:blink: Already! I can't believe it. The adorable tadpoles I bought just a few weeks ago are sprouting legs. The biggest one has pretty defined ones now and is starting to use them. The rest are all in stages behind him. My question is....when to the front legs start to form. I have seen no sign of them yet, just back legs.

I have 3 frogs in my pond that I got as tadpoles, I believe second year tadpoles. My grandson's friend found them in a creek and had them in his pond at home since the summer before. I don't know if they are Bullfrogs or Green Frogs. I noticed one day they had back legs and it seems like I thought they had died as I didn't see the tadpoles for awhile. All of a sudden I see 3 frogs!!!!! I was so excited! I think this was in a couple months span. I hope I see them again when the weather warms up. They are so cute!! Do you know what type you have?

Ellen, green frogs turn into adults about a year after hatching and bullfrogs two years so you probably had bullfrogs.

Pasogirlz, if you have bullfrog tadpoles as well (most likely since they are most likely to be sold), they may have just back legs without front ones for weeks or maybe months. A lot of it is temperature and food dependent but pond size and water quality also play a factor. Once the frog legs come in, they start to absorb the tail and turn into adults rather quickly at that point, maybe a few weeks.

Just a note: this thread should have gone under amphibians and not reptiles.

Robyn you may move the thread if you want. :unsure:

The biggest tadpole's legs are really getting big and defined. He is using them to jump up from the bottom of the tank to the top and it makes a big splash when he hits the surface. I can't believe how fast they are growing. I must have the conditions just right for them. :blink:

I had few tadpoles w/back legs growing, but now front legs. I 've been watching them carefully for weeks. On Friday morning I checked the tank and nothing new, so off to work. But when I got home.....




I guess the front ones were tucked inside and they just pop out when they are mature. :shock: I only have one w/front legs at this time, but there is another one about to bust out w/them.

He looks kind of funny! He should absorb the tail pretty quick now and change his facial appearance and soon be a frog. Or maybe, he'll just enjoy his legs for a while.

I can really tell his mouth is changing and becoming wider instead of a round opening. It is really cool to watch them.

Will the tail just fall off?

I noticed another one today w/only one front leg. The other one was just starting to poke out of the little pocket it's hiding it. Maybe by the time I get home tonight it will be out all the way.

Will they still be able to spend a lot of time under water now? Or will they need a place to get on land more often?

The tail doesn't fall off. It's absorbed back up into the body. Once they have all their legs, they will start trying to venture onto land. Lowering the water level and providing land is a good idea. Doing so can actually speed up metamorphosis as well. Sometimes tadpoles simply won't change if the water is too deep or lacks land areas. Once they are fully "froglets," they will spend time both in and out of the water. Other species like tree frogs just leave but bullfrogs are forever tied to the water, mostly hanging out in the shallows.

I guess I will transforming my smaller aquarium for the froggies pretty soon unitl I can find them all proper homes.

btw- the 2nd tadpole had both arms out last night when I got home. B)

I'm not sure what to feed the little guys now. I don't think they seem to be eating the tadpole food I have, and I haven't seen them go for the bood worms yet....should I try something live? Like crickets?

How hard is it to care for the tank and maintain for tadpoles to become frogs? Your pictures are wonderful to see the frog going throught the different stages. Do you have them named already? Is raising a frog an expensive hobby ? It certainly looks interesting and you sound so excited about watching them grow up, It's great to see that these little amphibians brings such joy. Do you have a pond they will eventually grow into

Well, I started them in a 55 gallon w/my turtles. They must have been in the ideal environment b/c they changed pretty fast. I'd say within 2 months. I only have 2 so far that have all their legs, and I still have 6 more. :blink: So I moved the two froggies to my smaller 12 gallon last week. I'm trying to find them homes w/kids who might enjoy them, or my parents have a large pond in their front yard that would be ideal. My other thoughts were to keep 2 and breed them b/c my turtle loves eating the small tadpoles. But to be honest, I am not a tadpole breeder. I bought mine at the store. I have no idea what would be involved...so I probably won't attempt it. But it sure has been cool watching them change.

