# Middle School classroom success :-) cobalt and azureus tads are getting BIG



## Bfrog (May 5, 2010)

So I teach middle school Science (7th and 8th grade). I used to teach in the public school system and there is no way I could have done this then. Now I teach in a large private school and I'm fortunate enough to be in a school where I can not only have dart frogs in the classroom, I can breed them in class! My wife is pretty thrilled that I've expanded outside of the house too...
Eager to share my frog passion with the kids I decided to setup a 55 gallon build with a breeding pair of tinctorius cobalts (thanks to chinoanoah)... 

I posted this bit in the "members frogs & vivariums" forum but thought some background info was relevant. 










We had eggs within our first week from my azureus pair at home and from our new classroom friends. Now we have about 20 tads in the water and plenty more eggs about to hatch.  just thought I'd share... sorry for the bad cell phone photos.










I went the 16 oz deli cups, tadpole tea with indian almond leaves and a touch of moss. I found RO water at walgreens for $5 per 2 gallon container  ...some minerals added back in but nothing bad. 










For food, I decided to blend my own mix in an attempt to provide the right nutrition and variety, while maintaining some simplicity for the students.

http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/542163_10100221260589190_38915904_39415883_125969534_n.jpg

I've also fed dusted (lightly) fruit flies (2 or 3 flies per large tad) to the tads once a week to every other week... the tads love them. long story short they are getting BIG!  


















taken at about 1 month in the water









hind legs! woohoo! 

unfortunately, while I was in Chicago on a school trip, one died :-( ... The best I can figure is that he got hungry and went for a snack... and choked on a big piece of moss that was in his mouth... best I can figure. I left it alone for nearly a week, but it started to decompose so I decided to use it to get a better size measurement: 










On the up side, I got two more clutches today, 15 developing already, and 20 tads in the water that are thriving so I can't complain too much.... it's only been a couple of months 

I'm pretty excited so I had to share the experience I'm having with my 7th and 8th graders. I can't wait for our first morph!

Boyd


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## Shinosuke (Aug 10, 2011)

I wish I had a teacher who was into these things when I was in school! I went to public schools, though.

Sorry to hear you lost one but it sounds like most are doing well. Thanks for sharing and keep it up!


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## scusemelittleoldlady (Feb 24, 2012)

Very cool. Out of curiosity, what would have prevented you from doing a classroom project like that in a public school?


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## Redhead87xc (Jan 27, 2010)

I love the layout of your viv. Can you tell me if that is a stump of wood on the right side of the viv in the picture? I like the way you made an island feel that has a 360 degree view. There isn't too much going on which keeps the focus on the middle of the tank. Great overall job. Glad you can share with your students. Kids need this kind of exposure to wildlife.


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## Bfrog (May 5, 2010)

I'm sure it'd be fine in most public schools, but I used to teach in one of the most dangerous middle schools in Memphis, TN... it just wasn't safe for the viv or the frogs. My school was a mess though and anything expensive was stolen or broken intentionally. Vandalism was a constant issue, especially over holidays or weekends. I did bring in a resilient tree frog and the kids handled him well, but even though my classroom was in perfect order most of the time, I constantly plucked out small bits of trash from the vivarium and I had to protect it whenever a fight broke out. I think our 7 grade hall had at most 3 or 4 fight free days in a row. The actual tank was slightly broken by the end of the school year just from kids casually opening it up to see "rubert" the treefrog.... poor guy. I'm sure it'd be fine in most school systems, but where I was it was just not a good idea.

I'll post more on the build when I get home  thanks for all the compliments!


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

great way to get the kids in involved, thats how i got in the hobby. Also what happens when school i snot in session? do you have to take the tank home?


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## jacobi (Dec 15, 2010)

BoydR said:


> I think our 7 grade hall had at most 3 or 4 fight free days in a row.


If that was hours instead of days I'd be impressed  

Seriously though, take a look at http://www.petsintheclassroom.org/


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## scusemelittleoldlady (Feb 24, 2012)

Boyd,

That's really unfortunate, I guess it's been long enough that I forget how terrible middle school kids can be. Now that I think of it, I can remember kids pouring soda in my biology teacher's fish tank in high school. Regardless, it's really cool that you can expose your kids to 'hands on' biology, especially the amphibian life cycle which is really an incredible morphological transformation!

I remember reading a study that showed in kids, and particularly with girls, if they aren't exposed to science and natural history by a certain age, they really never develop an interest later in life. Keep up the good work!


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## Bfrog (May 5, 2010)

thought I'd post an update:

D. tinctorius - Suriname Cobalt at just over a month in the water: 



























My 1st period class built this morph-out setup this morning... 








at our current rate it doesn't look like more than 4 tads will morph at a time. That may change by summer but this setup looks like it'll work for now.

My azureus tad are running about a week or two behind these in development, but are much bigger... even though these tads are nearly 2" long.









I did a water change (second one) so the kids can watch the color change and metamorphosis. It's amazing how bright the blue and yellows are. They don't show up as well in cell phone photos, but they're stunning.

the kids get out in 3 weeks... think any of these will make it before summer break?

Boyd


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