# Poliwog

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poliwog/176642>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 21, 2003, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poliwog/176642 "2003-05-21T20:50:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\
**Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poliwog/176642/1 "2003-05-21T20:50:40Z")

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I’m thinking about buying a poliwog. What can I feed it? I have shrimp pellets and fish flakes in the house. Will that be enough? When it grows into a frog how can I make sure it gets enough air? To clarify, should I make a place the frog can sit out of the water or will it be fine in a fish bowl? Thanks, guys!

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**Author:** ![NotMrKnowItAll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/6bbea6/32.png) [@NotMrKnowItAll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NotMrKnowItAll)\
**Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poliwog/176642/2 "2003-05-21T21:06:26Z")

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We have two poliwogs and one frog right now. I image it depends on the species of frog, but for us, we feed the poliwogs boiled dandelion leaves, and the little frog small insect nymphs we catch in the yard.

Be sure to watch closely when you poliwog turns into frog. It goes fast. That little mouth spreads open and the eyes seem to migrate up and bulge out.

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poliwog/176642/3 "2003-05-21T22:01:43Z")

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Most tadpoles are vegetarian. They will feed on algae, or on boiled leaf vegetables.

You’ll probably want to make a place for the new frog to crawl out on land. Even though they can survive in water, their feeding apparatus works better on land. (Unless its a purely aquatic species like and African Clawed Frog). And they will generally only eat moving (live) prey.

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**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\
**Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poliwog/176642/4 "2003-05-21T22:09:07Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Colibri \*  
> \*\*Most tadpoles are vegetarian. \*\*

Except when the little demons turn cannibal. Poliwogs are tadpoles? Don’t think I knew that.

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poliwog/176642/5 "2003-05-21T23:00:26Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by levdrakon \*  
> \*\*Except when the little demons turn cannibal. Poliwogs are tadpoles? Don’t think I knew that. \*\*

Tadpole is the more common name for a larval frog, but pollywog/polliwog (the most common spellings) means the same thing. I suppose the usage varies regionally.

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**Author:** ![Stan\_Doubt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@Stan\_Doubt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Doubt)\
**Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poliwog/176642/6 "2003-05-21T23:32:25Z")

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I have reared them on filamentous algae in a small self feeding tank.

While it’s true that many species eat mainly plant material, keep in mind that they are also ingesting a lot of “animal” matter (e.g., bacteria, microcrustaceans) along with the algae.