Tadpoles

My animal-loving son was absolutely thrilled when friends offered to let him take home some of their many tadpoles just over a week ago. With pleasure, he scooped out five and brought them home in a glass jar.

Ever since our fish died in January, our plastic fish tank has been sitting empty in the closet. Josiah excitedly filled it with water and introduced his pets to their new home, complete with pond-weed and boiled lettuce. All four of us hovered above, watching the wiggling, swimming critters with wonder. I'm not sure I'd ever seen a tadpole up close before.

When we were away for a long weekend, I was slightly worried that our tadpoles would not make it in our absence. But upon our return, we were relieved to see all five still happily swimming around. I'd had no idea how much tadpoles poop, though! The water was definitely looking a bit yucky, so yesterday, the kids and I went to the Thames to collect some new water.

Unfortunately, during the transfer of tadpoles from the old to new water, one of them was injured and we could see blood. I hoped that it would recover, but late that night, I discovered that it had died. I reminded the kids that in the wild, a significant percentage of animal offspring do not survive. Hopefully our home will provide a semi-safe space for these tiny creatures to become full-grown frogs.

Then today, Naomi came to me saying, "Mom, one tadpole has a white head. I'm afraid something's wrong with it." I was busy at the time, but later checked on the pets, only to discover that indeed, the white-faced tadpole had died.

So now we're down to three tadpoles. I'm really hoping that at least one survives to frog-hood! We're all anxiously awaiting the chance to see metamorphosis up close and personal. Hang in there, guys!