I don't know what area you're in, but maybe the tadpoles you have in the rain barrel are from tree frogs...they have little pads on their feet that allow them to hang on to sides that are vertical. As for the toad tadpoles, the eggs hatch out in 1-2 weeks and then it takes about another 50-60 days for them to completely change over to wee little toads.

I live in high desert- zone 7 (New Mexico) so these are toads. Oh, what a noise they make mating in the pond every year ... !!

The tadpoles or pollywogs (not sure the word for the baby toads!) are from the toad eggs (not live born?) & with in a week they go from the tiny tadpoles the size of a black mustard seed to ... GONE!! The goldfish leave them alone for sure & nothing else could eat so many just it seems overnight! Am also curious how the toads ever got in our yard in the first place: have a 6 ft. concrete wall all around the yard! Unlike my son's frogs he bought for his pond that are scared, these toads just let me hold them without trying to get away & our 5 dogs are not interested in them at all!

A lot of toads give off poisonous secretions which make them at least very distastful to any potential predator. They seem to be aware of this so don't seem to worry about being handled. If handled very roughly or bitten/chewed they can pump out a lot of poison which can be deadly for the predator. Of course it depends on the species and also different animals are either more or less susceptible to the poisons. Toads are generally not good climbers although small ones can manage a bit, though not usually that kind of wall. Obviously they did get in somehow. You can get cannibalism amongst them, but at least you should seem some big fat survivors. However, they're definitely not maturing in that time. Something is probably eating them, birds are prime suspects.

Just a little something to add...if you have a liner in your pond, more then likely the tadpoles are hiding in between the folds that were created when you/someone else put it in. They're probably happy as clams just munching away on the algae.

Also, a good way to know what's laying their eggs in your water is to see how the eggs are formed. Toads lay their eggs in long strands, like a string of pearls and frogs lay them in large jelly like masses.

*The difference between a tadpole and a polliwog...tadpoles have no limbs and polliwogs have started to develop their limbs and will morph into what we see hopping and swimming around (frog/toad).

Hope this helps and happy ponding!

Kathie

A friend refers to them as "toadpoles"

I sure thank you all for your help... but for some reason my toad situation is still a mystery! The big toads (& they definitely are toads-not frogs) mate in the pond & hundreds/?thousands of the teeny tadpoles are swimming around later... teeny little black balls with the little squiggly black tails. Then, just over night... they are GONE! Nothing could eat all of them that quickly.. & the five small goldfish show no interest in them at all & they sure can't mature from that tiny size over nite!!

Anyway, I enjoy hearing the toads at night but not sure about the neighbors... those amorous sounds of the toads carry quite a distance! :)

steiconi: I love that term: 'toadpoles'!!!

My daughter would say, 'the toads are screaming' when she was little. You can always tell it is spring when the toads are screaming for love.

I accidentally got a cricket frog in an order of water lilies from Texas and he made a marbles knocking together type noise. I felt so sorry for him because there wasn't a mate for him but he found another type of cricket frog and I have seen offspring from them every year since. I love ponding and the visitors that show up.

Unless you think the tadpole fairy is magically whisking them off to a bigger and better pond, then sadly the answer is that something is eating them. The fish probably eat as many as they can before you wake up in the morning. The birds probably finish off a lot too. Other frogs will eat plenty also. Turtles, snakes, whatever else has a mouth. Tadpoles are at the bottom of the food chain. That's why they have to have so many, out of millions only a few will make it if they are lucky. A lot happens at night and all the hours before you wake.

Not to be overlooked either is sometimes people have an evil significant other that doesn't like visitors in ponds and get's rid of them before the wife/husband knows what happened.

Well, Hubby did see one of our small goldfish go grab a tadpole & swallow it today!! Gosh, that wiggly little tadpole now wiggling in the fish's belly? Odd, we hadn't ever seen that before! No, we don't have a frog in the pond (yet!) ... only these huge noisy amorous toads! They do go through the garden & grab bugs I've noticed. Sure appreciate all of your ideas & help! Now wonder how these tadpoles will be able to jump out of the pond & the rain barrel when big enough?!

-vieja