My son received a tadpole from his kindergarden class at the end of last school year and we put "Taddie" in a little tank and fed him what was recommended on the instructions. So I changed his water as specified and fed him and all that, but he never changed into a frog, I mean he never even developed legs, and then he just died. So what happened to Taddie?
Answers:
Tadpoles like the water from streams and ponds- not dirty, but it's usually teeming with small organisms that make a good environment for them. If you used tap water in his bowl, that could have been part of his problem. Also, you may have gotten incorrect information about what to feed him and the temperature and light requirements. You shouldn't feel bad about his failure to change, sometimes pets just die, for reasons you probably could not have possibly known how to prevent.
tadpoles are not to be kept in tanks like fishes. and they feed on algae, not fish food.
Frogs in most of North America have a "biological clock" that is controlled by the amount of sunlight they get each day and some other factors. If your Taddie didn't get enough light his body wouldn't realize the seasons were changing and it was time to grow legs and hop. The longer days of spring/summer affect growth and shorter days toward the end of fall cause them to go into their hibernation in northern areas where they cannot remain active all year if they want to stay alive.
Did you change Taddie's water with tap water? How long before he died? Some tadpoles take a long time to metamorph into frog form.
The answer is, unfortunately, that Taddie died. Babies of all animals are fragile. You did what was needed to care for a tadpole you just need more of them. When you find tadpoles in a pond, puddle, pool cover; you find many of them. Over time, the numbers get smaller. Some get eaten by big things, some get eaten by microbial things.
This spring take your son, a net and a jar to a nearby pond and find ten new tadpoles and try again. Go on line and find out about amphibians and how to raise tadpoles (some tadpoles take years to develop into an adult). The transformation is mind-blowing but many amphibians are not hardy pets so return to the place you got the tadpole and let it go.
A note on removing wildlife from its habitat - Don't. That said, the benefit of your son learning about nature and learning that he can affect it are so huge that even if all ten die the benefit to nature is positive. How many people know what a tadpole actually feels like (wash your hands).
A second note - A tank is perfect. When I grew up I raised mine in peanut butter jars. A few in different jars helped to contain the spread of disease. A flatish rock gave them something to haul out on, gave the microbes (tadpole food) a home and look like sperm (with eyes and a mouth just like they are drawn) trying to enter an egg.
Usually it can be anywhere from a few weeks to a few months for a tadpole to transform, but for a few frog species (such as some bullfrogs) remain in the tadpole stage for up to 2 years.
Water quality can be an issue as well. Did you change 25% of the water every week with aged tap water? Changing all of it at once can be just as bad as leaving it filthy.
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