AIBU to keep an illegal pet

[bimbimbap]

Apologies for the clickbait title!

The real question is has anyone seen frogspawn in public areas around North or East London? Please comment or DM me with details as my son is obsessed with frogs and would love nothing more than to collect and keep a little frogspawn in a fish tank as ‘pets’ for a few weeks then release them back into the pond.

We’ve been looking for weeks and not spotted any despite it being the right time of year. I understand technically it’s not allowed to move the spawn but we would only take say a dozen eggs and they should have a better chance of reaching maturity than if left where they’re laid.

To anyone who can help - thankyou! I’m sick of all our walks revolving around searching for some!

I think you know YABU. It’s not about how many you take, you are potentially spreading diseases and pests around. Why don’t you instead encourage your child to observe and respect nature in situ. Wild animals are not “pets”.

There's loads in the small ponds around Epping, Hollow Ponds and Wanstead Flats.

Well, as you’ve said yourself OP

‘Frogs are a protected species, which means technically it is illegal for you to take any frogspawn you spot in local ponds.’

www.countryliving.com/uk/wildlife/countryside/a30416761/frogspawn/

Maybe put a post on your local Facebook page and ask if anyone with a pond in their garden has some you can have. Best not to say it’s just for a few weeks though eh, until your son gets bored of them no longer being tadpoles

Please don't do this. Just go and visit every day to watch progress.

Just go monitor their progress in situ

Is this a joke?

If you have a garden just put a small pool in you will soon attract frogs of your own .

@Floralnomad

If you have a garden just put a small pool in you will soon attract frogs of your own .

Do this. If you have space a wildlife pond will give you something to look at for months. Plus it's really good for lots of insects and animals.

Someone posted on our local FB group asking where there was some, she got lots of response saying there was some in the local park in the ponds, a few people tried to advise against taking it but she was insistent that she knew what she was doing and she'd done her research. Completely ignored the fact that it's illegal and decided she was doing anyway, totally supported by a lot of people as 'it's what we did when we were young'.

Please don't do this. If everyone just took a dozen there wouldn't be any left and a fish tank might not offer all they need to grow. They are protected for a reason and it teaches your ds that its ok to break the rules. Maybe he could join a wildlife group and see if they have an adopt a frog scheme or make an area of your garden frog friendly.

If you put frog spawn in a fish tank with tap water you'll probably kill the eggs.
Either that or they'll drown as soon as they hatch because they have nothing to stand on to get air.
And have you thought about what you'd feed them on between hatching and being set free?

It's illegal for a reason. Don't do it. 😡

As others have said, either create a natural habitat in your own garden (and look after it) or watch them in situ but don’t take them. Teach your son to respect nature and not think he can pick and chose when and how he wants nature to benefit him.

I didn't know it's illegal. Every day's a school day eh

(I've never and would never take it, I just didn't realise this)

Do not do this. They will die.

They’ll just die. They’re laid where they’re laid because it’s the right environment.

Just go and monitor where they are, then you’ll see loads.

frogspawn taken and put into a fish tank very rarely makes it to full size frogs.
It is harder to do than you think .

Please don't.

YABU

Would you take eggs from a nest because you like birds instead of buying one from a licensed pet store?

Please leave them alone and let nature do as it intended. You will not be 'helping' them by removing them from their environment. I agree with others suggesting to take your child to watch them develop in their natural habitat, he will learn more from that experience and to respect wildlife instead of developing a sense of entitlement that it is ok to break the law and help himself to young wildlife.

Well, if everyone took a small amount of frogspawn and kept it in an inappropriate environment for a few week until it's no longer viable then we'd eventually have no frogs.

There are a number of endangered birds in the uk, perhaps your son could become obsessed with those and then you can collect their eggs and keep them as pets until the eggs are useless and then release them back into the wild.

Leave the frogspawn where it is and at least it'll have a chance of survival. You know it's illegal to take it why would you encourage you son to do so.

YABVVVU. The spawn most likely won't transport and you'll kill the frogs. Plus it's illegal. Plus it's plain wrong.

Enjoy wildlife exactly where it should be - in the wild. Please don't do this.

No don't do this, The frog spawn have their own natural environment,and taken away from this, they won't survive,You need to teach your child about this.

Year ago, they use to give a goldfish in a plastic bag,as a prize for winning something on fairground stall, then it would live maybe a week, when the child took it home and put it in some bowl in tap water, so don't mess with nature.

I didn't realise this was illegal - good to know for when DC are older.

For those saying that they'll just die in a fish tank. That depends on if you know how to care for frogs. I've kept frogs before and raised tadpoles, it's not particularly difficult so long as you do the research.

I also remember raising wild tadpoles as a young teen and got a very high % of froglets which we released back into the pond they originally came from.

I'm not suggesting the OP should go ahead and take any as it's clearly illegal. But that's the main issue as I see it, not the actual raising part.

You can easily and quickly make a little nature pond by sinking a big bucket into the ground. Make sure you put steps/pebbles in the bucket so that critters can get out. It really doesn’t take long for wildlife to appear.

The entitlement of this is actually shocking. Why would you deem it okay for you to do this purely because your son likes frogs and would "love to collect and keep them"? Teach your son to respect animals and nature in a way that encourages them to flourish, not in a way which is damaging to their survival.