Tadpole to Frog
Peron’s Tree Frog Tadpoles – Litoria peronii
I’ve always been fascinated by the life cycle of a frog. The journey from egg to young metamorph is a wonderful thing to watch and the length of time taken can vary depending on the species. Factors such as water temperature will also influence the laval life span
13-01-08 – Eggs about 2 days old
Next day: Look how they have grown!
14-01-08 – Eggs 3 days old
05-02-08 – Tadpoles 3.5 weeks
At this age the Peron’s tadpole often looks clear in between their stripes.
Tadpoles eat all the time! This fellow is enjoying the leaves of an aquarium water plant. They will also thrive on bits of lettuce which has been boiled or frozen and aquarium fish flakes.
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At around 6 weeks old, the same tadpole is much bigger and has lost those clear parts on his body. He is now yellow brown all over and quite likes looking at his reflection. Little legs are starting to develop and he is eating more than ever.
23-02-08 – Tadpole at 6 weeks
Almost a frog. I took this picture last night. He still has quite a substantial tail and was found resting on some pond plants with the tip of his snout poking out of the water
23-02-08 – Tadpoles in the frog pond
This morning I found this metamorph resting on the lily pad looking very much like a frog. Not much tail now and I expect he will leave the pond area very soon. He has been sitting there all day and I have been worried a bird would get him, or Whisper.
24-02-08 – Peron’s Tree Frog leaving the pond
Posted on February 24th, 2008 by Sue
Filed under: Frogs
HEY! those are the tadpoles that i just caught! thanks for putting this on cause u’ve helped me find out the species of my little taddies.
Hi Hendog,
I’m pleased my page has helped you ID your tadpoles.
There is a great guide book for identifying tadpoles which you may be able to pick up at your local library – Tadpoles of South-eastern Australia by Marion Anstis. I found it very useful but usually find it easier to ID once the taddies have morphed into frogs.
Sue
those are cute tadpoles! We are at school and we are raising some of our own tadpoles, isn’t that cool!!!!!!!
Hi there,
Yes raising tadpoles is cool and very interesting. I hope you are taking lots of pictures at school so you can show everyone the change from tadpole to frog.
Perhaps you can make a PowerPoint presentation or a Smartboard interactive whiteboard notebook ( if you have those boards at school). Does your school have a website? That is another way to share the experience with your school community.
Best wishes,
Sue
Hi, very nice post. I have been wonder’n bout this issue,so thanks for posting
I just found polywogs at a lake near my grandma and grandpa’s. Now I’m learning about frogs and polywogs. Thanks for your webpage. It’s a great one!
Hi Marshall,
Well there is a term I’ve not heard in a while…
“pollywog”
Frogs have a very interesting life cycle and are fascinating to study. Be careful! You might end up with frogs all over the house like me.
Sue
This was very helpful! Did your frog stay around or leave and return? I was told they stay close to the pond.
Hi Sue,
A few stayed. I find them occasionally when gardening. The ground frogs do stay close to the pond but the tree frogs seem to roam more.
I have one from this batch of tadpoles living in my hanging pot.
Sue
Hi, i found some tadpoles in a bucket in the back yard. i m not sure if ther frogs or not? could u help me out and if they are frogs how would i take care of them.
Thanks for creating this page. It’s been helpful in trying towork ouy the approx age of the tadpoles in our pool. There would be over 100 in out backyard pool.
i want to get them out before hubby chlorinates so if you have suggestion on how to get them out safely I’d appreciate it
You can just take them out and keep them in a jar (do not overcroed jar) until they start to develop legs. Feed boiled lettuce or fish flakes. Release into a lake or dam with plenty of vegetation !
Alex has the right idea.
I would use something bigger than a jar for that many taddies. I doubt you could save and feed them all unless you have a garden pond with no fish. Try using a big plastic storage box.
I saved some from a friend’s pool once. Very hard to catch them all. I used the pool net to scoop up some but found a small bucket worked as well where the tadpoles were resting in the shallows.
We managed to save about 90% of them. I reckon there’s a few hundred at least. I bought 2 inflatable pools to keep them in temporarily. So far they’re thriving and a lot have developed back legs. I’m feeding them frozen lettuce and fish flakes but not sure how long they eat that for before movoing onto something else!
Well done!
Fish flakes and boiled lettuce will be fine. I find they stop eating as they begin to morph and absorb their tails. Next on the menu will be your backyard bugs!
Make sure they are able to climb out of the pools, that they have hiding places close by… rocks, foliage etc to hide in and keep the surrounding areas moist for them. I often put bits of cut up fruit and peel in the leaf litter around my pond to attract extra food for the the little frogs.
hey,frogs are really nice dont kill them please they help us.and make us happy