What Can I Feed A Tadpole I Found?

The tadpole (or polliwog) is an aquatic amphibian in the larval stage of a frog or toad. They usually have dorsal or fin like limbs and a tail for moving around water. They eventually grow arms and legs (legs usually first) during the transition into adulthood. In the case of frogs, the tadpole's tail is absorbed by means of apoptosis. During the tadpole stage of the amphibian's growth, respiration is achieved by means of external or internal gills, similar to fish. During the phase of metamorphosis (as well as arms and legs growing) lungs start to develop. Due to this, tadpoles are usually found closer to the surface of the water during the late stages of its transition in order to breathe air. The mouth of the amphibian also changes from a small mouth at the front of the head to one the same width of the animal's head. The intestines then shorten in order to adjust for the animal's new diet.

Most of the time, tadpoles tend to be herbivorous. In their natural habitat they feed on algae and plants. Some species of tadpole, however, are omnivores and feed on detritus and other, smaller tadpoles.

Generally, at a younger age, tadpoles tend to feed on green, leaf like substances. Small pieces of lettuce and spinach would be sufficient feeding for a younger tadpole, however these should be boiled first to soften them and cut into very fine pieces in order to make them easier to eat. The amount given to the tadpole is variable depending upon the tadpole itself and the number of tadpoles apparent. The objective is to give enough food to sufficiently maintain the tadpoles without giving so much that the food is left over and may discolour the water.

At a certain age tadpoles do become carnivorous and, if no other source of food is available, will feed on each other. This is around the time the tadpoles develop hind legs. At this point a live protein based diet should replace the previous, all-plant, diet. Aphids, mealworms or bloodworms would be sufficient feed at this stage. The amphibian would then continue to feed on live insects.

You can feed your tadpole fish food flakes, frozen insects, alge and bacteria.

First of all, make sure that the tadpole is in fresh, clean water. If you are using tap-water, make sure you let it stand in the sun for about 6 days to get rid of any chlorine. Chlorine is fatal to tadpoles!
It's best to use clean water from a stream or even the water from where you found the tadpole. Anyway, for food, tadpoles in the 'wild' eat algae and plants you find growing in streams etc. I have read also that you can give them lettuce! Boil the lettuce (10 mins?) then freeze it and give them small pieces.

Hope this helps :)

Most likely you feed a tadpole it plants in the water you found it in but you also can feed it lettuce of raw bacon

My tadpoles seem to like to nibble on betta fish food, and I also put pond/steam water so that they can eat the algae and other stuff from it. Hope this helps!

Also, overfeeding can be dangerous for them too!

Get goldfish food, the flakes? That worked for my bull frog tadpole

You don't feed the tadpoles leaves. And make sure now pine needles get in the tank or the pond. Pine is very deadly to tadpoles. What to feed it really depends on how big the tadpoles are. If they're tiny, tiny, like less than half the size of your index finger tiny, do not feed them mealworms. Most tadpoles don't even eat meat, but if they do, you can hang a small peice of raw bacon like, halfway in the water, tied to a piece of string. When they start developing their back legs, they will also start developing their lungs. At this point  you need to build and incline with sand(you should have CLEAN sand in there) so that there's still water covering the sand, but a tiny tadpole can stick the top of it's head out(that's where the lungs develop). Hope it helps!
     -Megan

You can feed your tadpole small pieces of fresh bacon or bacon rind (not cooked) - attach the bacon to a piece of string and submerge into the water (ideally not touching the bottom) - this way you can replace it easily every few days or so. The tadpoles love it!

I have a lot of tadpoles in my back garden and I have been feeding them snails they love them even the little tadpoles

You can boil lettuce for 15 to 10 minutes he will eat that but if its a frog give it pinhead crickets or blood worms

Frozen lettuce. I had some tadpoles in the backyard pond (big ones) that ate goldfish pellets, not the flakes.

This is not that difficult a task. Tadpoles usually eat lettuce. What you can do is boiling the lettuce for fifteen to twenty minutes and then drain the water. Then you chop it to many minute pieces and drop them in the tank where you have kept the tadpole. Tadpoles are very sensitive living things when it comes to food. You could even feed them mosquito larvae. This food is rich in proteins and will help them grow faster. This kind of food is available at pet stores where you get fish food. It is the food that is given to baby fishes but I'm sure even tadpoles can feed on them.

If you need more information about tadpoles you could just go over to any popular search engine over the internet and type in your queries.

I have dozens of tadpoles in my pond. I tossed in about 5 small bits of lettuce and they went crazy for it.

My children and I raised several last summer. We got them from a pool that was going to be cleaned and drained and we did not want them to die. This summer we just found approx. 50 more in a boat in our yard. We raise them in our screen porch in a plastic pool from walmart. We put trees and logs for them to hide. We use spring water and rain water to change water and keep clean. Last year we chopped and boiled lettuce and made into frozen cubes and also used flake fish food and they did wonderful! I've read that we can use dry dog food which I will try a piece or two with our new bunch! Good luck to all of those who love all creatures as much as I do....

Fish flakes lettuce when the get bigger really small peices of brine shrimp
and when they have there leg peices of ham hung in the water by a string which you only have to check every 2 days

It depends on how old they r, but just feed them maybe lettuce? A few crumbs of bread?

