Northern Ireland

Co Tyrone teenager's tadpole growing proves to be TikTok hit

Hannah McSorley hopes some of the tadpoles will turn into frogs
Hannah McSorley hopes some of the tadpoles will turn into frogs Hannah McSorley hopes some of the tadpoles will turn into frogs

A CO Tyrone teenager has taken a novel approach to fulfilling her lockdown time by growing thousands of tadpoles.

And Hannah McSorley's new found activity has become a massive hit on Tiktok.

The 17-year-old from Clanabogan, near Omagh, has been documenting the frogspawn progress to followers with short videos - with more than 37,000 tadpoles now grown since March.

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The popularity of the page has seen Ms McSorley secure seven million likes and around 500,000 followers.

Ms McSorley, a pupil at Loreto Grammar School, Omagh, began the experiment when she found some frogspawn in a field and brought it home in a glass jar to watch it grow.

"I live in the countryside and with it being lockdown, me and my brother Paul (9) were out for a walk and we noticed some frogspawn at the side of a field," she said.

"I thought it would be fascinating to experience this change in the frogspawn, a brilliant opportunity also for my brother to see what would happen to it so I gathered it up in a large jar and brought it home."

Hannah McSorley has taken a novel approach to fulfilling her lockdown time by growing thousands of tadpoles
Hannah McSorley has taken a novel approach to fulfilling her lockdown time by growing thousands of tadpoles Hannah McSorley has taken a novel approach to fulfilling her lockdown time by growing thousands of tadpoles

Once home, she made a habitat for the creatures by filling a large plastic container with water, pond silt, rocks and mud and decided to share on her TikTok account, @.baby.frogs.

"I put a video up on my TikTok of the frogspawn and it quickly proved quite popular," he said.

"People really seem to love it, like me I think they find it fascinating."

Within days, most of the frogspawn had come out of their embryos, with the long tails and black bodies visible.

And since then, it is not just the tadpoles that have grown, it's the popularity of Ms McSorley's TikTok page with many followers keen to help her name the tadpoles, with suggestions including Funko Steve and Taddy.

Hannah McSorley, from Clanabogan, near Omagh, Co Tyrone
Hannah McSorley, from Clanabogan, near Omagh, Co Tyrone Hannah McSorley, from Clanabogan, near Omagh, Co Tyrone

"It has been 65 days now and I have something like 37,000 tadpoles," she said.

"When I was young, I always had an interest in tadpoles, but they never made it to frogs, so I'm hoping out of all the tadpoles I have I can get some frogs.

"They will soon be forming legs in the next few days and then arms, turning into little froglets I think by about 90 days.

"If they turn into frogs, I'll release them though.

"I'm honestly shocked at how popular this has turned out to be, it's just a simple thing I started and I'm so surprised by the attention it has got."