Tadpoles--Final Chapter: Releasing Bilbo

Some friends helped us (finally) release our beloved Bilbo the frog. Yes, this is the one I last posted here when he really became a frog...from the tadpoles we caught on April 22--Earth Day.
Isn't it nice to have friends with a creek in their back yard? We spotted a number of tadpoles, but I decided that once a year for this nature study is sufficient.
Not sure if you can really see him in the bug catcher Mary Kate is holding, but we found out that Bilbo has a flair for a bit of drama. He's on his back playing dead!

You can see him closer here.
He's always been a bit shy (hiding under plants and rocks in our tank), quite skittish, and not up for much adventure. Clearly hobbit-like as his name implies. So it was pretty humorous to watch this last bit of dramatic display!

I'm sorry I didn't get a picture of Joe taking him out of the tank. He had us worried for a moment when it appeared that rigor mortis had instantly set in--stretched out stiff-straight legs and on his back! When he was set into the bug catcher, however, he flipped back over into regular crouched frog position.

(Can you tell we got a little too much entertainment out of all this?!)
Bilbo in his new home...not far from where we caught him (the day we took the picture at the top of this blog). He looked happy...and relieved!

Goodbye, Bilbo! If you get hungry, we left some of your food around where we released you...because Mikey was concerned that you didn't have good hunting skills yet!

After playing (for hours) at the creek, all (9) kids came back up and climbed in this fantastic tree fort.A creek AND a tree fort! What more could a child want?

Okay...last picture of Bilbo's tail!

I didn't figure I'd be posting our tadpole updates so much on consecutive days, but we're just following nature...and nature has sped up for Bilbo. Less than 24 hours ago, Bilbo still had a short tail. Now this is what he looks like this morning. I thought we'd have a couple of more weeks with this little guy after his arms popped out, but I think it's about time we let him go.

We fetched him from nature on April 22 (Earth Day).

In the stream before we netted him. (He's the black critter on the rock.)
First day in his new home.
Less than 2 months later he has fully transformed himself. I guess the next post should be about the kids releasing him back to nature. We'll see if they want to let him go sometime this week. =(

Bilbo Frogger

Okay, I'm continually amazed by this little critter in our tank. In a matter of 24 hours, he has made some dramatic changes...once again! The last picture of him was right after his arms came out. The next morning, instead of a tadpole with arms and legs, he completely looked like a frog with a little tail. He was perched up on a rock breathing AIR now. Somehow, his tail lost its "fin" look and just looks like a small tail. Here he is in all his new frogger glory.
Compare it to a picture taken less than 24 hours prior to the one above when he was still swimming and staying underwater.

This morning, his tail looks really tiny. Until just a minute ago, I hadn't been able to get a good picture of our shy frogger because whenever he sees movement in the room he flails around the tank until he wedges himself under one of the rocks. First is a picture of him from yesterday afternoon. See the long tail?The next picture is from just a minute ago (8am-ish). Check out the much shorter tail!

Nature is great!

I'm a bit worried about our little frogger. It seems like he's not eating anything. I've changed his food a bit and have added some blood worms (yuck!). I hope he's getting what he needs because I think he's too little for even the smallest crickets.

Okay, gotta get ready for this week's Little Flowers camp we're putting on for 20+ girls. But first, we've gotta do another English lesson. Nope, we still haven't quite finished school yet...even though we're pretty close. (Sigh!)

We're not going to have much break from school this summer. We need to get going on our next year since we've just started planning on a big fun trip this fall and will miss school during that time. After visiting my dad in Washington State, we're going somewhere we've never been...and Grammy and Grampy may be joining us!

Bilbo TadFrog, nature's own transformer

We've decided to name our tadfrog Bilbo. It just seems to suit him. He had to have a name by now--especially today with such a dramatic day for celebration. He got his arms! Just last night they were stuck inside his little chubby torso, then out they popped (deflating his chest a bit, but I won't tell him!). The only hint of arms we had was a little bulge on one side looking like an elbow. They popped out of a hole and are fully functioning already. Take a look at our transformed tadfrog, Bilbo!

