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Frog spawn in East London

Hi

My young daughter is undertaking a project looking at the life cycle of frogs. I was wondering if there is anyone in the East London area (preferably around E6) who have some frog spawn they would be willing to donate (it will be kept in a tank). Would be happy to return the young frogs back after a few weeks.

Thanks

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  • GemmaJFGemmaJF Posts: 2,286

    Hi Aviator,

    Don't keep it in tanks, keep it low trays like cat litter trays or a washing up bowl. You need shallow water with a large surface area else the water will become deoxygenated and so will the tadpoles - which isn't very good for them image

    You could try the London Amphibian & Reptile Group for help, http://groups.arguk.org/larg/

    Though to be honest these days people can be a bit funny about moving or collecting spawn. I'm all for the kids doing it and learning personally. Doing stuff like that led to a life long interest for me.

  • DaintinessDaintiness Posts: 988

    I would recommend that you find a pond local to yourselves and you and your daughter visit regularly to witness the changes. Ask around in your local area...Eastham nature reserve isn't too far from you and I'm sure they could advise you. I'm a bit too far to offer visits.

     

  • GemmaJFGemmaJF Posts: 2,286

    PS I didn't see your post before I posted pansyface - the fear is moving disease from one population to another.

    If one takes some spawn into captivity, has no other pets (particularly exotic reptiles and amphibians) the risk is low of spreading disease if the resulting animals are released back to the pond where the spawn came from.

    If you have no luck with it, I do have a bowl of spawn on the go at home, it was rescued from a non-viable pond (It dries up by mid April each year). So I could send photos of the development if it helps. I'm sure others could help in the same way who have frogspawn in garden ponds. All it would take is posting up pictures to this thread as time goes on. image

     

  • GemmaJFGemmaJF Posts: 2,286

    I agree it's all very difficult pansyface, I come across teachers who are scared stiff to go out pond dipping these days in case a great crested newt is caught by accident. I understand why, but at the same time feel if children are isolated from wildlife, we have little hope of them being interested and involved in it's conservation in the future.

    Here is my spawn this morning - the embryos are just beginning to loose their perfectly round shape, a sign that all is well and the spawn is fertile and the tails are just starting to develop. image

    image

     

     

  • AviatorAviator Posts: 3

    Hi All

    Thanks for all the advice, didn't realise all the implications around moving frog spawn. In my school days it just wasn't an issue.

    Happy to receive pics of the development over time. Thanks again!

  • GemmaJFGemmaJF Posts: 2,286

    I'll keep posting pictures up Aviator, there is a good resource here covering tadpole development:

    http://www.frog-life-cycle.com/

     

  • AviatorAviator Posts: 3

    Thanks again GemmaJF

  • GemmaJFGemmaJF Posts: 2,286

    What a difference in 24 hours, distinct heads and tails forming:

    image

     

  • Peanuts3Peanuts3 Posts: 759

    wow, what a difference.  I too was wanting to get some local frog spawn for my kids to watch develop.  We used to put some in jam jars when i was a kid.  If i was to release the tadpoles into a pond that didn't have frogs would that be an issue ? or would it have to go back into same pond?

  • GemmaJFGemmaJF Posts: 2,286

    The problem is if you release the tadpoles in the garden pond, the adults that result could pass disease by mixing with nearby populations.

    I'm really in two minds about it, the advice given out not to move spawn around to prevent disease spread is sound enough.

    Yet at the same time, if there is no local frog population, it does kind of make sense to start a new population if one has a vacant pond available. 

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