We Haz Tadpoles!

We have some new pets, and the kids are fascinated.

Say hello to our new, erm, tadpoles.

Mummy Selena sent out an appeal in a Facebook group I am part of, asking if there were any takers for some excess tadpoles that she had on her hands. I went to pick up a batch, thinking that it would be a great opportunity for Noey to observe the lifecycle of the frog. I honestly think that seeing tadpoles morph into frogs is most fascinating, once we get over the ick factor of it all. Hah. As it happens, the theme for the term at his pre-school is “Pets”, so I thought having some creatures to take care of at home would complement that nicely.

Noey accompanied me on the pick-up and was most delighted with his container of tadpoles. “These are our pets, Mei-mei,” he told his sister excitedly, while watching the little tadpoles do their own thing in the water. And harassing them, by tapping on the container and yelling at them. You know, for fun. He insisted I go out and buy a tank for them, and some fish food for him to feed them with that very day, which I did. The folks at the pet store all gave me weird looks when I told them what I was keeping!

I was a bit worried that the little tadpoles would not survive the night, especially since they seemed rather sluggish after we brought them home. I went to google some information on how to look after tadpoles, rather belatedly, and realised that oops, I probably should not have popped them into chlorinated tap water to begin with. The bigger 6-week old tadpole that we had brought home didn’t make it, but these little ones appeared revived the next day, and have since been thriving.

Noey’s been having a lot of fun trying to feed them and watch them chomp on their food. Nomi, well, I just try to keep her from putting her hand into the water!

So the most obvious question that everyone has, I’m sure, is: “What are you going to do with all those frogs when the tadpoles mature into adults??” (We have 11 little tads.) Honestly, I’m not very sure yet, but we’re probably have to evict them somehow, somewhere. I do plan to try to get Noey’s pre-school to adopt some as a learning experience for the kids, so hopefully I won’t have too many to deal with. Selena has identified the tadpoles as Common Tree Frogs, also known as Four-Lined Tree Frogs, and I suppose the good thing is that they sound fairly common around these parts. My helper has been suggesting that maybe they can be eaten. I hope she’s joking.

It’s been a week so far, and these little guys have grown quite a bit bigger and fatter! No doubt the doing of the vitamin-enriched fish food Noey’s been gleefully feeding them with. I hope we don’t end up with huge mutant frogs. Hmm, that’s a scary thought.

ANYWAY!

These little guys are ours for now. Let’s see how they – and we, as pet owners – fare over the next few weeks.