GardenBanter.co.uk - The thrill of it !

On 01 May 2003 03:26:59 GMT, ESPMER (K30a) wrote:

jammer wrote I was considering trying to house some in a 10
gallon aquarium...anyone done this?

But of course!
(note: fish usually hate toad eggs, taddies and toadlets, they taste bad.)

Then i have nothing to worry about? Cool! (Unless my lttle monsters
are an exception)

I can't go answering this until i scream with joy at what else
happened tonight. The toads have never been afraid of me in past
years, but i have never had a pond or a calling toad in my yard. Well,
i decided to try and see how close i could get to the calling toad
because at 44 yrs. young, i have never in real life, seen a calling
toad with it's throat all puffed out. He let me make him the spotlight
feature of the evening as i sat there in the grass with a flashlight
on him as he did his thing. Then, am i wrong, or is the female
answering little chirping noises? (Or is that still him?) It was very
cool for me to see this. I sleep happier than i've been in 2 weeks.
tonight. Tomorrow i clean the pond of bottom and shelve much. (Pond is
clear to the bottom with no filter, pump, etc. I am pleased so far)
Ok where was I?

I won't worry too much about the toad eggs.

One year a second grade teacher and I took a slew of treefrog eggs from her
parent's pool cover and distributed the lot to almost every 1st, 2nd and 3rd
grade teacher in our school. I made up an instruction sheet for each teacher
about egg and taddie raising and then the teachers arrived with their
containers.
Also in the mix of eggs and taddies were several mating couples. The canoodling
couples could not decide to run for it or hang on to their loved one.
Add in a couple second graders, escaping frogs and questions about exactly
*what* were the frogs doing, teachers in a hurry before the bell rang... well,
I'll never forget it. ;-)
I took care of our classes tank. They ate anacharis by the bucketful. In the
middle of our tank of tadpoles appeared a tiny fish. We figured he came in as
an egg with the anacharis. We named him Egghead and he came home to live with
us when the year was done.

The fish named egghead made me laugh out loud.

Most of the frogs were released back into the 'wild' suburb from whence they
came. I wrote up another sheet on how to feed baby frogs and keep them as pets.
(Parents had to sign a form before the frogs were allowed to go home with the
children.) I think I adopted about three rejects.

I love the permission slip idea. I was going to do that with baby gold
fish if need be, but my canibals took care of any potential problem
there.

Here is my tadpole nursery answer
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A tadpole nursery is an easy affair to put together.
Set up a child's wading pool or a low a wide container in a shady area of the
yard, allowing for a few hours of morning sun.
Cover the bottom with some gravel or pebbles and fill the nursery pond with
pond water. Put in a nice boulder-ish type rock or stick up piece of wood up
against the side for the froglets/toadlets to exit the pond when they are
ready.

Paints a cute picture. I sure would like some little (vegetarian)
turtles too...

Finally, add a nice assortment of pond slime, underwater plants, decaying lily
leaves, some yard waste (as long as it has not been treated with herbicide or
pesticide). You can get really carried away and lightly boil some organic
lettuce for a treat. Do not feed fish food that is high in protein but a dead
worm very infrequently will be enjoyed
Watch the ammonia level in your nursery. Do water changes, add more underwater
plants and/or a few pots of marginal plants instead of adding chemicals.
Once the tadpoles metamorphose into frogs or toads you will have the bonus of
bug eating machines to benefit your garden.

*Grin* Let's see, pond water, plants, more plants, pond slime, water
changes..........I need another little pond !!

(And i don't use outdoor chemicals, EVER)

Thanks for this, i appreciate it.
juls

k30a