Most bullfrog tadpoles that are sold are already a year or more old. It takes 2 years from hatching until bullfrogs turn into adult frogs. Once the frogs are up on land, they will eat live foods. When they're sort of half in, half out and not really a tadpole and not really a frog, I suspect they either eat both kinds of food or just don't eat for a while while their insides are literally realigning themselves into another sort of being. Try some small crickets to see if they'll eat those. Bullfrogs are big enough to take small but other species usually have to start on pinhead size (newborn crickets, actually the ones sold are about a month old; they're smaller than ants when born). The thing with crickets is they always seem to get in the water and drown (not too bright). You can also try mealworms, wingless fruitflies, live blackworms, and other small live animals. When they're big enough, earthworms are a favorite.

Pasogirlz,
The frog sure looks like he/she enjoy's the attention you've been giving it / them. The changes are so cool and they happen pretty fast from morning to evening, huh? Have you documented any of your information other than here? How many turtles do you have? Are they small or large? What kinds are they and what do they look like. Is your passion raising turtles?
Tadpole breeder would be interesting to say the least but I think for me starting with the live ones first and getting to know their living habits and enviroments would be a must. Something draws me to frogs, not sure what exactly. They have sparked an interest with me and I want to look and learn more in both garden ponds and indoor tanks.

faithinfrogs
Char

LOL Char, my passion is Paso Fino horses. I love them, can't stop talking about them. (see my post in the Other Animals Forum) One day I was leaving the barn in Miami and I saw something tiney in the road. I stopped the car, and got out to find a tiney turtle. In doing research to take care of him, I found this site. I found I would need a bigger tank, so I upgraded, added another small turtle, a few tadpoles, and a crawfish. So I am not really one of the experts on the board. I'm just starting out so to speak.

Pasogirlz
You had made mention of finding a home for your frogs 1 or 2 ? Can they be shipped through the mail does anyone know? How would someone go about doing this? Would you want cha ching for them, if so how much? Or did you find homes for all of them already?

faithinfrogs

If there is a way to send them to you, I'll only take shipping costs for them. But I'm not sure how to go about that. Anyone else have any ideas?

Char, I receive catalogs from a place called Lily Pons. They ship Bullfrog tadpoles!!!! I don't know if that is what you are interested in or not. I copied and pasted the site below so you can see and maybe order. Let us know if Pasogirlz sends her frogs to you and how she gets them to you.
Ellen


http://www.lilypons.com/cgi-bin/webc.cgi/s...-04106361727.81

Most pond places sell bullfrog tadpoles. If you want to ship tadpoles, it's good to try to get aquarium bags (might snatch one from the fish store). Put in 1/3 water with tadpoles and fill the rest with oxygen if you can get it (again, fish store) or just air if you have no choice). Tie off the bag. Put on another bag as a precaution. Pack in styrofoam and/or "peanuts" and pack to ship. Next day air is best but if it's not too cold, they may take 2-day shipping. Keep in mind that if not packed under oxygen, the main concern is them dying of lack of oxygen.

I shipped tadpoles once. They were just a lot of young, small green frog tadpoles. I put them in a ziploc bag about 30% water and the rest just air. I also added some hornwort for them to munch on and hide in. I sealed the ziploc into another ziploc and then packed the whole thing (had lots of live plants too) into a big plastic bag and set it into a cardboard box. I sent the "free" stuff (worth probably over $100) to someone but the shipping cost $50 for next day because it was so heavy (water weighs a lot)! She almost didn't want to pay. Most of what I sent her died off (not from the shipping but problems with her pond and care of the plants). That was the last time I shipped free extra stuff to a "fan."

pasogirlz- I'm going to check into the local pet stores and see if there are any safe ways for shipping the live frogs vs tadpoles. I would hate to endanger the frogs from the trip through the mail but I will get back to you on this soon, alright? I know the local pet store in Buffalo has a huge frog in an aquarium and I know that the frog wasn't a local find because it's so huge (were talkin dinner plate size). I never asked before if they recieved the frog as a tadpole or not, but I'm going on the thought that it wasn't a tad. I'll get back to ASAP, OK?

Char and I have been talking about shipping my two froggies. We have some questions for the experts. It was mentioned to be careful of the temperatures when shipping.
Miami ain't getting any cooler this time of year, but Char's area is still very cold. Any ideas?
I am thinking that since my frogs are Bull Frogs and they spend so much time in water, I should make sure they have plenty. And maybe put a large sponge for them to crawl on top of to get out if they like?

