much better to teach your kids to observe all this in the natural state, it will be more rewarding for them and much kinder to the tadpoles, even though most don't survive as Jason says.

Any creature that has a massive birthrate, such as fish, frogs etc. will only have a very small percentage of survivors, that is the way nature ensures not only the continuation of that species but those that predate on them survive also.

Little things like this are worth teaching your kids, they will be the better for the knowledge.
 
captain carrott

captain carrott

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on the up side if you do a good job of looking after them, you may actually increase the survival rate of that batch.

and be able to return more to the wild than would other wise have survived.

i on the other hand have a much harder job, i've got to try and rear some madagascan burrowing frogs to maturity, anyone know anything about raising scaphyophryne pustulosa tadpoles.
 
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chris 2

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Frog spawn coming on ok. You can now see the small tadpoles inside wriggling.Moved the tank outside now next to the back door.Kids are absaloutly fasinated by them how they are changing.They are both out there now looking at the eggs.
 
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Lee Swords (The new and improved)Satans little he

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In the great scheme of things a few tadpoles could change your kids entire outlook towards nature...encourage this, it is our greatest chance of survival as a species!
 
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coelacanth

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"i on the other hand have a much harder job, i've got to try and rear some madagascan burrowing frogs to maturity, anyone know anything about raising scaphyophryne pustulosa tadpoles"

Talk to Darren Smy from the Vivarium at Manchester Museum (can't remember his number off the top of my head, you should be able to get the Museum switchboard number from their web site).
 
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The Monk

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In the great scheme of things a few tadpoles could change your kids entire outlook towards nature...encourage this, it is our greatest chance of survival as a species!

that really is excellent advice Lee and now makes me feel less guilty about all the bird nests I egged as a grotty short panted ignorant school urchin, as an adult I`ve certainly done a bit towards wildlife conservation
 
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