The Hour of Toad!

"Toad talked big about all he was going to do in the days to come, while stars grew fuller and larger all around them, and a yellow moon, appearing suddenly and silently from nowhere in particular, came to keep them company and listen to their talk. " - Kenneth Grahame


Satchel has had two tadpoles guests whom he named, Sponge Bob and Sandy! This is their story...please stick with me, you'll love the ending!

Last year, Satchel's aunt "Lola" gave him this Tadpole catcher and pond book which sparked a mad hunt for tadpoles and a fascination with frog/toad metamorphosis. Unable to find any tadpoles, we used it to catch, observe and release minnows at our local nature center. Then, magically, a friend whom I made through Freecycle rescued some tadpoles from a puddle and phoned to ask if we would like to adopt some. We went straight away to get a tank.

We settled on this little Tetra kit because it was small, self-contained and inexpensive. Satch put together the filter by himself (he's a clever little chap) and helped rinse and prepare the new home for our new friends.


Info raising tadpoles here.

We waited and watched and had several readings of Fish is Fish (a story of a fish and a frog). We used our Life Cycle stamps and played with these toys during bath time....

AND approximately one week later our tads turned into toads and....

we released them!



Afterward, to make the bittersweet parting a bit cheesier, we celebrated with pizza. I said a toast, "Hoppy Toad Day to Sponge Bob & Sandy" and Satch added, "Hope you have a good life" and we both drank to that. I promised that we would do it again next Spring.