Froggy help

[mroli123]

Hi,

I know this probably isn't the right place, but hoping someone may be able to point me in the right direction!

Last month I was on the search for bugs for my turtles/axolotls I went to get some pond weed from a local pond in a park, it turned out that there had been a big fire the day before right next to the pond (it was only small) and it had turned into a tiny puddle! It had loads of tadpoles in it, far too many for the space that was left so I decided I would take some home, initially to feed to my turtle - I soon decided against this and when I got home set up an old tank and put them in there, now the tiny tadpoles are almost frogs and I am unsure what is the best thing to do with them now!

The pond I got them from is no more, so should I just take them somewhere else and let them go? I have kept them in a tank which isn't very deep at all and fed them goldfish flakes and daphnia, I am wondering if they will be able to cope with deeper water straight away?

No idea what type of frog they are, may even be toads!

Any advice appreciated!

Cheers

Oli

 

[mroli123]

By deep I should point out that the nearest place near me is a river not a pond, I am on the lookout for a nice pond for them, would a river be too much for them?

 

[Kaysie]

You could just raise them until they morph, and let them go near the pond.

 

[mroli123]

morph as in turn into frogs? They are pretty much there, they have all legs and face like a frog, just a tiny bit of tail left - I don't want to come home and find them jumping around my house! They will probably jump into another tank and get eaten!

 

[Kaysie]

I don't know what the legal status is in the UK on letting specimens free in the wild. In most places, once you take an animal into captivity, it has to stay there. It can't be re-released because it may carry pathogens with it that it will introduce into wild populations.

Call around and see if any local educational facility or wetlands center or something of that ilk would be interested in using them for educational purposes.

 

[scooty16]

When I was little I used to raise frogs all the time from spawn, and I used to just let them free into my pond when they were grown ups.

 

[Will B]

Probably the best thing to do is contact the authorities regarding nature conservation.
There is a very nasty fungus killing frogs througout the world, totally wiping them out in many countries, and unfortunatelly its both very hard to detect (usually only with biopsies if I understood right), and very hard to kill (most measures to kill it will also kill or gravelly affect the frogs).
litle is known about the fungus, but its thought that humans have been having a great role in spreading it (field trips between contaminated and non contaminated areas, and also by releasing contaminated animals to clean areas).

From what I gathered, there is no way of being sure if they are safe to release assides from quarentine and biopsies, which should be done by professionals...

W

 

[mroli123]

I have found a pond it one of my friends mums back garden to release it to, I don't think that there will be any problems - I have never touched it when they were tadpoles or frogs, they have just been developing in a bowl in my conservatory - so if it does have any fungus it already had it, so tonight they will be free!