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Bullfrog tadpole care

  • Thread starter Ant
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Ant

Your one and only pest!
I plan to buy some bullfrog tadpoles for a project but, how do I care for them? ???

* What should I feed them and how often?
* How deep should the tank be?
* When should I previde land?
* Lastly what is "red leg"?

Any other tips would be very helpful!
 
I had one that my sister wanted me to take care of while she was on a trip. I didn't know anything about them. I just happened to have an empty aquarium that was up and running.

The tadpole didn't develop at all for quite a while... it was taking much longer than the websites suggested. I started to wonder if he'd be stunted forever. On a whim I put a heater in there that brought it up to tropical temperatures (73-ish). His growth went into high gear immediately. He was a frog in no time. It wasn't really that cold before (maybe 65), but apparently it makes a difference.

I didn't do much research to back this up. This is totally anecdotal. Take it for what it's worth.
 
IMHO, it's a bad idea. Bullfrog tadpoles are *huge*, require large tanks, eat constantly, can take nearly 2 years to transform, and turn into a giant eating machine that needs an even larger tank (and which cannot be released in many places, due to acting as an invasive pest).

The best thing to do would be to go down to the local pond this spring and catch some tadpoles. Most likely, they'll be a smaller, easier to keep species, and because you know what pond they're from, you can release the frogs.

Oh, and red-leg is a bacterial infection due to contaminated water.

Mokele
 
I can't do that because most local ponds are polluted. The only place where I can catch tadpoles is a golf corse pond and they are either bullfrogs or toads. I know quite well how big they get but, I am getting them for a school project and they usually don't get as big as in the wild. I ordered some on their second year and so some should already have small legs. I was hoping for advice but, they should be arriving today.
 
oops, is this supposed to be in the reptile forum?
 
Did ya get them? Let's see some pics.
 
Just because they are here doesn't mean I still can't use the advice, so anyone else?
 
I used to raise these all the time, they seem to be pretty easy. I kept mine in a 10 gallon tank and treated them like tropical fish with regards to substrate, temp., water changes, filtration, lighting etc. I fed them either flakes or pellets twice a day, as much as they could eat. IMO the higher the protein in the flakes and/or pellets the better. The only thing I did any different from fish was I kept a floating mass of plants growing on the surface of the water. That way when the tadpoles turned into frogs they could rest on the vegetation and I didn't have to worry about how far along any of them were. In your case plastic plants would probably be the way to go, since I doubt live plants could withstand the damage 15 bullfrog larvae would do. Also, with that many, I would think about at least a 20 or 30 gallon tank. Hope that helps.
 
  • #10
I think they would eat the plants, they seem to like lettuce from plastic salad bags and can eat 1 handful of it (boiled) in 2 days.
 
  • #11
Its so hard to believe that those eventually turn into huge frogs. Oh, the wonders of nature.
 
  • #12
I haven't even noticed a single change in them since I got them. None have died either!
 
  • #13
Have fun housing 15 HUGE frogs though lol that will be a jolly time for you
 
  • #14
I will let them all go or at least 13 if they all live.
 
  • #16
No, native and are slowing lossing numbers in the wild, so my tads won't harm anything.
 
  • #17
Ok good at least you checked.. aklways good keeping the natural habbitats (the few we have) intact :-D. What is your project on?
 
  • #18
Amphibian reproduction and developement.
 
  • #19
I know this is kindof an old thread, but I found a group of tadpoles in a small stream a few years ago. But the tadpoles were huge, like almost a foot long, and they were black. Were those bullfrog tadpoles? I kept it in a tank outside and it grew up and got out.
 
  • #20
I have never seen a tadpole that was nearly a foot long! What kind of drugs were being dumped into that stream?! I doubt they were bullfrogs.
 
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