I may have noted in this blog that I have a small fishbowl that I use as a sort of "indoor pond." I keep certain species of oxygenating plants, floating plants, and pond snails in it.

I use it to help jumpstart my oudoor pond in the spring, by repopulating the plant life with snippets from the fishbowl. I also usually need to thin the indoor snail population by moving some outside, as they reproduce very rapidly.

This year we have had the pleasure of "incubating" a number of Copes Grey Treefrog tadpoles in the fishbowl. Two have completed their morph and have been moved into a small habitat in a large, tall glass vase. I created the habitat with stalky sedge grass for them to climb, and floating plants to sit on and hide under and rocks to rest upon. I cover the top with mesh screen.

All of these tadpoles came from a poor environment for survival - their  parents laid eggs in a shallow tarp in which water pooled. It was in the yard of a neighbor up at the cabin; he invited us to help ourselves to the tads as they were being eaten by crows, poor things!

Currently, there are about 20 tads in the pond, and I have 5 or 6 tadpoles indoors in the fishbowl.

There is at least one planaria (flatworm) in the water of the frog habitat, which is cool as it will eat drowned insects or even frog poop. I also have a few snails in there to help with the poo-removal.

My family and I have been enjoying watching these various creatures through their glass houses. Except for one - which has served as a nice curiosity among our menagerie of creatures.

Accdentally, when importing a plant from outside, I added a leech to the fishbowl. In a way, it is beneficial, as that bowl usually gets overrun with baby snails and I'm at a loss with ideas to thin their numbers humanely. Well, "Leechy" takes care of that, eating snail egg clusters and babies. I check every day to make sure he/she (leeches are hermaphrodites!) hasn't decided to make a snack of a tadpole, but he's small enough that I don't think he/she will be a threat. It is with a combination of interest and disgust that I watch Leechy emerge from its hiding place under the gravel and swim in a snake-like motion across the plants and through the water, seeking out a meal. It isn't that big now but it can stretch itself out to about 6 inches in length when its exploring among the plants. I might need to put a cover on the bowl so Leechy doesn't "beach" him/herself by jumping out of the bowl. Ewwww!

Within a few weeks, the indoor tads will be ready to move to the frog habitat. At that point I will upgrade to a larger enclosure with more plants and greater area to climp and hunt. In a way, the frog-keeping adds another dimension to my pet list: I am raising vials of flightless fruit flies to feed my hungry amphibians. Right now they are in larval (maggot) form, so until they mature to adult stage (in about 15 days), I add outdoor bugs like small moths, mites, and pillbugs to the frog enclosure and they seem to enjoy the variety.

At some point, we will likely have to take some of the frogs back to their homeland of Wisconsin, but supposedly they don't breed until they are 3 years old.

Mmm, maggots and leeches and flatworms...why decorate for halloween when I have those things hanging around?!