Planet Frog Habitat

The Planet Frog Habitat

• The Plant Frog Habitat is a small, transparent plastic enclosure with a plastic "beach" and plastic grasses, that is filled with water for the frog or tadpole to swim in, replicating the frog's natural habitat.

  This particular frog habitat is not unique to one single brand, and there are other small frog habitats available at pet stores.

Function

• The Planet Frog live frog habitat is a product that allows consumers to watch the process of a tadpole transforming into an adult frog. The habitat comes with a small cave for the frog to hide in, a hole through which food can be placed into the, and a magnifying area so the observer can see the frog or tadpole more clearly.

  According to the product listing, an order form is available to obtain tadpoles for the Planet Frog habitat within the continental United States.

Uses

• The Planet Frog habitat can be used for education, either in the classroom or at home. It is more than just a plastic container used to capture frogs, but actually provides a small, temporary habitat that is somewhat suitable for tadpoles in which to complete their metamorphosis.

Capturing Frogs

• While the product can be used to capture frogs from the wild, order forms are available to obtain tadpoles to put into the Planet Frog habitat.

  When capturing or obtaining a tadpole or frog for any kind of captive habitat, it is very important to weight the options with regards to where the tadpole or frog will come from. Frogs should not be removed from the wild in adult or tadpole form. Doing so can be very detrimental to wild populations and in many states is an illegal practice, even if it is for educational use in a classroom.

  There are many breeders of different species of frogs that have been born and bred in captivity. These frogs can be inexpensive and come in different varieties to best suit what someone would want in a pet frog. Tadpoles can be obtained from such breeders and this will have no affect on wildlife populations.

Releasing Frogs

• One very big issue with habitats that allow you to observe frog metamorphosis is that the habitat is normally much too small for an adult frog to live in permanently. Typically, one would make the decision to keep the frog as a pet in a larger, proper set-up or release it. Releasing captive frogs back into the environment is dangerous, whether the frog is a species that is native to the area or native to different areas.

  If the frog is native to other areas, it could either die upon release because it cannot handle the local climate or establish itself in the new area, becoming an invasive species that negatively impacts the local ecosystem. If the frog is native to the local habitat, it may have picked up parasites or pathogens in captivity that it may unleash on the local population, which could wipe them out. This is why no captive frog should ever be released into the wild regardless of what type of frog it is.