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!

@Brogues

I had no idea it was illegal for frogs. I knew it was for newts.

Same. I have seen a fair few people on my FB show off their jars/tanks of frogspawn.

When I was a kid, we used to go looking for slow worms. If we found one, we would keep it for a week or so. I feel bad about it now, but nowadays we have the internet and access to things like wildlife cams etc to watch stuff without removing it.
I haven't seen a slow worm in years though.

OK calm down everyone, it’s NOT illegal.

Froglife (charity for the conservation of amphibians) explains this and even publishes a guide on how to raise tadpoles:

www.froglife.org/info-advice/frequently-asked-questions/spawn-tadpoles-habitat/

The vast majority of tadpoles get eaten/die before adulthood so successfully rearing some froglets can give the local frog population a boost.

I’ve taken a small amount (about 20 eggs) from a very extensive cluster (must have been thousands upon thousands of eggs). Wouldn’t have taken it if had only been a small cluster.

I’ve also researched the topic well, know what conditions to keep them in and what to fed them so I think my taddies will be well cared for.

They seem a lot more difficult to look after than you'd think. What are you planning on feeding them?

Mine are currently grazing on algae and I’m planning to introduce some boiled lettuce over the next few days. As they get older they need protein - freshwater fish food is ok for this apparently.

I’m maybe overconfident based on childhood memories of raising froglets with no great difficulty, so we’ll see how we get on. They’ve got a nice tank set up with pond weeds and I’ll be changing their water regularly (not tap water).

Thanks everyone got your input! We live in an upper flood flat so can’t entice frogs to us. Ironically we have lots of ponds / streams within minutes of home, but seemingly no frogspawn so I suppose I was hoping to reintroduce some! I would have collected pond water, pond weed, stones etc from their future home and cared for them properly but will take note of everyone’s advise & the excellent points made in the comments and tell my son we can keep looking out for them but it’s a firm no to bringing any home. Thanks again -land happy to admit I official WBU!

^^ oops I am* happy to admit...

Good on you OP!

Fair play OP. And definitely check out the Wetland Centre if you haven’t already. I think they’re able to open up again from the 12th,

Please don't move populations of frogs around. They are suffering very badly from a fungus called chytrid, frogs are declining very badly, all amphibians actually, moving them around can contribute to the spread. If you've found a healthy breeding population that's unfortunately quite a rare thing these days, take care not to spread it around

If your DS really loves frogs he should be taught to love them in their natural habitat and visit them in a pond. Don’t turn him into an entitled brat who doesn’t give a damn as long as he gets what he wants...

Well done, good choice. The frogs would really suffer. Visit them at the pond every day. They change so much each day. My favourite stage is when they have tails but they have little frog legs. Very sweet.

It could be that the unpopulated streams aren't suitable for one reason or another.
It's not illegal to collect a small amount of frogspawn and fostering an interest in wildlife in kids is no bad thing.
Some sensible advice here about how to raise tadpoles and not introducing tadpoles or froglets to other populations.
www.discoverwildlife.com/how-to/watch-wildlife/how-to-rear-froglets/

You could buy an African dwarf frog for your son?
They are fairly easy to keep in an aquarium

Here they are.
Very cute and fully aquatic.
www.fishkeeper.co.uk/help-and-advice/freshwater/miscellaneous/african-dwarf-frog

So you do it, lots of others do it and suddenly there is none

YABU. Explain to your son why you can’t do it

If you do plan to buy a frog please research loads and loads.

We have some african dwarf frogs and they are great. So much personality. One of their favorite things is to just spread out and float in a zen like pose. If you do get some make sure they can't get done the back of the tank. Such a job to get them out.

Please don't.

No leave nature alone.

Everyone still saying don’t...have you rtft? OP has accepted she WBU and she isn’t going to do it.

Don't do this, just take him to wherever the frogspawn is currently residing and watch the lifecycle play out there, where everyone can see it.

You know you're being unreasonable. And also, in London, selfish. You're possibly stealing some other kid's chance to witness this fab natural process

@YukoandHiro

Don't do this, just take him to wherever the frogspawn is currently residing and watch the lifecycle play out there, where everyone can see it.

You know you're being unreasonable. And also, in London, selfish. You're possibly stealing some other kid's chance to witness this fab natural process

OP literally said they will do this, a few posts up.

It’s very sad that some areas have so few frogs! The problem for many areas is the weird fungal infection that seems endemic and easy to move if spawn is taken from area A to area B.

@ViperAtTheGatesOfDawn

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

This

Or you may be able to get a tree frog from a specialist pet shop if he has his heart set on a pet frog. But be warned the heating and leccy needed to hear the vivarium will be v expensive and it won't be the same as having a native British frog in a garden pond!

Good decision, op. Buy your son a book about frogs and enjoy some reading time together. YouTube probably has loads of videos to watch, too.