The interesting part about the arms is that unlike the back legs, they just seemed to magically appear. We first noticed the back legs a few weeks ago when they were so small they looked like they could've been something else that comes out at that end (!), and they were completely lifeless just floating and dragging along until a last week when we noticed they were more muscular and functional.

Our puzzled little guy looks a bit funny hop-swimming around trying to learn to use his arms and legs. We switched him back to the big tank and put a large rock in it for him to climb on, but he still seems to prefer his little plant! Now all we have left is to watch his tail disappear. Oh yes, a menu change. Bugs! Maybe I'll go to the pet shop and find something already caught and dried up!

The Lone TadFrog

Unfortunately, our tadpole sitters (wonderfully generous neighbors) had to witness the death of 5 out of our 6 tadpoles--the first day we left on our roadie! After I cleaned the tank and walked it over to their house before we left town, I noticed some white flaky stuff floating around the water that I had never seen before and is still baffling me. This was sure to be what the poor tadpoles ingested and caused them to meet their demise later that day--just a little over a month after we "saved" them from their natural habitat.

Our neighbors called so we could inform the kids before we came back to pick them up (in case the kids may be distraught in some way). After we told the kids about the other tadpoles dying, they were pretty matter-of-fact about it when they told their cousins, and were glad we still had one left. After we got back, Jimmer asked what our neighbors did with the other tadpoles. I told him I wasn't sure...but I'm relieved he didn't outright ask our neighbor when we went to pick up the aquarium! FLUSH!

On a lighter note, we still have one very hearty tadpole left, and he's getting his legs in back. See?
We're trying to think of an appropriate name for him now that he's been through some tough times and is the lone survivor of our tadfrogs. This one was the smallest one of the bunch, is quite mellow compared to the other rambunctious critters he used to float with, and he's usually found hiding at the bottom of the tank under our little aquarium plant.

Check out how well his legs are formed in this picture. At first the legs were so small and just floated along with the rest of the body seemingly lifeless. Now our little tadfrog uses them to push himself along the tank. Doesn't he look happy...like he's getting ready to clap and dance?!

We thought of naming him Bilbo (for Bilbo Baggins, the main character in The Hobbit) since hobbits don't usually like too much adventure. Then we thought of Winnie (the Pooh) since this tadpole seems pretty gentle and soft spoken. There's gotta be an Aesop's fable about a mellow, patient, non-greedy type like this, right? We haven't given him a name quite yet as I'm not sure that any of these names fit him fully. Any suggestions out there?

Tadpole Update...after one week in their foster home

Here are two of our six frisky tadpoles! They've changed noticeably in the past week.When we caught them, they looked like little black bulbs with a wiggly tail. They weren't very lively, and they were so small that it was difficult to see them hiding on the bottom among all the rocks. Now, since they've grown, it's not difficult to find them. Their activity level has picked up, and it almost seems as though they're playing together at times. Their color has gone from blackish to very frog-like spotty greenish brown with pinkish-red coloring for some organs inside, and you can almost just imagine a little frog all bunched up in their little bulky tadpole body! Look at their cute faces! This has been a fun process for the kids to watch!

Are They Tadpoles?

Yesterday, on Earth Day, we all went to a nearby creek on a quest for tadpoles. The new title picture at the top of the page shows Dad searching with the kids. See the bucket and net? You may ask, "Why would you kidnap innocent tadpoles from their natural habitat on Earth Day?" Well, we didn't purposely plan it that way. We've been talking about finding and taking care of tadpoles so we can watch them grow into frogs, and they happen to be pretty easy to find now in the spring. Also, they will have a better chance of survival in their new home with us--away from their preditors. Right? Well, we certainly hope so!
We caught lots of little wiggly stuff--six of the items we believed to be tadpoles. We even enjoyed a bonus find, a tiny turtle! He seemed to really like his home, so we let him stay!

The kids were so excited to catch and be able to keep these little critters. We brought them home, put them in our tank, and served them frozen organic baby spinach for dinner!

After all the excitement, I checked online to see if I could find exactly what KIND of frogs we might end up with. When I found some pictures to identify our little troop, I realized that we may have ended up with TOADpoles instead of TADpoles. This will be a fun science project. I hope it all goes well for the little taddies or toadies. Wish us luck!