school project with tadpoles.

[damzookeeper]

HI, wondering if anyone can help me out a bit more. My daughter came home with 3 tadpoles from school. The class is doing a school project with them. She is supposed to take care of them till they turn into forgs and then release them back into area where they came (her teachers back pond)
As far as we know these are spring peepers. The good news is that she said there are litterally thousands apon thousands in her back pond. Way to go peepers!! lol.
Anyway, We went down to the nearest pond and grabbed some water and seaweed. I have it in a small tank and now I want to put the tad poles in. They are presently in a jar with water from the tank at school (pond water, but it has been inside for over a week so temps are warmer, than ours) Should I put them in a bag and place the bag in the tank for 1/2 hour or so like you do with fish, or should I wait till morning and just dump them in. I would think the bag, but I have never delt with tads before. I know they can't be touched and they live off the algea in the tank and fish flakes but I want to make sure these guys servive. My daughter will be so happy to see them change into frogs and then to release them will be an experience for her. She is 8 btw.
Thanks for any info or help in advance.

Just thought you would like to know, we own a spanish ribbed newt and a white lipped tree frog, also have had salamanders in the past. Other than this though, we haven't owned any other amphibians, only lizards. Thanks.

[Dozer]

I kept my tads in pond water and fed them fish flakes as well. I kept the container in the house and replaced half the water daily ( oxygen supply ) Once legs start to develop, put a land tpye thingy ( peice of wood ) in the tank or container. This will help the froglets survive once they get legs and are able to breathe. I dont have a great deal of knowledge about it, but from experience that is what I did... my outcome was 7/8 tads became froglets. Not bad :)

[damzookeeper]

Thanks, so far so good, they are still alive a week later. lol. ;)

[Sean_.E.]

Actually you dont even have to change so much water so often. Tadpoles often eat there own feces. If you have seeweed then they will do a little cleaning. I would suggest u change 25% of the water twice a week. Use your judgement though, Obviously if the tank is farly large you can change it less often (maybe 3 every 2 weeks) as opposed to a small jar which will need to be changed more often. When I raise bull frog and green frog tadpoles I put live plants in with them and change the water (25%) once a week. For large tadpoles I leave 5 gallons per tadpole. You don't want to change the water too often though as it isn't good for the tadpoles. You can use distilled water or tap water that has been let in the sun for 5-6 days. I could go on for hours so I'll stop here...lol. Good luck with the taddies If you can get some pics of the different stages of there development that would be relly cool!

Good luck!

[damzookeeper]

thanks.