Hi guys,I was hoping that someone could help me.My 10yr old son came home from school last April with a tadpole.When I asked my son what type of frog it was he told me that it was either a leopard frog or a bullfrog.So i asked his teacher who gave him the tadpole in the first place,what is this thing?He gave me the same answer,informing me that he bought the leopard frog tadpoles from a pet store and the remaing tadpoles he picked out of a pond.So they can be anything. I went home later that day and looked at the ugly little thing,and decided that he had a face only a mother could love and that I would take good care of him.I continued feeding him goldfish food and cleaning his water hoping all the while that he was a cute little leopard frog.Finally by September he sprouted little arms and legs.Guess what,not a leopard frog.Since then I have bought him a new cage,its a large plastic thing with a ramp so he could get out of the water and hang out.Though he seldomly does this.I have aquarium gravel in the tank with larger flat rocks and plastic plants for him to hide in.I am still feeding him goldfish food mixed with dehydrated bloodworms and something called frog pellets.I was worried that this wouldnt be enough for him,so I went out and bought some small crickets,a small cage to keep them in,cricket food the whole nine yards.I brought the crickets home put them in their cage and asked my husband what he thought would the best way to introduce my little frog to his dinner.He suggested that I put the frog in the cage with all the crickets.I decided it wasnt a good idea because my poor little guy was quickly swarmed by the crickets and looked like he was bieng eaten himself!I quickly took him out of there and put him in the tiny cage that I put the frog in when I clean his cage with three crickets.Two of the crickets drowned one disappeared. Does any one have any suggestions for me as far as the appropriate habitat and at what age he should start eating live prey.It was pretty sad watching him get beaten up by his dinner.I really could use the help we have grown really attached to him,and I have gone to countless pet stores and asked many a pimply faced teen aged employees,What do I do?Only to hear,I dunno. HELP PLEASE!!!!!!! Thank you,Baby Bully's mommy

Well, this pimply 32-year-old says that once frogs are adults (fully legged with no tail), in the wild, they eat only live animals for dinner. It's good though that yours is still taking "dead" animal as in fish food and frog pellets. Bullfrogs spend most of their time in the water so you can replicate a small pond ecosystem for him. He should be able to get out which he'll do on occasion. In ponds, they come out mostly to sun themselves. Some natural sunlight or a reptile full spectrum light would be a good idea for him.

To introduce him to live foods, I suggest the following:

1. Start with less jumpy/spazy prey than crickets. Perhaps get some small mealworms or earthworms, depending on how big the froglet (baby frog) is.

2. Put the frog and a few live animals in a small container, maybe shoe box sized. Be sure it's deep enough that the crickets can't jump out if you try them first (since you have them) or put a lid on it (with ventilation holes). Do NOT add water. Crickets will gravitate towards any water and drown. To water crickets (and other live insects) in their cage, soak and squeeze out a wet paper towel and put that in with them, changing it every few days.

3. Leave the frog for a few hours with the prey. It's very doubtful they will hurt the frog. Hopefully, he'll get the idea. Be sure the crickets, worms, etc. are small enough in size for the bullfrog to eat. For example, a newly-morphed bullfrog froglet will not be able to handle large sized crickets. The small ones are more his size. Don't worry about a few bugs crawling on him. When I put huge crickets in with my 3' sailfin lizard, they crawl on her but really can't hurt her. Certainly, a tiny frog is more vulnerable and has thinner skin. A few bugs probably wouldn't be a problem, but as you've found, if you do add enough, they can overwhelm a small frog (and yes, over time, probably would eat the frog!).

Once the frog is large enough to consume regular earthworms (from any bait or pet store), there will be no stopping him! Adult bullfrogs are gluttons that will eat anything that moves from songbirds to fish to mice to insects of all sorts.

If you have more questions, let me know! My forum is still not that well traveled so most posts are only answered by me but you never know! Maybe someone who keeps bullfrogs indoors has some tips for you!

Thankyou so much Robyn for the great advice.I was really going nuts trying to figure out what to do with him.I have him in a tank with three crickets now I'll let you know how he makes out.

Hi Robyn,Just a little update on baby Bully.He's doing quite well,I put him in a seperate cage with only two crickets at a time.He likes to eat in private,so we leave the room and when we come back he has already gobbled one up.Thanks again for your great advice.

that is really kool that oyu got a bullfrog, however it may be a green frg...how long did ity take him to morph? a bullfrog will spend 11-14 months before it morphs, a green frog will take a year also,the thing i found useful to tell if my bullfrogs were bullfrogs or green frogs was by the nose, a bullfrogs nose is not as pionty as a gren frogs, and bullfrogs will spend alot of their youth a dark green color with a lighter green upper lip. most petstores that give out tadpoles often dont know for sure what they are giving they just slap a name on them so they sell. <_< , mine are bullfrogs but they are small still and so cute, they love worms and crickets, flies spiders anyhting that moves and they can fit in their mouth they will eat, when they get big they will eat hummingbirds and small birds! i dont think i will feed mine that and they also dont know when to stop eating, they goarge and then they are like little green spotted marbles..... they are even lazy :lol: . oh and also a bullfrogs forearms are more muscular than a green frogs...lol hope this helps but robyn covered most of it :)