Do Dwarf african bullfrogs have orange on them ?

[googie]

Hi Guys:

I tried this question before yet no reply. Do Dwarf African Bullfrogs have orange armpits or only adspersus ?

One other question: Is it possible for a frog to be allergic to the silicon seal in an aquarium. Everytime I try to place Kong (my african bullfrog) in a 20 gallon long glass tank, he seems to get an irritation in his eyes. Once I take him out and place him in a smaller acrylic seamless tank he seems better. I have tried thoroughly cleaning the 20 gallon tank, with no success. weird !?!?!/

Thanks

[Jace]

I am not familiar with Dwarf Pyxies at all, so I'm afraid I can't help you with that. I wouldn't think they would be that different from a regular pyxie....hopefully John will see this and be able to respond.

I've never heard of a frog being allergic to the silicon, but it is possible. Was the tank freshly siliconed? I would try another tank with silicon and see if it happens again. Might be something else in that tank that us humans can't detect but your frog doesn't like. Best of luck. Do you have a pic of your dwarf? I am very curious about finding one for myself....

[googie]

Jace:
I am actually hoping he is not a Dwarf. We got him at the end of April from LLL Reptile and they stated he was a Adspersus. He has grown significantly since we got him, about 3 1/2 to 4 inches now from snout to vent, yet seems to be getting wider more than longer, and he is more of a mottled color than solid. Has the stripe down the back which does seem to be fading. Maybe I am just impatient !

I had brought him to the vets initially for the eye, and he gave him drops which helped, but I think I am going to find a large acrylic, so as to be on the safe side.

My guy spends 95% of his time in the water. Is that unusal ?

[Buck Rogers]

There is no such a thing as a Dwarf African Bullfrog. There is the African Bullfrog (Pyxicephalus edulis) and the Giant Bullfrog (Pyxicephalus adspersus).

The Giant Bullfrog (Pyxicephalus adspersus) is a Highveld species which is the more common green frog available on the market.

The African Bullfrog (Pyxicephalus edulis) is a species from Natal up to Mozambique and is often a olive brown colour and smaller.

[Jace]

He is still pretty young if you have only had him for a short time and he still has a vertical stripe down his back. Are you sure that he is a he? Pyxies can be hard to sex until they reach about 6-8 months of age. In that time, they seem to grow rounder and not bigger per say, and then suddenly you have a 7" frog on your hands!! Give it time-with a regular diet of high protein food, I am sure yours will continue to grow...assuming it is not a Dwarf.

Out of my three, one spends a lot of time in the water, while my other two hardly enter their water dishes at all. How humid is his setup? Do you give regular mistings? If he is growing and molting, the water make it easier for him to shed and it just might be more comfortable for him. I wouldn't worry about it too much unless he appears listless and stops eating. If you could post a recent pic or two of him, I will do some research on my end on Dwarfs and maybe we can get him figured out!

[Jace]

There is no such a thing as a Dwarf African Bullfrog. There is the African Bullfrog (Pyxicephalus edulis) and the Giant Bullfrog (Pyxicephalus adspersus).

The Giant Bullfrog (Pyxicephalus adspersus) is a Highveld species which is the more common green frog available on the market.

The African Bullfrog (Pyxicephalus edulis) is a species from Natal up to Mozambique and is often a olive brown colour and smaller.

Good to know, thank you! So when I say I have three African Bullfrogs who match the description of the Giant Bullfrog, I am actually making an error? I love learning new things about my frogs! I am going to have to do more research on this, I think.

[Buck Rogers]

The one in your aviator pic is the Giant Bullfrog (Pyxicephalus adspersus).

It has seemed to become known as the Giant African Bullfrog for some reason or another. There seems to be a lot of different conflicting information on the net (as there always is). Most websites don't even differentiate the difference between the 2 species and I even saw on wikipedia that they were not even listed as a threatened species which is totally incorrect.

A great book to get your hands on is "A complete guides to the frogs of Southern Africa" by Vincent Carruthers and Louis Du Preez. You can probably order it from Amazon and Kalahari.net (http://www.kalahari.net/books/A-Comp.../34090322.aspx Its a great book and will clear this up for you nicely. Also comes with a CD with the frog calls of Southern African species.

