Hi,

Can anyone ID our frogs? We have three. We got three tadpoles from a local wildlife area on Mothers Day, they all grew up. Two are darker and about a week behind this one. Don't know if the color is due to the age difference or sex diference? Based on what I've read on this site they look like tree frogs due to the suction cups on the feet. They can fit on a nickle, they are that small. We live in southern california.

I don't know if we should take them back or keep them. I want to take them back if they get too loud or if our habitat is not suitable.

I have a ~200 ga pond that has a few goldfish, a bunch of minnows, a bunch of plants. It has a shallow area that slopes right up to the garden so the guys can get in/out. Right near this area is a hedge about 6 feet high. There is a jacaranda (sp?) tree about 50 ft away.

Thanks.

Ps. This one got named "smartie"

I live in MD so I'm not that familiar with CA species. Based on how common the various CA tree frogs are, I think it may be a Pacific tree frog. Here's a site with a lot of photos of them:
http://www.californiaherps.com/frogs/pages/p.regilla.html

The Pacific tree frog has that stripe on the face that your baby does while the other common CA species, the California tree frog, does not. That seems like a great web site that should help you out.

Frogs often have slight color variations. Normally with newly morphed frogs, it's not related to their sex (only when mature). It could just be natural variation.

Tree frogs only come to water to breed. So, if you release the babies, they will probably head for the trees and climb. When breeding, tree frogs can be loud. That web site has a recording of their call.

It's up to you if you want to take Smartie and his pals back where he came from or release him at your place, as long as they're not too far apart in location.

Thanks so much Robyn, the link you gave was helpful, don't know why I couldn't find it originally. Thanks!

All three are now hopping around, we put them in a large aquarium until this weekend when we can let them go back into their original habitat. There are small bugs in with them and we've watched the frogs try to catch the bugs. I hope they get more coordinated, they seem a bit scared when their tongue comes flying back at them with a bug attached.

Hopefully we don't name the other ones as it will be harder to send them on their way.

Thanks for the helpful website...here is a picture of our container pond. We're in the middle of changing it and will send pics when it's done. Sorry about my lack of ability to resize.