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Watching Frogs

Wet highways, roadside ditches and ponds on warm spring nights are your best places for seeing (and hearing) Spring Peepers and Wood Frogs. After breeding, they return to woodland habitats, eventually hibernating there, and are rarely noticed. Leopard Frogs prefer grassy places in summer, while Toads use many terrestrial habitats including lawns and gardens.

Most frogs can be kept for a few days. Put Peepers, Wood Frogs, Leopard Frogs and Toads in mossy terrariums; the other frogs need shallow water in an aquarium. Live earth worms and insects make suitable food items. Remember that big frogs often eat smaller frogs!

Frogs' eggs placed in pond water will usually hatch indoors. Feed the tadpoles pond algae, strained spinach baby food or tropical fish food. Avoiding direct sunlight (too hot) and aerating the water makes successful rearing more likely. Toads, Peepers and Wood, Leopards and Pickerel Frogs mature in one season; Bullfrog, Green Frog and Mink Frog tadpoles overwinter before transforming completely.

While collecting and rearing frog eggs and tadpoles is a time-honoured and educational tradition for kids, we must think about conservation too. Taking a whole mass of Wood Frog eggs removes the entire progeny of a frog from the population. This may reduce both the number of frogs and the genetic diversity of the population. Think before you scoop.

Return your temporary amphibian pets to a suitable habitat for them...preferably the one in which you found them.