I found some tadpoles in a bin in the yard that had filled with rainwater. There were hundreds of them so I decided to scoop a few into a smaller container to take inside so I could watch them as they grew.
I fed them spinach leaves and changed their water every few days as they would amass quite the pile of green spinach poop on the bottom of the container. They increase in size over time, then start becoming a more clear color in their face. Then the back legs appear but they are still pretty bulky.
Once the front legs appear they thin out into a frog shape but still have tails. Day by day their tails get smaller and they have a harder time swimming to the surface for air. This was part of the reason for me putting them in a bigger but shallower container. The rocks and sand in the bottom gave them an easier way to get to the surface.
I put the tadpoles in the container indoors on 5-18-2021 and released the first frog on 7-30-2021. So the overall process took a little over 2 months.
Many of the tadpoles outside died, but there are still plenty out there too. Unfortunately we have some mosquito larvae growing in there alongside them and the tadpoles don’t eat the larvae. As soon as they grow into frogs I’m looking forward to dumping out that bin.
It was a lot of fun to watch the tadpoles grow into frogs.
Sustainable Craig 