equipment ....... a fish tank , pebbles , rocks , dam water (water from the place you find the frog spawn) and of course you will need some eggs or tadpoles .
This is an easy and fun activity , you can either bring in all you need or incorporate the egg gathering into an outing . It is great if you can start with the eggs , allowing your Joey Scouts to watch every phase of growth and change .
firstly place the pebbles into the bottom of the tank then arrange some rock caves have some of the rocks rising above the water line , for the time when your taddies change into frogs , frogs need a moist environment but cannot live soley in water ... they will drown !!
If you have been lucky enough to find some water weed at the same location as your tadpoles or eggs put this into the tank as well , alternatively you could buy a bunch of weed at your local petshop .
Pour in the water ......you may need to add a bit of water , if so allow it to stand for a day or two first , carefully place the eggs into the tank and .. Voila !!
When we set up our taddy tank we were lucky enough to capture some water boatmen and snails and a few other greeblies which added interest to the tank .
It is important to cover the top of your tank completely as the tadpoles develop 4 legs or they will hop out , if a frog cannot access a moist environment they can die in a very short time around 3 hours , and the flies are hard to catch you dont want to be doing this more than you have to !!
EXTRA ACTIVITY ......
give your joey Scouts a sheet of paper , on this they can draw a picture each week of the changes occuring to the eggs and then those of the tadpoles .
I guarantee your Joey Scouts will love their tadpole tank
it is not nesessary to feed the tadpoles for the first couple of weeks they will contentedly slurp up scum from the rocks and weeds , as they grow you can feed them boiled lettuce leaves , tiny pieces of meat and fishfood in very small amounts , do not over feed !!!!
When your tadpoles change into frogs it is best to release them back into the same environment from which you first found them , alternatively you will need to catch live food for them ... Frogs do not eat dead creatures they prefer the thrill of the hunt ... small flies , mosquitos , moths ( but only as a last resort , moths will fall into the water where they quickly cease to wriggle and are no longer considered food to your frogs )
Oh and if you keep the frogs in the tank and one dies your canabalistic tadpoles will devour it !
your tadpoles will develop at different rates so you will find you have a mix of varying sized pollywoggles some legless some not and frogs all at the same time ..... when your first frogs climb out onto the rocks would be the best time to release the entire tank community .
Have fun !!
try to discover which type of frog you have raised , some frogs will climb to the highest point of the tank searching for a tree to take refuge in , they have different toes than those of land frogs .
you are about to embark on an epic voyage of discovery into the wonders of the world of frogs !
