Uncle Milton Planet Frog Tadpole Raising Kit

Shopping for a four year old is pretty easy, and when my teenager spotted the Uncle Milton Planet Frog tadpole raising kit he knew his little brother would love it. But the initial excitement over the Planet Frog habitat slowly faded, as our tadpoles did not seem to behave as the company stated they would.

When our youngest son opened the package, he was excited to know he would soon have a new pet. In fact, it was a gift that captured the imagination of not only the youngest but also the entire family. We all looked forward to the Planet Frog saga of tadpole development. It seemed quite simple and easy, according to the directions. The Planet Frog habitat was a molded plastic pool with raised areas for the mature frogs to lounge amongst the plastic plants. The lid was easy to remove and replace, and included a magnifying piece to observe the inhabitants more closely.

As per the instructions, we sent away for the tadpoles and were pleased to receive them about three weeks later. They seemed to be in shock from their trip through the mail, but within a day or so were behaving normally inside the Planet Frog pond. We followed the instructions for feeding the tadpoles and cleaning the unit.

And we followed them... and followed them. We all wondered when the metamorphosis would begin. The literature that came with the Planet Frog indicated that the tadpoles should begin changing within a few weeks, if not sooner. Our tadpoles seemed to show no signs whatsoever of their impending change. We waited. We watched through the magnifying glass for the slightest bump or lump that would indicate the development of legs... but nothing happened.

Our enthusiasm was dampened, and the tadpoles seemed listless, barely moving at the bottom of the pond. Our youngest son was disappointed that they had no legs yet, and began to insist that he really could see a lump... right there! But unfortunately his wishful thinking had no effect on our perpetual tadpoles. We began to think of them as fish - really boring rather unattractive fish.

I continued to care for the tadpoles minus the audience of expectant onlookers, without much hope for their future. And eventually, about three months after we first carefully placed them into the Planet Frog habitat, the tadpoles died. We considered ordering replacement tadpoles from the Uncle Milton Company, but the cost of a new set of tadpoles was considerably higher than the cost of the original set. We considered getting a frog from the pet store to inhabit the Planet Frog, but decided that the experiment had ended.

Unfortunately, for our family, the Planet Frog habitat turned out to be a bust.