Daily cuppa suits tadpoles to a T

A FAMILY of rare frogs have thrived in captivity – thanks to a daily cup of tea.

Jay Redbond, amphibian keeper at Slimbridge Wetland Centre, Gloucestershire, has successfully reared 11 healthy poison dart frogs from tadpoles, by using redbush tea. He switched the normal water they grew in as tadpoles for the caffeine-free tea, which is packed with antioxidants. He said: "It is a bit of advice that people know in the industry, that to keep them disease-free, they should swim in redbush tea for the first few weeks of life. It stops them developing fungus.

"So, every morning, just before I made my cup of tea, I made sure the tadpoles had had theirs too."