frog tadpoles or toad

[Edd]

I have some tadpoles in my pond ,but i have no idea how do identify them, how do you tell the difference between frog tadpoles and toad tadpoles?

[aeshna5]

Common Toad tadpoles are black with a more rounded tail than Common Frog taddies.

[bigdave60dog]

Yeah, The previous is right but really you need to see both together.
Just wait fot them to develope and then you will be certain

[Kayleigh]

Toad tads have blue eyes..but you will have to get a magnifying glass to see them..

[motnworb]

Its like the sex of an unborn child, there are ways to find out, but it involves equipment and specialists, so you may just be best to wait until they 'pop out' and give you a surprise.

Its very tricky to tell them apart.

[pressld2]

Frog tadpoles are covered in little gold flecks whereas toads, like Aeshna said, are plain black. Although it's more a dark chocolate brown really.

Frog tadpole :

Toad tadpole :

Dave P.

[motnworb]

But only at later stages, they're both black to the naked eye earlier on, aren't they?

[pressld2]

I'm not 100% sure because although I've had the toads since they were spawn, last year when I photographed the frog taddies I got them after they'd already hatched. So I can't be certain if they had the flecks from the start. They were only a few days old though so I suspect that they did.

It's true that the flecks are much more obvious in the photos because I'm using flash to light them but you can see them with the naked eye. For a short while I had both together in my tank and it was very obvious which was which even without the lighting.

Have a look at Tadpoles for frogs, and Toadpoles for toads. The second thread mentions a few of the differences I've noticed between the two.

Dave P.

[motnworb]

That's very good to know, you can see a difference in those 2 sets of pictures.

Its not a huge obvious difference, so good lighting and conditions will be required, but you can easily scoop some out to have a closer look at in a glass.

[Mark_b]

If you catch one I believe the colour difference is obvious.

Also in terms of behaviour toad tadpoles tend to be seen in shoals and swimming around very obviously as most animals wont eat them. Frog tadpoles tend to be solitary and swim along / hide on the bottom.

Ah and toad tadpoles are generally associated with larger water bodies with fish, frogs appear to prefer small ponds and ditches etc, although non of this is set in stone!