# tadpole ID?



## Danyal (Apr 15, 2006)

the petco closest to me has some odd looking tadpoles. usually they've got bullfrog tads and these are the same size but are a solid olive green w/ no spots.


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## Baltimore Bryan (Sep 6, 2006)

i would guess green frog ("banjo frog") but i'm not sure. green frogs get to be about 4-6 inches, so a little smaller than the size of your palm. they are aqautic like bullfrogs but their call is loud and sounds like the plucking of a banjo frog, hence the nickname, "banjofrog". good luck


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

Yeah, probably green frog. They are pretty much pulled out of ponds and shipped, so it's really which ever of the two species has dominated the pond at the time...


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## zBrinks (Jul 16, 2006)

I work at Petco, and every tad we've ever had morph in store, both in Michigan and Texas, has always been some kind of leopard frog.


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## Danyal (Apr 15, 2006)

<I work at Petco, and every tad we've ever had morph in store, both in Michigan and Texas, has always been some kind of leopard frog.>
that's what the current head of aquatics said(i'm taking over his job) but every picture i've seen of green frog and leopard frog tadpoles has had some kind of mottlen pattern, these tads have absolutely not markings. every tadpole i've seen in this petco has been a bullfrog tadpole(id by the lack of black spots on the lower half of the tail)


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## zBrinks (Jul 16, 2006)

What area of the country are you in? I know Most of the midwest is serviced by A-Pet, and in the south our region had a local wholesaler. The tads Ive seen were much more of a solid olive-green color when smaller, than developed a more molted pattern before popping back legs. Probably one in ten tadpoles morphed before they were sold. When I lived in Texas, we even had a small courtyard at the house with a pond, and several of the frogs lived in it for a year, before we moved. None of them ever developed the telltale green, and stayed a much more subdued color. I guess your area uses a wholesaler with a different tad supplier. Cool frogs, none the less.


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## elscotto (Mar 1, 2005)

Of course ID'ing living tadpoles can be very tough, but there is a well done, and free, guide to tadpoles from the Southeastern Coastal Plains from the USGS at:
http://cars.er.usgs.gov/armi/Guide_to_T ... poles.html
(If the link does not work, shoot me an email and I'll forward a copy).


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## Grassypeak (Jun 14, 2005)

Wow what a great reference! I love the barking treefrog, pine woods treefrog, and narrow mouthed toad tads.


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## Danyal (Apr 15, 2006)

wow elscotto, that was a great guide very interesting but unfortunately i didn't see the tadpoles in there. nearest as i can tell, they appear to be a type of bullfrog tad.


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## Danyal (Apr 15, 2006)

<What area of the country are you in? I know Most of the midwest is serviced by A-Pet, and in the south our region had a local wholesaler.>
i'm in northern california(sac area) and i'm working at the davis petco. i was working yesterday and while some of the tad have just the beginnings of hind legs starting to pop out none had any markings yet.


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## zBrinks (Jul 16, 2006)

If they're getting legs and have no markings, they're probably not the same tads we got in Texas.


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## Danyal (Apr 15, 2006)

they don't have legs appearing yet, they've got bumps where the legs are going to pop out, i suspect they'll have hind legs out within a week or so. i checked on them again yesterday and some of the largest ones have some very light black dots on just the top of the body, i wouldn't have noticed it if they weren't in a pile against the front of the glass, they've also got some extremely tiny white dots that make two lines going from the nostrils to the between the eyes going along the back down to about where the hind legs will be. the lines look very similar to the lateral lines of fish.


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