Advice in keeping frog spawn to grow into frogs

HappySad

Can you give advice in keeping frog spawn to grow into frogs? I want my son to see how they grow.

I have no knowledge about what food they eat and what temperature to keep them etc. Do you know of a good website that tells you just what you need to know? I would like to keep them my my son's bedroom- is this OK? What do I do with the frogs afterwards? Where can I get a cheap container to put the spawn in?


any help welcome
Thanks
(18th March)

Silverbird

I've read recently that you should never move frogspawn from where it is found.

margaretclare

Frogs are wild creatures and do not live in people's bedrooms.

Where did you get the frog spawn from? There is a lot of information and the advice is not to move frog spawn from the pond where it originated. There's a virus disease which affects frogs, can be lethal to them, so moving spawn from one place to another can just spread this virus around.

You could try making a small pond in the garden - that would be the best and most natural place to see how frogs grow. We've had hours of interest and amusement watching the frogs over the last few weeks just busily doing what comes naturally!

http://froglife-frogbites.blogspot.com/2009/03/froglife-says-just-add-water.html

Krystaltips

We live fairly close to a large pool and last year we had loads of tadpoles in our paddling pool... And also a shallow dish from underneath a plant pot... Actually, where ever there was a small collection of water... Was fantastic for my daughter to watch them swimming around and then the migration of baby toads across the garden and back to the big pool! (It's a shame we missed the spawn, might see if we can find any this year before the tadpoles...)

Blue_Fairy_3

margaretclare wrote: »

Frogs are wild creatures and do not live in people's bedrooms.

Oh dear. As a child I used to gather frogspawn every year from a small pond in our field. I thought I was giving some of the poor taddies a chance of survival, as a couple of ducks always used to fly down from the neighbouring farm and eat all the remaining ones!

I just kept them in a really big glass jar or icecream tub. I used to gather weed, stones and a bit of mud from their original pond to recreate their natural habitat, and replace this every time I changed their water. (We had spring water at home, chlorinated water probably wouldn't do them any good!)

I think I used to give them scraps of bread or meat to nibble on- tadpoles will eat anything that falls into their pond! I used to release them back into the wild when they turned into little frogs.

I do agree that creating some kind of pond in your garden might be better, you will probably find that frogs and other wildlife will take to it naturally. I live in a town and have no pond (nor do any of my immediate neighbours), yet I always find frogs in my garden - also toads and slow worms. The pond need only be tiny, frogspawn appears in all sorts of places from old troughs or tubs left in a field, to the smallest puddle. HTH.

[Deleted User]

we used to keep frog spawn at school, 50 years ago and it was fascinating to see them develop into frogs. I remember them being fed a small lump of meat from time to time. The water level was reduced when they started turning into frogs and stones were put into the container so half was underneath the water

http://www.ypte.org.uk/environmental/care-of-frogspawn-and-tadpoles/28

naturally_2

They eat cat food, or at least ours did! Small amounts, you don't want the leftovers rotting.

You could make a small pond in the garden with a washing up bowl? Don't forget non-porus rocks to build a way for froglets to climb out, and preferably sink it into the ground so they can get back in again, as well as a plant or 2 either cadged from a friend's pond or bought from the garden centre. And provide shade and keep water topped up in hot weather, so you don't have fried tadpoles

jackomdj

I always take some out of our pond so we can see it developing & the frogs eventually arriving. Usually just before the frogs are ready to hop off we return them to the pond.

Margaretclaire - you will hate the fact that we sometimes get the newts out & put them in a "pond replicator" (small fish tank with bits from the pond) for a few hours to see what they get up to!

Last year we were at the big lake near us on the day when the baby frogs left the lake - it was wonderful & my girls were so excited....the floor was literally moving with them all.

Nicky

elainew

I'm pretty sure you can take spawn as long as you return the frogs back to the same place later.

Curious_George_2

if its any use to you they still do this at school,
my daughter came home today saying her teacher had brought in some frog spawn and they were going to study the development,

HariboJunkie

You shouldn't really take frogspawn from the wild. It Is technically illegal as the common frog is a protected species. However it is a law that is rarely acted upon and if you do it, please ask the permission of the landowner and only take a little bit.

There is also a risk of spreading disease and metamorphosed tadpoles leave the pond to live on the wildlife rich edges and have a much higher rate of survival in their natural environment.

It's much better to create a small pond yourself to encourage the frogs to inhabit your garden naturally.