It turns out that froglets suffer from Peter Pan Syndrome a little bit and if not released from their childhood home they forget that they don't have gills anymore and drown trying to continue acting like tadpoles. In the wild I suppose they would simply crawl out of their puddle and find a new one to live by. In captivity I figured that their rocks and sticks and floating islands would be enough to entice them out of the water, but I figured wrong.
After finding a dead frog in the bottom of the tank yesterday (its siblings had kindly chewed off its arms and legs and tails) and another one this morning (with all limbs in tact) I decided that these frogs weren't going to leave on their own. I fished out the remaining four froglets (leaving behind a dozen or so tadpoles) and put them in a separate, shallower dish.
Within minutes they all hopped away into the wild of our front garden, hiding in the mulch, taking cover near the bushes. This one hopped into our butterfly bush but soon disappeared along with its siblings.
I'm leaving their shallow pond out for them in case they need a place to freshen up a bit. I don't know how long it will take for them to find their way to the more swampish backyard—there's a nice little creek back there they could live by should they choose to—though our front yard isn't much less swamp-like than the back, truthfully.
I guess they were ready to experience life on their own, but if not I'm sure they'll provide excellent food to a spider, snake, or bird. It's the circle of life.
Rachel wanted to bring them in for show-and-tell so I'm headed back to her school this afternoon with tadpoles packed in baby food jars—one with three legs, one with two legs (but its forearms visibly starting), and one with only two legs (and still the round, round torso of a young tadpole).
What I really want to do is take a nap (I made it to book club! I know I said I wasn't going to make it but they postponed it by a week which meant that I could go. I think this is my second time reading the book and going to book club in the two years I've lived here. So, that's special). But I don't think nap time is going to happen today because we have ukulele practice right after school.
Haha. Speaking of book club, I think we were all a little sluggish this morning. The kids weren't asleep when I left, though they were all in their pyjamas and all had their teeth brushed. Two of three were even in bed already—Rachel had agreed to read to Miriam from Little House in the Big Woods for story time. Benjamin thought it was a grave injustice to have his father put him to bed so I told Andrew that he could stay up and watch Daniel Tiger (the screaming was just too much) but that only lasted for so long before Andrew put him in his bed to scream until he fell asleep.
Then Andrew forgot to tell Rachel to go to bed and completely forgot she was reading in her room until she came in to ask him a question...at 10:45 PM.
Miriam had a nightmare that her bed was covered in poison ivy and was still up crying when I got home at midnight.
It's a miracle we got Rachel out to the bus stop this morning. It really is.
After finding a dead frog in the bottom of the tank yesterday (its siblings had kindly chewed off its arms and legs and tails) and another one this morning (with all limbs in tact) I decided that these frogs weren't going to leave on their own. I fished out the remaining four froglets (leaving behind a dozen or so tadpoles) and put them in a separate, shallower dish.
Within minutes they all hopped away into the wild of our front garden, hiding in the mulch, taking cover near the bushes. This one hopped into our butterfly bush but soon disappeared along with its siblings.
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| Good luck little one |
I'm leaving their shallow pond out for them in case they need a place to freshen up a bit. I don't know how long it will take for them to find their way to the more swampish backyard—there's a nice little creek back there they could live by should they choose to—though our front yard isn't much less swamp-like than the back, truthfully.
I guess they were ready to experience life on their own, but if not I'm sure they'll provide excellent food to a spider, snake, or bird. It's the circle of life.
Rachel wanted to bring them in for show-and-tell so I'm headed back to her school this afternoon with tadpoles packed in baby food jars—one with three legs, one with two legs (but its forearms visibly starting), and one with only two legs (and still the round, round torso of a young tadpole).
What I really want to do is take a nap (I made it to book club! I know I said I wasn't going to make it but they postponed it by a week which meant that I could go. I think this is my second time reading the book and going to book club in the two years I've lived here. So, that's special). But I don't think nap time is going to happen today because we have ukulele practice right after school.
Haha. Speaking of book club, I think we were all a little sluggish this morning. The kids weren't asleep when I left, though they were all in their pyjamas and all had their teeth brushed. Two of three were even in bed already—Rachel had agreed to read to Miriam from Little House in the Big Woods for story time. Benjamin thought it was a grave injustice to have his father put him to bed so I told Andrew that he could stay up and watch Daniel Tiger (the screaming was just too much) but that only lasted for so long before Andrew put him in his bed to scream until he fell asleep.
Then Andrew forgot to tell Rachel to go to bed and completely forgot she was reading in her room until she came in to ask him a question...at 10:45 PM.
Miriam had a nightmare that her bed was covered in poison ivy and was still up crying when I got home at midnight.
It's a miracle we got Rachel out to the bus stop this morning. It really is.
Glad you were able to go to book club. I hope you enjoyed it! I'm sure the kids enjoyed seeing the tadpoles for show in tell. Thanks for the updates!
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