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Monday, April 23, 2007

Tadpoles: 7 1/2 weeks


Thanks to Robin at martinzoo for telling me I needed to go ahead and put something in the tank for the tadpoles to climb out on now that they have their legs. We bought a little log/platform from PetSmart on Saturday, and when we woke up Sunday morning our biggest froglet was sitting on the platform. It's also neat to see that his mouth has changed from a little circle like a fish, to a real "frog" mouth. What amazed me more, is that today this little froglets tail is about 1/3rd the length it was yesterday. At this rate, I think he'll be a "real frog" in a day or two!!! Am I really ready to feed him crickets... which I've always loved???
Someone asked me how expensive it is to raise the frogs. First of all, I'd highly recommend trying to find eggs in a pond rather than buying them. I bought these and now I'm unable to release them so I have 4 "pet" frogs, when I was only after a science experience (not experiment).
It cost about $20 for the eggs and tank. I did have to upgrade the tank to a bigger one, but I already had it. And, so far, all of the food they've needed was provided with the eggs. (It's just a little baggy of tadpole food.) I paid $12 for the platform/log, but you could find something instead. Now, the next cost will be the crickets, which I'm sure aren't very expensive.
So, this is a cheap pet, but like I said, I wasn't really after a pet. But, we are enjoying them tremendously. Now, Alexandra wants a hamster (or a bird) and I'd really like to get her one but told her I won't consider it until we see how much work these frogs are going to be.
Hope this helps! I'll try to post photos of our new frogs in a couple of days!

2 comments:

  1. Wow! I can't really tell from the photo how big these little guys are, but they look really big. Do you know whether they are frogs or toads yet? I can't wait to see your terrestrial habitat.

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  2. They look terrific!

    http://steph-roomofmyown.blogspot.com/

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