Char- What were your questions for the experts after they get there?

How big are the frogs? One concern is that they get enough oxygen so be sure to seal them in with a good amount of air. If they stay cool, that's good as long as they don't freeze. Cooler water will prevent them from overheating, and they'll use up less oxygen. If it's below freezing, you can add a heat pack but it shouldn't be up against the frog's bag. You just put in enough water for them to sit in so they're heads are always out of the water. They won't need land then. This keeps them well hydrated and reduces the chance of overheating. An alternative to a sealed aquarium bag would be a container with air holes. In that case, you'd have to worry about the water being spilled out. It's important they are kept wet.

I guess my first question would be is what should be the first signs of stress after shipping and is the temp of the water in the tank a concern when they are first put into the aquarium?(I'm going on the assumption that room temp is best??) You tell me it's my first.

What food should I have on hand for their arrival? Can they share an aquarium at first or do I need to have seperate ones for each and how much land should be exposed and how deep should the water be in the aquarium? Is there any books to be recommended for caring for bullfrogs, add this to the replies if you know of any good ones to recommend.

Can the oxygen factor be taken care of if a small plant is put in with the frogs, bareroot?

I just read in grow a frog that it's stated that african bullfrogs can be fed sinking carnivore pellets, floating cichlids pellets. Is this something that these bullfrogs are able to eat also? Just learning. It was also mentioned about 20 gallon tank for 2 african bullfrogs should have this size minimum for them. Is this the case with the bullfrogs I would be recieving also? Facts ya just gotta know. This is just like getting ready for the new baby, I love it!

faithinfrogs
Char

EllenR- Thanks for the link to lilypons site by the way.

http://www.lilypons.com/cgi-bin/webc.cgi/s...-04106361727.81

Now according to this link tadpoles for bullfrogs cannot be sent to MN. My question is, can live bullfrogs still be shipped here for inside tanks only. This could be of concern but not if I keep them indoors only right?

Help on this one, Please :(

It's hard to tell if a frog is in stress unless they're far gone and would be overly listless. The frogs should be calm but responsive. You don't want to temperature shock them. Assuming they arrive at room temperature, they should go into water of similar temperature.

Frogs eat only live animals (or animals they think are alive). Which animals you get depends on the size of the frogs. Usually it's a matter of size of the animals. Here are some possibilities - crickets (all different sizes), mealworms (all different sizes, three kinds), wax worms, roaches (yep, I have a breeding colony for my lizard), earthworms, blackworms (for small frogs), wingless fruitflies (for tiny frogs), etc. Pet and aquarium stores may have some of these animals.

If the frogs are similar in size, they should be able to get along. How much water and land they need depends on how big that they are. The more room you can give them, the better.

I don't know of any bullfrog books but there are frog care books. I don't have any myself. Most of those would be geared towards exotic tropical frogs.

A plant or two won't produce much oxygen in the water. Adult frogs have lungs so they don't need high oxygen in the water. However, aeration and filtration will greatly reduce stagnation of the water and keep it much cleaner.

African bullfrogs are frogs that grow to a huge size. They hardly move. They prefer to eat huge live animals as adults, birds and mice and such. I don't know if they'd eat non-living fish pellets but apparently someone got them to do so. American bullfrogs by contrast are not as big and are very active. I highly doubt they'd eat anything that's not alive.

The Lilypons specific link didn't come up for me. I'm not familiar with the MN laws regarding captive keeping of bullfrogs. Check out your local DNR site to see if you can find out more. I'm afraid I don't have time at the moment to check for you.

The frogs are not too big yet. I'd say about the size of your thumb? One is much "fatter" than the other. I was wondering if that meant one was male and one was female?

Robyn, what kind of container w/airholes are you talking about? I figured if it had air holes the water would spill?

Thanks for the avatar url pasogirlz! It's great.

I'll be looking into the dnr site Robyn for the info needed from there if any is needed.

Just checked into the DNR site Robyn and I don't see anything there about it being not legal. If you type in bullfrog all the pics and articles about identifying come up but notta on anything else. Lots of in depth research stuff though, kinda interesting.

