A couple of weeks ago, the Stinky One found a little swimming thing during an otherwise routine father-daughter paddle boat excursion. I am, I will admit, somewhat wary of things found on daddy-Stink excursions in our pond, but this particular found thing turned out to be a fat little tadpole.
A true naturalist would likely study the little guy, and then put him back in his own environment. We, however, (and by we, I mean me) are hunting desperately for things to do while not watching TV so we googled "raising tadpoles" instead.
disclaimer: If you are a tadpole rights activist, please scroll to the next picture.
Those of you with honed powers of observation will note with interest the tiny jar placed strategically beside our frog habitat. La Stink put it there for use during water changing. She was very careful to catch him in the little jar before changing his water.
Because I judged myself a dexterous and capable gal, I proceeded with significantly less caution and because I seem, with the advent of Stink's Summer o' Fun, to be especially gifted at traumatizing the poor miss, proceeded to pour the tadpole down the drain. (gasp)
Before you all begin to picket and chant, please know that I was, consequently tried and found guilty of accidental frogicide, and sentenced to finding more tadpoles for raising. So I googled "finding tadpoles" and, with girl in tow, dutifully went a-hunting.
Turns out, frogs lay their eggs in round gelatinous masses full of hundreds of eggs. They lay them in still, shady waters close to shore. They were not, in the early weeks of June, difficult to ferret out.
We gathered a bunch and waited.
We have 8 of these pudgy little swimmers. I'll keep you all updated.
As a side note, the girl swears she saw the lost 'pole in the toilet. (is that even possible? and if it is, has he truly returned to seek his frogish revenge? Stay tuned for more of Stink's Summer o' Fun or - the Frogman Come-ith.)
lucky for me i am not a tadpole rights activist, or i'd have missed out on one darn funny post. you are simply the best.
Posted by: nic | July 12, 2008 at 11:45 PM
What fun! If you don't have luck with the found-in-nature kind, you can buy tadpole "kits" from www.growafrog.com My children love their frogs!
Posted by: Jen | July 13, 2008 at 07:20 PM
This sounds like so much fun to me!! I would love to catch tadpoles and keep them around to watch them change... take lots of pictures so that I can live vicariously through your experiment!
Posted by: Melissa | July 22, 2008 at 01:27 PM
Hey Sarah, how are the tadpoles? Ours have their legs!! Well, they are wispy legs, but they are growing bigger everyday. They're also splashing in the water alot. I am afraid to find one laying outside the bowl some morning :-/
Posted by: Kirsten/winipoo | September 12, 2008 at 11:06 PM
If you already have a good idea of who you are, now is a good time to remind yourself of that image.
Posted by: Jordan Spizike | July 04, 2011 at 03:37 AM
Love those! I enjoy following your posts on facebook and rss!
Posted by: Moncler Rockar | December 01, 2011 at 06:54 PM