File this one in the category of conversations I never imagined having, but probably should have since I have a child...
Last night at bedtime, AJ suddenly announced to me, "Oh, I forgot to show you something, my tadpoles."
"Your what?"
"I got tadpoles at school," he said, as if he'd forgotten to show me his latest library book or something. "I told Mrs. Harms you wouldn't mind if I had some."
I tried to keep my expression neutral. By now he had walked to his dresser to show me a glass - a glass I have frequently used that will now never touch my lips again - filled with tiny tadpoles swimming laps around the bottom.
Many questions swirled in my mind. The first to come out: "How did you get those home?"
"In a plastic cup. I carried it on the bus."
He didn't ride the bus yesterday, which means these mini amphibians - all 13 of them, assuming none have yet escaped - have been inhabiting my house for at least 24 hours.
"What do you plan to feed these things?" I finally asked.
"Probably just grass," was his answer. Before I could point out that probably wouldn't work, he added, "I already got them pond water, so they can eat some stuff in there."
"And what do you plan to do with them?"
"I'm just going to keep them in a box with holes in it until they grow and then I'll let them go in our pond."
Jeff at last joined the conversation. "I think we should let them go sooner than that."
AJ wants to keep them longer, and suddenly my inner tomboy - the one that kept two salamanders as pets for years when I was his age - came to life. It would be interesting to watch the tadpoles grow into toads.
AJ couldn't read my thoughts and so suggested a compromise. "Can we just keep them until Sunday?"
If they live that long, sure thing. And if I can figure what to feed them, and how to guarantee their glass doesn't get tipped, we might keep them a week or so longer. Keep your fingers crossed that I won't be writing a subsequent post about toads missing in my house.
Oh, come on Mom. Wouldn't it be fun to watch the tadpoles turn into frogs? Do some research. I just did a Yahoo search - What do tadpoles eat? - and noticed many sites that could help you with your "project." If I had to have salamanders, plus many other critters, in our house for years, you can certainly handle a few tadpoles....and hope they don't die.
ReplyDeleteHere's one example of a site I found.....
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What Do Tadpoles Eat? | eHow
Growing up tadpoles into frogs is a wonderful experience to witness. Tadpoles must be fed in order to thrive and turn into frogs. Other People Are Reading What ...
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