Golly, Dottie - your post just time warped me back more than a few decades !

Growing up on a dairy farm with a real frog pond - spring fed, cattle watering hole - mason jars of pollywogs were a rite of passage in my house. But, as I recall, once they became tadpoles w/tails, my Mom made us go dump them back in the pond.

How did they end up in your wheelbarrow - I must have missed something here ??! That aside, probably best you deposit them in the calm portion of the creek and let nature take over. JMO :o)

Tree frogs..durn things will find any patch of still water to lay eggs. There must be three crops in the barrow, all different sizes. I'm feeding them about once a week so they don't try to eat one another. Tomorrow I might do the deed and bike them down to a more easy to access portion of the creek.

I don't know what boggles my mind more...the mental picture of tadpoles on a bike or how a person could do without a wheelbarrow for six weeks!! LOL

You are a dear to watch over your little charges so carefully. I wish more people were willing to notice and take the time and effort to help the "little ones". I hope they make it.

Well, I've made do with a 30 gallon plastic tree pot on my little darlin' round wagon.
As for the tads biking, it's a short ride. They'll probably enjoy the sloshing.
It about kills me when I see a persistent puddle filled with the little wigglers and know that puddle isn't forever. I have to 'save' them. We need to make the effort to keep as many toads and frogs around as possible so they'll eat the bugs.
I'll tell ya..that wheelbarrow full of rain water would have been prime mosquito breeding area were it not for the tadpoles.

i have 2 ponds in my yard with plants and fish. i drained the kids pool for the winter and was going to fill it up again for the kids as it was going to be 90 this week. the pool has about 3 inches of water in it from the rain. it is full of tadpoles. some are large and have their back legs already, but some are still babies. can i move them to one of my ponds without hurting them? so i can ready the pool for the kids. problem 2: i was hanging clothes out on the clothes line yesterday and a million termite "flies" came buzzing by me. they were coming from a stump in the empty lot next to me. i was going to put bleach on it (i heard that will clear them up) but there were a lot of lizards on it eating the "flies" so i did nothing. i do not want any termites in my yard...what do i do? thanks cindy

Afraid I don't have an answer to your question, Dougmach/cindy, but was tickled to see this thread revived from the archives! Polliwogs are such fun!

On a similar note, a query of my own ...... where have all the little, green tree frogs gone? And the toads too? First couple of years with my yard, the toads were ever present and after a rain, the little green frogs were hopping about everywhere. For the past 2-3 years, not a frog or toad to be found. This year I do seem to have more lizard-like thingies, but still no toads or frogs. My yards are maintained organically, not a pesticide or herbicide even close. Just wondering .....

Hope somebody has an answer to your termite concern - that's a biggie!

Those green tree (never found in trees but on plants,windowpanes,under upside down containers etc.)frogs..I swear you get two going at each other in chorus and it sounds like dogs barking..little dogs. Know what I mean?

LOL dottie- sure do! One got in our house one time and was on the back of the kitchen faucet. We didn't know and it was close to liv's 5th bday. My mom came down and i was sure she'd hidden a puppy to give her because of the barking! (and we didn't want a dog) Took us quite a while to find the booger since he'd only do it once in a while.

Dottie, you are a dear! Bless you for taking care of these little guys!
Zigzag, I think it's a combination of over-fertilizing and pesticide use in neighboring farms/yards - I have the same problem - that has decreased the number of frogs/toads. The creeks get algae bloom and amphibians feel the effect of pesticides quickly. Not a good combination. Wish more people would be careful with the stuff. . .
We need these little insect-eaters! :)

Thanks, Rosebush - good point about neighboring yards, especially since we're all so scrunched together these days. I tend to put on blinders and only think of my own little chunk of property ..... but I do know that runoff and below ground effects from others impact. Thanks for the reminder.

Reading the threads herein, I did get some answers to my curiosities surrounding my recent polliwog infestation. But to completely clear me up; I have a 18' x 4' above ground pool that has been drained, due to more sediment build up than I could remedy, and then a couple of weeks on vacation. I came back and began to skim the pine needles and other tree debris from the pool, and noticed I had a skimmer quite full of polliwogs. The kids and I had a blast removing over 300 of them from the pool! However, there's still many left, along with some strange insects I've never seen in my life. One looks like a stick bug, but is black and stayed submerged in the water, it was an accidental discovery. But another was a gray, almost transparent bug that seemed to notice I had a tadpole on the skimmer and immediately went in for the kill. It looked like a cross between a cricket and a cockroach, but was gray. It made a quick meal of the tadpole. But your threads indicate the tadpoles/wogs were born of tree frogs are never found in trees, but on windowsills, etc. How then did the eggs get into a pool 4' above ground? There are no large frogs in the pool, and I can't imagine a frog leaping over 4' to get in and out of the pool. Any idea of the species of insects we've discovered?

I too have found myself looking into tadpole information. I put a couple containers outside to catch some rainwater (falling from porch roof), such as a small wastebasket. Before I knew it there were things swiming around in the water and I was unable to dump the water for fear they were tadpoles. I have taken some razing about this since a couple of my friends tease me that I am raising myskitoes. How can I tell they are tadpoles? I don't remember how long it has been. Seems a long time but you guys are talking of a really really long time for these fellows to leave the containers. They seem to hang by the sides. Sounds like I should put leaves in there. I was worried, if they were tadpoles, how they would get out? I moved one containerfull into a makeshift cardboard containers surrounded by plastic bags in and out and moved it by a wood pile (thought it might provide protection from my three cats). There is no real pond or creek nearby and I've never had this happen before.

tadpoles have big heads and little tails. They remind me of a tiny teeny manta ray (well that shape). Wigglers are long with little hairs.
Here is a link for a tadpole pic
http://exoticpets.about.com/od/frogsandtoads/ig/Tadpole-Development-photos/
underneath I will put a link for a wiggler pic

Here is a link that might be useful: wiggler pic

Anymore ideas on what to feed polliwogs beside boiled lettuce/spinach? I gathered my polliwogs in a puddle that a toad was swimming in; who knew they laid eggs like a frog?!

mosquito larvae but then who wants to breed them for food. Actually, from what I read, polliwogs main food is algae.