Do tadpoles hibernate?

[bogfrog]

Hi all,

I'm hopping there are some frog enthusiasts on here who could help me work out what happened to my tadpole.

It was a new zealand tree frog tadpole, and I had kept him for 2-3 months, without any obvious signs of growth (other than a fat wee tummy).

I thought since we were coming into winter, that he might be waiting until spring to sprout legs, as he didn't even have little stumps for the beginning of legs.

Then one day, he was gone.

I thought for quite a while that he had comitted tadpole suicide by wiggling into the mud to suffocate, as there was no way he could have left the tank, and no dead tadpole floating in the water.

Then someone told me that frogs hibernate, so now i'm wondering, do tadpoles hibernate too?

Due to my laziness, his tank is still on my desk and the water looks nice and clean.

Is there any chance my wee Pole could still be in there?

[Amazonian]

Hey Bogfrog

How big was/is the tadpole? If it was only tiny, then it could have died and decomposed pretty quick and gone unnoticed.

Was there a spell that you hadn't looked at the tadpole for a while, because it is quite possible it could have metamorphosed, and being a tree froglet, crawled out?!

Is the tadpole from a Litoria raniformis?. I know the adults go into a state of torper, and depending on the water temperature, tadpoles growth rate is slow in lower temps. Is the tank indoors or out?

I would say though, if you haven't seen any activity in the tank for a while, the tadpole is gone. They love endive by the way. If you freeze endive for a few days, it partly breaks down and is easy for the tadpole to graze on. If you add a small amount to the aquarium, and the tadpole is in the water, it will come to feed on the endive.

EDIT: I just re read your post... so the tank is indoors (on your desk)... What are your night time lows there, in the room the tank is in?

Edited August 19, 2012 by Amazonian

[bogfrog]

It was a Litoria ewingii, and he was around the size of one and a half peas + tail, so i thought i would have noticed rotten tadpole at some point in time, kept checking to see if he was back, but no signs of life.

I would check on it every couple of days, as i would sit at the desk to do my study and the wee tadpole would sit and watch me intently for ages.

I miss his little bug-eyes. I never knew such a tiny wee creature could be such a little character.

I was starting to wonder if he didnt want to become a frog, as i have kept tadpoles as a kid and i never remember them taking so long to grow legs.

The night time temperature wouldnt be too low, as the tank is in the lounge, where we have the heatpump going until around 11pm every night.

I'll buy some endive seeds and keep providing water weed, and hopefully he'll show up again.

Cheers for the reply

[Amazonian]

Ah, a Brown tree frog. Sweet little guys hey. I like their call. Its like a trill, cricket kinda sound. I thought it might have been the raniformis as they are in your area too i think ?!

I remember collecting tadpoles as a kid (which i think is illegal in most Australian states these days?!...but what isn't), whacking them in a jar, feeding them bread, only to find they would die and/or metamorphose awfully small. It wasn't till i grew up and learned that a few water changes, and food like a small amount of fish food, boiled lettuce, spirulina, endive etc... actually made big hearty tadpoles which meant bigger froglets.

Given that your home is heated, then the temperature probably isn't low enough to induce hibernation, so it would seem that 'Little miss bug-eyes' has flown the coop...somehow,lol.

Its fascinating to watch the transformation of a fully aquatic creature develop into a land animal. I do hope your tadpole turns up Bogfrog, but in my opinion, it is unlikely..but you never know .

[bogfrog]

Me too, when i was small i found this big puddle/small lake next to my house, the water looked black from the sheer amount of tadpoles in it.

Now i dont really see them anywhere, i got my one from the pet shop for $2.50

Ah well, i might have to accept a loss this time round. I was keen to take the frog somewhere with the perfect froggy enviroment to start a wee family in a new spot.

thanks for the tips Amz, i am keen to try again aother time.

[Halcyon Daze]

It is unlikely that tads would hibernate because of a number of reasons. They breath air and must remain wet at the same time so if they were motionless for very long they would encounter problems.

I would also expect they have a relatively high metabolic rate to fuel their transformation.

Being cold blooded I think they could still make the transformation in winter but any lack of food may cause problems.

A lot of animals don't survive their first couple of months in nature because they are still quite delicate, and it's survival of the fittest. Maybe it has succumbed to a fungal disease.

I'd say 80% chance it has died but I hope for your sake that I'm wrong.

Having said all this I think there are quite a few creatures known to hibernte as juveniles.

Frogs are cooool creatures, good luck.

EDIT: It may actually be classified as diapause with juveniles.

Edited August 20, 2012 by Halcyon Daze

[Amazonian]

Some tadpoles can take more than a year to develop, they just slow right down over the winter. But as for them (snuggling up in a cave like a bear) hibernating....I think overwintering might be a better description .

[WoodDragon]

As Amazonian notes, the term used is 'overwintering'. Many species do it, especially the larger ones. The genera that I worked on certainly had overwintering tadpoles: they usually become less active, and spend most of their time at the bottom in mulm, waiting for warmer temperatures to initiate development of terrestrial features.

In bogfrog's case the taddie likely died. They don't last long as carsasses - all soft and juicy. If you want to replace it, it's best to get some animals from the local pond, and release them back exactly where you caught them. The risk of moving chytrid fungus around is great, and I'm surprised to hear that they're sold in shops. I hope that they have a testing protocol in place, because tadpoles can carry the fungus in their mouths around their teeth.

In Australia L. ewingii is doing OK,but L. raniformis is in deep do-do, as are its cousins L. aurea and the recently rediscovered L. castanaea. As much as I am not a fan of introduced animals, I envy New Zealanders the fact that they have healthy populations of a frog that is endangered in its own country.

[solomon]

Inspired me to go tadpole hunting last night bogfrog

Sitting silently by the bathtub in the backyard i realized there were about four frogs all watching me on the rim of the tub..

Set up a wee tub with a few pools and some ferns and rocks etc.

I would feel guilty about taking their babies but I plan on releasing the frogs into the backyard when they mature.

Pinched about 6 tadpoles, there are all L. ewingii I assume as those were the frogs around. There are L. raniformis sometimes too.

[bogfrog]

Nice!

So cool that you have a local frog population in your garden.

[tarenna]

Tadpoles do not hibernate. The tadpoles of frogs such as the Stuttering Frog (Mixophyes balbus) can take up to 4 years to metamorphose (ie. they over-winter for 3-4 years)..

I love frogs...