To raise toadies from tadpoles on up. I was listenin' to the toads singin' tonight and decided to go back and try to hunt a couple up to start my hoggie back up for spring. Well, I wound up with half a dozen and by the time I got them home, a three minute walk, I had a couple locked up. Anything anybody can tell me about tad care would be greatly appreciated. If this works out I could have a whole summer time supply of hoggie food :yes:

To raise toadies from tadpoles on up. I was listenin' to the toads singin' tonight and decided to go back and try to hunt a couple up to start my hoggie back up for spring. Well, I wound up with half a dozen and by the time I got them home, a three minute walk, I had a couple locked up. Anything anybody can tell me about tad care would be greatly appreciated. If this works out I could have a whole summer time supply of hoggie food :yes:

Feed the tadpoles flake fish food,algea tablets.
56 quart with no over crowding and about 3 inches of water.
Throw a peice of cork bark in there for when they are ready.
Get them on insect once they lay eggs.
Wouldnt be a bad thing if you acclimated them to the new water temps with a fish bag.
I have raised up plenty that way and it works pretty darn good.

Thanks Jeremy. It was funny. I had six of them in a plastic coffee can, I'm three minutes away from the house and by the time I got here a small male had the sex grip of death on a captured female. Ain't nuthin' like bein' so worked up that even bein' snatched up and tossed in a coffe can don't throw ya off even for a minute :lmao:

Oh, and what about the water temp? Does it need to be warm? The river certainly wasn't, I almost fell in

Thanks Jeremy. It was funny. I had six of them in a plastic coffee can, I'm three minutes away from the house and by the time I got here a small male had the sex grip of death on a captured female. Ain't nuthin' like bein' so worked up that even bein' snatched up and tossed in a coffe can don't throw ya off even for a minute :lmao:

Oh, and what about the water temp? Does it need to be warm? The river certainly wasn't, I almost fell in

Room temps man.....
If you looking to get tads from the pair then leave a cat litter pan in the tank with them and access to get in and out with some fake plants in there.

Jeremy, I put a short piece of hollow log in there and it's seepin' tannin,water's already brown, will that affect anybody negatively?

Jeremy, I put a short piece of hollow log in there and it's seepin' tannin,water's already brown, will that affect anybody negatively?

Jeremy can add his .02, but what I do is usually leach fresh wood for awhile first. That way when I put it in it has a tea water effect, vs a brown water effect. Depending on the wood it can take anywhere for a couple of days of soak and dump to a week or longer. If you can find a piece of branch in a pond that has already been leached that would be ideal!:yes:

Jeremy can add his .02, but what I do is usually leach fresh wood for awhile first. That way when I put it in it has a tea water effect, vs a brown water effect. Depending on the wood it can take anywhere for a couple of days of soak and dump to a week or longer. If you can find a piece of branch in a pond that has already been leached that would be ideal!:yes:

I'll probably swap out the water and put some cork in there as a float.

I'll probably swap out the water and put some cork in there as a float.

Cool, if you have cork use that for sure!

Well, couldn't find cork but have a chunk of 2x6

Well, couldn't find cork but have a chunk of 2x6

Not pressure treated, right? As long as not treated, I would think would be fine...

Nope, not treated

Scrap the wood and go with oak leaves (if you can get some that are still laying around from last fall so much the better.) Bake them in an oven on low heat for an hour or so to kill any critters living in them. Then drop them in the water and let them make the tannin tea for you. Much better for tads.


Crushed turtle pellets also make a good meal for them. I like to keep variety and use those, algae pellets and fish flakes. And as they start getting their legs I added freeze dried bloodworms.

And once you get metamorphs you are going to want small feeders like wingless fruit flies (D. hydei) and springtails.

Scrap the wood and go with oak leaves (if you can get some that are still laying around from last fall so much the better.) Bake them in an oven on low heat for an hour or so to kill any critters living in them. Then drop them in the water and let them make the tannin tea for you. Much better for tads.


Crushed turtle pellets also make a good meal for them. I like to keep variety and use those, algae pellets and fish flakes. And as they start getting their legs I added freeze dried bloodworms.

And once you get metamorphs you are going to want small feeders like wingless fruit flies (D. hydei) and springtails.

Oh, I DO want tannin? I thought I didn't want it. This is begining to sound like a serious undertaking.

Oh, I DO want tannin? I thought I didn't want it. This is begining to sound like a serious undertaking.

LOL!!! Poor Pete... Some tannin is good, but "teaish" not dark. I did not do tannined (is that a word???) water for my tads but they weren't toads. I haven't bred toads, just the frogs.

As Sara said, some tannin is good but it is not absolutely necessary either. It seems to help keep down detrimental microorganisms and promotes the growth of beneficial one as well as algae that the tads will feed on. And like Sara I did not use it on my D. azureus tads but I know a lot of breeders do.

I would suggest you check out the DendroBoard forums. I personally hate the Admin/Mod staff for reasons that are my own and not necessary to air here but there is some good tad info there.

We use Black Water for the PDF's. I think it is like premade swamp water. We have a very high success rate. I know our tads all have to be separate. Otherwise they eat each other. I don't know about toads, but I would check it out.
Gary

Thanks for the info, but it's too late :( We had a cold snap last week and it killed off a couple of the toads and nobody layed eggs. Yes, I had them outside.

