Pedley's Ponderings

Aside from the usual house pets like our dog and cat, we host a variety of critters in our son's aquarium. This year, we scored a two-for-one special.

Oliver and I swiped a few tadpoles earlier this month while checking our crawfish trap at the Ocheyedan Pits. This is the second year we've set one of the contraptions at the local ponds, but the hot weather has been a bummer so far. We haven't caught any crawfish in the past three weeks and have pulled up pot after pot of partially decomposed tadpoles instead. It's not a pleasant sight and the stench is quite horrendous.

To make our trips worth the trek, Oliver likes snagging snails off rocks near the shoreline. I think he could spend three hours out there filling a cup and not get bored. While he does that, I've been attempting to snatch more elusive targets – tadpoles. The little buggers are harder to catch than one might think, but I trapped a few tiny specimens to haul home.

These particular squiggly-wigglies were much smaller than the bullfrog tadpoles we plopped in the tank last spring. Dark in color and about the size of a child's fingernail, the tiny amphibians were small enough to get sucked up into the tank's filter. I know I saved one particular unlucky tadpole from the internal mesh a couple times.

I assumed the tadpoles were leopard frogs, but I was wrong – a brief investigation revealed they were American toads. Both Oliver and I found that interesting, as he's quite fond of the warty critters that he discovers in our yard.

I wasn't expecting much from the tadpoles. The ones we put in the tank last year never grew legs, so we eventually returned them to the pits. These toads were less finicky, though, and almost immediately started sprouting appendages. One of them even has all four limbs in addition to its tail.

We threw in two bullfrog tadpoles last week to mix it up. One had already sprouted its back legs, while its smaller counterpart was still just a large head with a tail. Admittedly, I'm fonder of the toad tadpoles – the bullfrogs just look garish and gross to me, and I'll still probably end up dumping them back where they came from before too long. I've never yearned to raise a bullfrog.

However, the toads will join the warty horde that populates our yard. There are plenty of bugs to eat and I know our amphibious friends are enjoying the buffet. Once you realize what toad poop looks like, you won't miss it. It's all over our back patio.

I'm glad Oliver is interested in nature and can see the toads change before his eyes, but I don't think we'll be adding to our tank once these toads lose their tails. The local pits are tepid and the rest of summer won't help that, which isn't going to benefit underwater activity. I think I'll yank our trap soon because the only thing we'll catch from here to September is a bunch of mosquito bites.

Nick Pedley is the news editor of The Hartley Sentinel-The Everly/Royal News.