[Buck Rogers]

I'm sure John will be able to clear this up a bit better than me as he has far more experience in this field than myself, but this is the problem with referring to species by common names because they differ from place to place.

As monitor lizard keepers it becomes so important to refer to a species by its latin name because animals from the same species can differ so greatly just from locality and sub species, like the rock monitor (Varanus albigularis). Its commonly know as the rock monitor, Southern African rock monitor, black throat, white throat, cape rock monitor, veldt leguanna and many more. You can imagine the confusion that takes place when trying to get that sorted out... And I won't even get started on the Indonesian tree monitor species

[googie]

Buck:
I was referring to P. edulis, actually I do have a book on South African frogs, a patient of mine was traveling there and sent it to my son and I. You are exactly right, they refer to them as the African bullfrog (edulis) and the Giant Bullfrog (adspersus).

Still very confusing however, since their pics of the African Bullfrog, look different than those of other P. edulis I have seen.

Thanks for the reply

[googie]

Jace:

He is molting quite a bit, as far as eating...............I don't think he would stop if given the choice !
Last night a cricket had stuck to the screen on top of his enclosure, and some how he lifted his fat little body out of the water into the air and down went the cricket.................with a rather impressive belly wopper which I would give a perfect 10 ! Whether Adspersus or Edulis he is beefy !

[Buck Rogers]

Still very confusing however, since their pics of the African Bullfrog, look different than those of other P. edulis I have seen.

I actually wish that I had some personal photos to compare an African Bullfrog (p. edulis) to the Giant Bullfrog (p. adspersus) but I have never found African Bullfrogs before because I have not headed to the part of South Africa where they occur.

I do however have a very recent pic of a Giant Bullfrog (p. adspersus) where you can actually see the orange which answers your first question, they do have orange. Also if you look at the article on Bullfrog caresheet on this forum you'll see a big boy that also has that colouring.

[Buck Rogers]

That pic distorted horribly!!!! And can't get it right. But you get the idea.

[Jace]

I was up until 3 in the morning trying to find proper information on the two species. Wow, what a mess! What little information I did find of edulis barely spelled it right and offered little in the way of comparison or anything. There were several website of people claiming edulis by calling it a Dwarf, but their pictures were clearly adspersus. I'm rather disappointed in the lack of proper information. As I am confident all three of mine are adspersus, I may have to see if I can track down a true edulis and make my own observations. Very exciting!

Darryn: I love that picture, distorted or not. Beautiful frog!

[Jace]

Jace:

He is molting quite a bit, as far as eating...............I don't think he would stop if given the choice !
Last night a cricket had stuck to the screen on top of his enclosure, and some how he lifted his fat little body out of the water into the air and down went the cricket.................with a rather impressive belly wopper which I would give a perfect 10 ! Whether Adspersus or Edulis he is beefy !

If he is molting lots, then I wouldn't worry about him being in the water at all. Gherkin molts every two weeks or so, and for three days before and three days after, he is in the water. And leaves a stinky mess behind, I might add!

That must have been a sight to see! Both my males have stretched up to the top and managed to lift the lid of their setup...Obi doesn't have the stretch, but she can move from one end of her setup to the other in a flash, so she hold her own.

[Buck Rogers]

I hope this helps a bit, this is taken directly from First Field Guide to Frogs of Southern Africa by Vincent Carruthers. I was looking through an older book of mine called Bill Branch's Reptiles of Southern Africa and that was first published in 1991 and in there they still state that the Giant Bullfrog could have a subspecies which occurs in Natal and Mozambique. So I would think the new classification is relatively (>10 years old) new.

[Jace]

That does help, thank you. I was expecting a much more subtle difference, but it is quite obvious that they are two separate species and one is not merely a "dwarf" of another. I was completely unaware of P. edulus and the actuality that my frogs are in fact Giant Bullfrogs, so I think it's been great that I have learned something new. I literally want to learn everything about all species of African Giant Bullfrogs and this puts me a step closer in that direction. Thanks again!

[Buck Rogers]

Its only a pleasure to be of assistance. Frogs in South Africa have always been neglected but recently with the world wide threat of a extinction there has suddenly become a huge interest in them and in conservation. Even here we are learning a lot everyday.

Any information that I can get and share with you guys I will.