How to Hatch Frog Eggs

Frog eggs are fascinating to watch as they develop from a lump of speckled jelly into fully grown amphibians. It is important to return adult frogs to where you found the eggs so they can continue their natural life cycle in the wild. If the eggs are from your own garden pond, release the froglets when they are big enough to survive independently, or donate some to a fellow enthusiast to start their own colony.

Things You'll Need

  • Frog eggs
  • 3-gallon container
  • 3-gallon container and lid
  • Pond water
  • Mesh screening
  • Duct tape
  • Fish food flakes
  • Lettuce
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Instructions

    • 1

      Half fill the 3-gallon container with pond water and set it aside. Scoop up some frog eggs with the other container bringing enough water with them so that they stay submerged. Each egg will grow into a frog, so don't collect 100 eggs unless you are prepared to care for 100 adult frogs in three month's time.

    • 2

      Pour the eggs and pond water into the other container carefully, without disturbing the cohesion of the jelly around the eggs. Pond water contains essential nutrients to help tadpoles grow, so you need to use this instead of tap water.

    • 3

      Refill the empty container with pond water and close the lid. This water will be used to top up the other container, so store it outside, but away from direct sunlight.

    • 4

      Cut a piece of mesh screening to the same size as the top of the egg container and secure it with the duct tape to keep predators out. Place it outdoors in a warm position.

    • 5

      Check the eggs every day. After three or four days the eggs absorb their yolk and jelly and hatch into free swimming tadpoles. The nutrients in the pond water provide food initially, but as the tadpoles grow over the next two or three days they require additional food.

    • 6

      Sprinkle fish food on the water on the seventh day, and add half a boiled lettuce leaf the next day. Tadpoles eat almost everything they encounter, and the bacteria in decomposing vegetation is beneficial to them. This bacteria-based food is called infusiora.

    • 7

      Feed the tadpoles every day with fish food or boiled lettuce, and remove uneaten fish food before it goes bad. Add some of the stored pond water from the spare container every four or five days to keep the frog water fresh.

    • 8

      Reintroduce froglets to a garden pond at four to five weeks when leg and arm buds develop and the tails absorb into the tadpoles' bodies. Continue to feed the froglets with fish food in the pond until they are adults.

    • 9

      Release fully grown frogs back into the wild when they are about three months old, not as froglets, because they stand a better chance of survival as adults.