Homer Glen Man Finds 'Thousands' Of Tadpoles In His Pool

HOMER GLEN, IL — One Homer Glen resident got quite the surprise when he checked his pool recently. Mike Czopkiewicz called the Forest Preserve District of Will County earlier this week and told them he had "thousands" of tadpoles in his pool.

The preserve was immediately curious, according to a release, and headed out to see if Czopkiewicz was telling the truth. Turns out, he was. On the top of his in-ground pool cover were thousands of tiny tadpoles swimming in the rainwater that had collected on top.

According to the preserve, one frog can lay as many as 20,000 eggs.

“I've been here eight years and this is the first time I ran into this," Czopkiewicz said in a release. "I mean, we'll pull the cover off and we'll see a few wolf spiders, but nothing like this."

In the past he's had a frog or two jump into the pool and he's kindly released it back into the yard so it can go on its merry way. This time, it's not necessarily that easy.

"I don't want to get rid of these or hurt them," he said. "I'm hoping I can find somewhere for them."

According to the preserve, the nearest water source, other than his pool, is Spring Creek. However, Czopkiewicz said in a release that he has a van and plans to relocate the tadpoles.

To properly and safely remove tadpoles from a pool, experts suggest using a net to scoop them up into a bucket that is filled halfway with water from the pool, or in this case, the top of the cover. According to the preserve, tadpoles don't need a lot of room, but should be able to freely move around for the short period of time while being transported. It's a good idea to slowly add some water from the new location into the bucket to get the water temperature closer to that of the stream, creek or river they'll be dropped into.

The forest preserve also gave another option.

Natural Resource Management Supervisor Dave Robson said in a release he can always play the waiting game for the next few weeks, letting the tadpoles morph into frogs, at which time they'll leave the pool on their own.

Image via Forest Preserve District of Will County.