Thanks for the info, but it's too late :( We had a cold snap last week and it killed off a couple of the toads and nobody layed eggs. Yes, I had them outside.

That sucks Quiq, sorry to hear that..

Not sure if they're through breeding yet or not but it's going to warm back up this weekend. I'll be out after dark with my dollar store butterfly net snatchin' em up out of the river :D

Not sure if they're through breeding yet or not but it's going to warm back up this weekend. I'll be out after dark with my dollar store butterfly net snatchin' em up out of the river :D

There ya go!!:yes:

Well, there was nary a sound in the night air but I walked back to the river anyhoo. I wish I could get access to the abandoned amusement park here. When the toads were runnin' last week they were coming from the river and crossing the road to the trout pond in the park. Think I'll go talk to city hall tomorrow and see if I can get in :D

Hey Quiq, it's abandoned... is it patrolled??? Clearly marked not to go in? Not saying to break the law or anything, just wondering..

:lol: No it's not marked, but I'm to fat to climb the fence :lmao: :lmao:. Besides this area gets patroled pretty often.

I'll be out after dark with my dollar store butterfly net

I was with you man until that line :lmao::lmao::lmao::lmao:

:lol: No it's not marked, but I'm to fat to climb the fence :lmao: :lmao:. Besides this area gets patroled pretty often.

Ahhh, got it!:yes: Why then yes, by all means a trip to city hall is in order!:lmao::cheers:

I was with you man until that line :lmao::lmao::lmao::lmao:

:lol: Sorry Jeff, I ain't leanin' out over that river in the dark. I'll wind up a bouy out in the bay :lmao: :lmao:

:lol: Sorry Jeff, I ain't leanin' out over that river in the dark. I'll wind up a bouy out in the bay :lmao: :lmao:

Don't blame you at all just the thought of you lurking around in the dark with a butterfly net brought one hell of a smile to me....:lol:

Let me know how you convinced the town to get into the vacant property we have something similar here that I have been trying to get into legally for the past year with no luck...no one will care if I go since I'm not breaking in and not destroying anything but they don't want to give me permission, figure it has more to do with insurance than anything....:dunno:

figure it has more to do with insurance than anything....:dunno:

That's what likely will be the reason they may not let me in.

City Hall is closed on Saturday!!:mad:. Why'd I think it was Friday? :dunno:

That's what likely will be the reason they may not let me in.

City Hall is closed on Saturday!!:mad:. Why'd I think it was Friday? :dunno:

You don't really want me to answer that do you :lmao:

You don't really want me to answer that do you :lmao:

I woke up that way today

I woke up that way today

:yes:

Quig, what KIND of frogs are they??????

I can only offer what I know from PDF's, but in case you get more, here goes:

Keep them inside at room temp, with the original water in which you found them, to start. Then use bottled water for partial water changes until it's all bottled.

If they lay their eggs in the water, use small, easily removable water dishes. You'll want to take the water with eggs out, as they may eat all their eggs. If they lay on land, you can make a bower (hide where they lay) out of a margarine container. Cut the "U" for access out of the TOP side of the container, put the lid back on, then flip it over. They'll lay on the lid, which is now the bottom. Then, when you get eggs, take out the container, keep the eggs on the lid, and put the lid in another ziploc container.

Keep the eggs at room temp, and mist as needed for land-layers. Once they hatch, I would separate the tads into individual containers. Some tads are cannibalistic, others perfom Hormone Limiting, exuding a hormone that will limit the growth of other tads. If you have land-layers you'd need to watch for them to hatch, then scoop them up and put them in the water.

Feeding advice so far has been spot on. Frog/tadpole bites, algae wafers broken into bits or algae flakes, and fish food are fine. Some people go without any water changes. I keep my tads in small individual containers, and choose to change the water. I do it when it really gets gross, maybe 2x a week. I use the ziploc small containers that cookies or snacks go in, so I have less water available to them than if I housed communally, and have to make sure it's good. Don't worry about cleaning algae that grows in their containers, they'll feed on that as well.

Once the tads develop front legs, they ordinarily no longer require food, it will just foul the water. Stop feeding once both front legs pop, and move them into a morph out container. They will begin to absorb their tails now, and that "feeds" them until they are down to the smallest nubbin of a tail.

Your morph out container can house multiple tads. Their mouths are changing to eat the food they'll find as frogs, so cannot cannibalize one another. The morph out container I use is a 12.7 qt. sterilite with a giant lump of sphagnum moss in one corner, and just enough water for the tads to be submerged in the remaining area of the container. When the tads are froglets, they will start to climb out of the water onto the corner island of sphagnum. When your frogs are spending more and more time out of the water (that is, if they're mostly land dwelling, more aquatic species may not leave the water much at all) and/or their tail is almost gone, they are pretty much done morphing. You can now put them into permanent housing, that is, until they become dinner!!!!!

If you need fruit flies for them, I have 4 types, from wingless melanogaster (smallest) up to black hydei (largest). I have bean beetles, too. However, I don't know what your frogs are and what is on their menu, so to speak.

Best of luck with getting some new froggies, and I hope I've been of some help. If I can help in any way, let me know.

:)

Thank you for this Stephi, but you're too late. They all either died or became hoggie food before any eggs were layed. I will keep this for future reference though. :yes: