Whistling tree frog taddies? or not

[Fruju]

I was down in Rotorua a few weeks ago and mucked around next to the lake I found a whole lot of little tadpoles in a thermal spring...pond. I brought them back home and put them in a pond to grow. Unfortunately I cant get any pics, as the camera doesnt focus well, but they are maximum of 1cm long, they lack legs, do not have much green at all and are a basic brown colour.

Would any experienced frogger know the characteristics of whistling tree frog taddies or whether the ones I have are just golden bell frogs?

cheers

[Ruru]

It is quite hard to tell when they are little. I'm reasonably sure Whistlers don't go any further than Wanganui region, but you never know. My bet is for L. raniformus or aurea. Did you hear any croaking where you collected them from? This website has the calls of introduced frogs in NZ.

http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/frogs/3

I found some questionable tadpoles this weekend. They were in a high altitude pond just below tree line, but despite the cold water and air they are very well developed- more so than the tadpoles currently in coastal Manawatu. They are about 5 cm long, have well developed back legs and a couple are starting to move the front legs underneath the skin. Weirder still they have very blotchy bellies and larger eyes than typical of raniformus. The seem far too big to be Whistlers, but I have heard Whistlers can over-winter as tadpoles and will subsequently be much bigger frogs. Does anyone know of raniformus being found at high altitudes?

Sorry to hijack your thread Fruju

[Fruju]

Well I read some articles on the web saying that yes they are found mainly from the central north island and down southerly, but they have records showing that they have also been found up north too. They seem quite small to be G/B frogs, and the colouring suggests brown rather than green, but I suppose that could change easily as they grow - no I didnt hear any croaking noises when I found them.

[sneaky2]

It is quite hard to tell when they are little. I'm reasonably sure Whistlers don't go any further than Wanganui region, but you never know. My bet is for L. raniformus or aurea. Did you hear any croaking where you collected them from? This website has the calls of introduced frogs in NZ.

http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/frogs/3

I found some questionable tadpoles this weekend. They were in a high altitude pond just below tree line, but despite the cold water and air they are very well developed- more so than the tadpoles currently in coastal Manawatu. They are about 5 cm long, have well developed back legs and a couple are starting to move the front legs underneath the skin. Weirder still they have very blotchy bellies and larger eyes than typical of raniformus. The seem far too big to be Whistlers, but I have heard Whistlers can over-winter as tadpoles and will subsequently be much bigger frogs. Does anyone know of raniformus being found at high altitudes?

Sorry to hijack your thread Fruju

could be whites tree frogs :lol:

[alanmin4304]

If they came from a thermal pool they are likely to be green and golds as the whistlers prefer the cooler temperatures while the others don't spawn unless the water is warm

[Fruju]

If they came from a thermal pool they are likely to be green and golds as the whistlers prefer the cooler temperatures while the others don't spawn unless the water is warm

ok cool, thanks for that

[Ruru]

could be whites tree frogs :lol:

:lol: It did cross my mind more than once. But I think if they naturalised anywhere it would be somewhere urban because they would need to be either released by someone or have snuck in through a port. These guys were a few hours walk from anywhere, so not the typical place to dump a load of tadpoles.