Doad Taddy

That title doesn't say Toad Daddy... This is a good news bad news story.

Last week I wrote about procreation and becoming a toad daddy... lots of whoohoo's and yee-haw's.  It would appear, however, the first batch of eggs are not going to hatch.  The eggs are still there but I see no movement inside.  I inspected a few eggs up close on Saturday and believe there is no life there.  The eggs were limp and black with very little substance to them.

On a positive note, I have seen movement coming from the batch of eggs of the second pairing that closely resembles the flipping of a toadpole's tail.  So a lot of Whoo and a little Boo. 

This has been the coldest May since I've lived in Grand Junction and the temperature has a definite correlation to the length of time it takes between the laying of the eggs and hatching.  It also affects the growth of the pollywogs... warmer is faster.

In regard to the batch of "dead" eggs; I'm thinking there are but two possibilities that may have caused this apparent non-event.
1.  The first male frog has taken advantage of Obama Care on a trial basis and was sterilized because he is way too ugly and thus shouldn't mate, plus... he doesn't vote.
or
2.  The chemicals I used to knock down the algae are affecting the egg maturation.  The warnings on the AlgaeFix container stated it did not hurt plants or fish.  I realize toads and toad eggs are neither of these but I thought it safe to use.

One last thought to keep in mind.  In review of my comments in the past two years about the toad eggs and toadlets it appears to this Toad Daddy that I'm pretty dog-gone pessisimistic in consideration of the toughness of toad eggs and the resulting wogpoles.  Mama Nature has been at this a lot longer than I've been watching so I should leave her to do her business.  On the other hand... do you think she has heard of AlgaeFix?

Stay tuned for bullitoads (bulletins/toads).

Bhoohoo