Just checked into the DNR site Robyn and I don't see anything there about it being not legal. If you type in bullfrog all the pics and articles about identifying come up but notta on anything else. Lots of in depth research stuff though, kinda interesting.

faithinfrogs

Yeah, I just looked at their site and can't find anything either. It's nice how so many sites are so easy to navigate (not)! I guess you'd have to call them and ask about the legalities of having captive native bullfrogs. My state doesn't always differentiate between individuals taken from the wild and those obtained from captivity or ordering from some place. In my state, bullfrogs are not regulated at all. You can kill or take as many as you want.

Female bullfrogs are larger but if the frogs are still small, the size difference may have nothing to do with their sexes. Once mature, you can easily sex them as males have much larger tympanic membranes (the ear circle thing) and yellow necks.

If a container has air holes and water in it, yes it could spill. That would be a risk where you'd hope they kept it upright. If kept with wet stuff instead of actual water (wet paper towels for example), it might be possible to ship a frog that way but I'd probably only try it with larger frogs since they could run out of oxygen in a small sealed bag. They must stay wet but have enough air which can be hard.

Ok guys...I've been trying everything to get my frogs to start eating. I finally ordered the new born baby cricket online this week after looking all over town. I put the crickets in w/the frogs (who are starting to look thin) and they dont' seem to be interested at all. I keep hoping they will eat, but nothing. I am really worried. What else can I try? Should I get bigger crickets?

That was me posting as guest. :P

Sometimes it takes time for newly morphed frogs to learn to eat live foods. Other times, they go right for it. Many aquarium stores will have the following to try: crickets (which you tried), mealworms, wingless fruitflies, blackworms, and waxworms. You can also catch bugs yourself such as pill bugs, small worms, and really almost any bugs as long as you're sure they weren't sprayed with chemicals. I've never raised froglets indoors, just outside where nature provided their food. I have raised a few baby turtles who both ate basically nothing for over a month before deciding one day to eat like pigs from then on! I hope your froggies start to eat!

Well, I was so worried b/c their sides were looking sorta caved in to me....so I decided to force feed them a few minows. :P I just pryed their little mouths open and popped in the tiny minow and closed their mouth. Then I set them back in the container I have them in and waited for them to swallow. They did! So I gave each of them two minows the first night and one the next morning. There little tummies were looking much better and full. So last night I I put two minows in their container and went to bed. This morning...there was only one minow...so I think at least one of them is catching on. I was hoping that the first minows would open up their appetite and make them more hungry. Maybe it did the trick? So I went ahead and put 4 minows in this morning and I'll watch carefully to see what happens today.

Wow! You must have tiny minnows then. I didn't even think to suggest fish since you'd need tiny ones, they are harder for frogs to catch, and some frogs aren't big fish eaters (or you don't want them to become big fish eaters anyway). I'm glad you got them to eat something. The sunken sides was a bad sign that they were starving. I would caution people to be very carefuly trying to pry the mouth open on any animal because you can hurt them. They will often resist, and we're stronger.

Thankfully, I had some real small minows b/c my feeder fish had babies. And these are the two that already changed.


I put two minows in there container last night and one was missing this morning. :D So I put three more in today and again one is missing. Not sure if both are eating yet, but I'm watching them closely. Hopefully the first minows opened up their appetites.

I read that bull frogs will eat anything that doesn't eat them first, so I figured I'd give the minows a try since they are in a pond environment w/frogs normally.

And since I'm updating on the tank...
This is the next tad I expect to have arms any day now.


This one will be the third full froggie pretty soon. I expect his tail will be gone by the time I get back from Australia. *I'm going down under this month!

Good news, I had put 5 minows in w/the frogs last night and this morning 3 were missing. The smaller frog looked like he has a full tummy today (I was worried the larger one was the only one eating). So they must like the minows. Maybe now that they are getting the hang of it, I can try some different things again.

Thats great that they are eating now on their own, YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So your going down under for awhile huh? Is it leisure or business? The plane ride I'm sure will be long but well worth it. Who's taking care of your froggies while you are away? The new pics sure are cool and the frogs look quite healthy. You are doing a wonderful job of taking care of them and thanks for the update on how they are doing. Good luck on your trip. Take some pics and tell us all about it when you return.

faithinfrogs