What exactly happens to them? Well here’s one theory, but Warning: some viewers may find this disturbing. (I know I do.) A google search of “Why are my tadpoles dying?” turned up cannibalism, among other things. I hesitate to believe it. One, it’s gross. And two, I’ve never seen them so much as nibble on each other, and I’ve been watching very closely. I mean how would they even kill each other? They don’t have teeth, or other weapons. The Tiny Tank has a bare floor and not too much foliage, on purpose so I can see what’s going on. Still, those last three bodies never turned up, so … where’d they go? (Recall that I placed fifteen tads in the Tiny Tank, found two dead on the floor the next day, and only ten remain.)
Do they just up and die when they look around and see that it’s over-crowded? And THEN the other tads eat them? I saw no tads nibbling away at the two bodies on the floor. If an animal is consumed by its peers after death, is that still considered cannibalism? (I know it is with humans. Remember that plane crash in the Andes? )
Besides, how would they do it? They can’t exactly drown themselves. I’m not sure I even believe that each tadpole needs a gallon and a half of water. If that were true, in the wild they would stay further away from each other than they do. Nor are the mass suicide or cannibalism theories making much sense. I’m exploring other possibilities.