In the wild tadpoles eat algae and vegetation, but in captivity you can still feed them algae and plants fi you can find them, but some more common things to do is to boil some lettuce for until the water is a little green and the lettuce looks cooked freeze it for a bit then feed very small peices to them. Some fish food may work too and you can probably find tadpole food at a local store or pet store.

You should get lettuce boil it for 10 to 15 mins ,stick in a container with water over the lettuce that will make it soft, take out when frozen let antifreeze and chop up tiny pieces and stick them in. They also love algae try that it will help them grow  you can also offer small pieces of fruit try that.when they start sprouting legs offer mosquito larva which you can find in still water.offer them chicken beef and pork pieces do not cook they will then expect cooked fly's and mosquitoes also offer ring glass and blood worms you want to get the taste of meat  in there mouth so they will eat live bugs good luck, liv

I collected a lot of pond water from where I got the tadpoles from. There was little sea monkey creatures in the water and they have started to produce more and more! Which is good as the tadpoles eat them. I also give them dead spiders and woodlouse ect. I aslo give them boiled lettuce and spinach. Afew leaves on the top of the water give it the pond effect. Some rocks in the water are a good idea. I keep mine in a medium sized basin so they can swim about!!!

Mosses

What I do is when it turns into a frog I give it reptile sticks they work perfectly

Your query makes you sound as one who is very indulgent and true lover of nature. A baby frog, a tadpole is not exactly one of the most exciting creatures in captivity. You must understand that the natural habitat of a tadpole, while in the 'tadpole' stage is water. The inherent amphibian characteristics manifest only later. The tadpole, at this stage ideally feeds on tiny organisms found in stagnant and slow flowing water. It receives its security amidst the surroundings it was born in. Nevertheless, since you seem to have 'found' one, you could access detailed information on the tadpole from a number of online and offline resources.

You must remember that at the tadpole stage, the baby frog feeds extensively and regularly. The tadpole will also grow very quickly, so don't expect it to remain this size or in the same shape for long. It will quickly shed its slender body for a more muscular one and use its hind legs more, in place of the whole body. This is when you need to understand that this baby's diet will then include insects and dead remnants. You are extremely adventurous and need to indulge your tadpole in some stagnant water and immediately immerse some easily available fish food in the tub.

I found tadpoles and they are so small I seen some bigger but when I broung in 11 tadpoles I  did not have any that were big I feed them fish flakes and they eat them but I'm making sure that this is the best food for them.if not I will feed them something else.I also know some more thing they may eat egg yolk,baby cereal and also scientist Said that they us goldfish flakes and use the back of a spoon to turn the goldfish food into powder.

You can feed it lettuce

You can Feed then Meat or chicken

Small insects

Boil and freeze some lettuce

Are you dead sure its a tadpole, just some fly larvae (baby flies) look a lot similar to tadpoles sometimes. And don't really make nice pets.

I need to know where to get very small fish tanks like 4 inches tall and 2 inches wide

I found about 30 tadpoles in a tote outside. I got a sea-monkey container and sea- monkey food. i filled the container with rain water and caught some tadpoles took them in and gave the raw lettuce soaked in lukewarm water gave them two small pieces and a very little 
pinch of sea-monkey food and they loved it!! like if this helped.

I too have found tadpoles, and I love to watch them grow and become frogs...it is very important to put your tadpole in pond water with sand so it can eat off of the microscopic organisms and small bugs in the water...does anyone know how much space 1 tadpole needs to swim in and be healthy?

I found a website that said, you can put in one piece of dry dog food. Once it is soaked well, they will nibble off of it. Then after its gone, add another piece. My son brought 2 tadpoles home from school today, and would like to see them live. So, I thought I'd give this a try.

You can feed the tadpole leaves

Insects

I found five tadpoles today in a mud puddle I brought them home in a bucket with the lake water they lived in I put the lake water in a small fish tank.
I want to know how big the legs will be before I should put in rocks?

I don't    know !I'm asking you what to feed them to  keep them alive?

How many tadpoles can you keep in a "astro" yogurt container without them all eating each other or is that space to small for any at all? And by the way tadpoles like to eat most remains of wild plants found in ponds.

Boil lettuce and then freeze it but don't feed it leaves

I just found a tadpole in my pool cover. There is no pond or fresh water source around. There is only an ocean about 3 miles away. I have it in a bucket for now with large rocks for when is grows legs. I will feed lettuce. When it grows into a frog, can we let it go in the woods behind our house?

MCDLTs use to be the perfect food for tadpoles, however, they were discontinued. Instead you will want to feed it fried chicken, extra crispy with a side of french fries.

I found hundreds of tadpoles in a puddle on a soccer field around 2pm about 6 hours ago. They only ate the algae in the bottle. I couldnt get them to eat lettuce, betta food, those dead blood worm beta food, grass or bread crumbs. My last attempt is Cheerios. I'm planning to go look for some algae in a pond tomorrow or today. How long can they last without eating?

You can feed a tadpole other dead tadpoles its very healthy for them. Also they like to eat small children and baby's when possible