Street Puddle Tadpole Saga

As many of you may recall, about three weeks ago we had a solid week of rain. The land was so satuarated that pools formed where the street and curb meet. During that week the frogs and/or toads came out in abundance and laid their eggs in these forming pools. By Sunday, the sun was full and out again and turning the pools into muddy puddles. By the following Thursday night the street puddles had evaporated and I couldn't walk anywhere without noticing that there were thousands of babies gulping and dog-piling in the curb crevices where the last remaining drops of water could be found. They were nowhere near developed enough to survive out of the water.

With a flashlight, a bucket and net in hand, I spent several hours that night scooping up what live tadpoles remained. The next day I set up two big shallow tubs with filters and lots of tasty detritus and plenty of haul-outs for aspiring little amphibians. That evening I walked the neighborhood and noticed that there were no puddles left and it seemed the only survivors of that months egg-laying were the ones now residing in the happy tadpole habitats in my driveway. I was very excited and began taking photos to document growth and development. Then I wondered, how many people in Gulfport were aware that on occassion our streets runneth over with tadpoles.

I fashioned a flood screen out of a screen door so that they could get any rains we might have without the threat of washing out of their habitat. I found a few pet stores and got the most suitable foods for them. I leave the light on for a few hours in the evening to attract bugs. These little babies eat anything and everything. A few interesting things I have discovered is that they really like to lay up somewhere shallow, half out of the water with their bellies turned up to the sun. If undisturbed, they will lay there as if dead for quite sometime. They are cannibalistic and they like fig and algae wafers more than anything else.

I have uploaded a collection of photographs showing the tadpoles' progress. I'll continue to add updates as we approach adulthood. The interesting thing here is identity. I spent hours looking at photos online and listened to frog and toad calls that are native to the area in the hopes of putting a name to the face. Now we have a dilema. I believe I've narrowed it down to five possible species. Of the five, two are invasive, non-native, and harmful. So this could be a good thing or this could be a bad thing. Next on the agenda is making a call to the University's reptile and amphibian specialists to see if they can assist with identification and to help determine a proper course of action if they turn out to be the non-natives.

It's only been a week in the rescue habitats and we are already seeing the leg development under the skin on the back half of their bodies.