# instead of using almond leafs for tadpoles... what can I use locally?



## fleshatomb (Jan 24, 2007)

I bought some almond leafs from Josh's frogs and added half of a leaf to my tadpole container. Tinted the water brown, frogs are alive, seems to all have worked out just fine.


But i have a question... I think buying leafs is stupid. I live in WV, is there any trees around here that I could collect dead leafs from that will do the same job as almond leafs? I think I read oak leafs (if so, white or red oak, does it matter?) 

And whats a good way to clean em before use? (also since im on the subject, does it maytter what kind of leafs I use for leaf litter? i ifgure ill stick with the same specie, just curious)


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## sounddrive (Jan 4, 2007)

Personaly i would go with white oak all the way. they work great. to clean them just bake them in the oven for a few min and let cool and use.


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## dwdragon (Aug 14, 2008)

The water turning brown are from the Tannins leaching into the water from the leaves and from everything I have read this if fine. I haven't read much on tadpole care as I plan to let the parents raise them so I'm not sure if this is actually the reason for the Almond Leaf.

Hopefully someone with experience will chime on on using different types of leaves for tadpoles if that is what you are asking.

As for leaf litter on the bottom of the vivarium you can use alot of different types of leaves. However, some things you need to keep in mind are:

1. Collection area. The possibility of the leaves being contaminated with pesticides. As far as I know you cannot completely clean leaves of pesticide contaminants and all amphibians, dart frogs included, are very sensitive to any type of chemical or pesticide.

2. Disease and parasite contamination. There is a possibility of and more of a likelyhood that the leaves will have some sort of bacterial, viral, or parasite contamination. Some people have stated they have used leaves without sterilizing them with no ill effect but it is a high risk. Especially if you get the leaves from an area that has indigenous amphibians. Autoclaves seem to be a very popular machine to use for sterilization but alot of people do not have them available for use readily.

3. Rate of decomposition. One of the reasons people use certain types of oak and magnolia leaves is that they do not break down as fast as say a maple leaf would. This keeps the build up of broken down material from accumulating as fast.

Hope that helps.

EDIT: I forgot to mention leaf toxicity and pH during decomposition. I am by no means very knowledgeable on all types of leaves but I do know the leaves of some plants will create toxins and very high pH soils when broken down. So if you are going to switch up to anything that no one has used yet you will want to look into that.


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## Dragas (Sep 4, 2008)

I thought I read of some microwaving the leaves in water ?


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## Petersi (Jan 31, 2008)

Just go buy some peat extract/ Black water. It has worked so far for me with my Tinc tads.


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## fleshatomb (Jan 24, 2007)

Petersi said:


> Just go buy some peat extract/ Black water. It has worked so far for me with my Tinc tads.



I was gonna use the black water stuff before, but read with the leafs it will do the same, plus give them something else to eat on. No local pet stores have Black water extract. so next tiem i do a net order, ill pick up a bottle to try out... but how does peat fit into that mix?





As for collecting leafs, ill get them from the woods. So only contamintion there could possibly be would be natural stuff. 


thanks for the help! 

*also... im a bowhunter.. and thought I knew what a white oak leaf looked like. i was wrong! i decided to google it... I have never been any good at IDing trees. Which I should know exactly what a white oak looks like since deer love their acorns! lol.


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