I have never dealt with frogs before. But I am wanting to get a few treefrogs. I was wondering does all frogs and toads start out as a tadpole? I know it is a stupid question and I think I know the answer is yes but I just wanted to know.

yes

Saying this you will almost never find tadpoles for sale unless you want bullfrogs for an outdoor pond.

__________________
My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

Not really a stupid question, and actually Liz there is one species that produce live frogs. I can't remember the name of it right now but I remember reading about it in one of the articles that Rich has been posting.

__________________

Here ya go! Rare Maud Island Frogs Hatched In New Zealand
The Maud Island Frog

__________________

are those the same ones that carry them in their mouth?

__________________




I have sucker tattood on my forehead

Thank you guys for the info. Ya'll are awesome. I will be talking more to ya about frogs because that is my next project

ok, so i missed ONE species. I was giving him the general idea

__________________
My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

Ok, to clarify, there are actually several species that skip the tadpole phase....but not very many of them are found in captivity The only one available as a pet that I can think of off the top of my head would be the surinam toad, Pipa pipa.

Sandhill frogs, Arenophryne rotunda, also skip the tadpole phase, but they are not found in captivity. Some species of marsupial frogs of the genus Gastrotheca also skip the tadpole phase. And as mentioned, Maud Island frogs skip this phase as well.

In Darwin's frogs, Rhinoderma darwinii, the eggs hatch into tadpoles inside the male's vocal sac and are only released once they metamorphose into froglets. So they technically don't skip the tadpole phase, but they're stuck inside the adult frog throughout that whole phase.

Gastric brooding frogs of the genus Rheobatrachus hatched their eggs in their stomachs. Though they did become tadpoles, it was also inside the adult frog, so they wouldn't emerge until they developed into little froglets. The only two species in the genus were both declared extinct in I think the 1980's.

I can't remember if coquis, small frogs native to Puerto Rico, skip the tadpole phase or not. But I do know they skip the egg phase. The female gives birth to live young. I just can't remember if the live young are tadpoles or froglets.

So no, not all frogs start as tadpoles. But yes, any frog you're likely to wind up with will have come from a tadpole. Perhaps not as stupid a question as you thought

__________________
+5 bonus points to whoever finds me a job!

"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines." - John Benfield

show off.

__________________
My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

I like being educational Cause G.I Joe says knowledge is power!

__________________
+5 bonus points to whoever finds me a job!

"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines." - John Benfield