Toadlets!

Some of you may remember that I collected American Toad eggs from my pond back in the middle of May. Well, at long last, they are beginning to become toadlets!  
Twice a day I check the aquarium for toadlets. As the tadpoles begin to grow and get their legs, they become less graceful in the water. They will sometimes struggle a bit as they try to keep up with the tadpoles.
Tadpoles do not lose their tails by them falling off. Think of it like this: a long skinny balloon. As you start to blow it up, you get the body, but it still has a 'tail'. As you continue to blow, the 'body' expands until you reach the end. What is in the tail, is absorbed by the growing toadlet. Once they no longer have a tail, they can just tumble around in the water. There is a lot of cannibalism that also occurs. Limbs are easy to grab. So, I pull them out of the main tank, and transfer them to a safer habitat, before letting them go outside. I feed them flightless fruit flies. I keep them for a bit so my granddaughters can hone their animal observation skills.
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Still has a long tail, but was being very clumsy.



This one hardly has a tail.



Climbing on the edge of their shallow 'pond'.



4 little toadlets sitting on a rock.



A total of 10 toadlets today. Can you see that one on the rock that doesn't look as shiny? He was pulled out of the tank 2 days ago. They are only as big as 1/2 of my little fingernail.