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Thread: Pixie Frog Sexing.. Did I get lied to?

  1. #1

    Default Pixie Frog Sexing.. Did I get lied to?

    Hello all,

    I recently fell in love with Pixie Frogs and decided after years going rep/phib free I was going to dive back into the hobby and try to hunt down a giant pixie. After doing my research I concluded like most, that I wanted to find a male pixie and I was willing to pay a premium to make sure I got that male. I spent a lot of time and a lot of money building a proper enclosure with everything my new friend would need. After such an investment I decided I would try local business's that i thought I could trust more than a online retailer..

    Which leads to me the story... I did some google-fu to find the most reputable reptile sellers in about a hundred mile radius.. After reading a lot of positive reviews I decided to visit a local store that does some work for local institutions on the side. Upon entering the owner asked if I was looking for something in particular and of course i replied "I am looking for a male giant pixie frog!" to my luck he had one pixie in stock and it was a 6-9 month old male! He explained they thought it was a female at first (which is why the sign said "female pixie") But now he was certain it was a male! Long story short... I asked him 3 times if he was sure it was a male and even asked him to give me a percentage and he said he was 99.9% sure it was a male... I had my doubts but figured the store had a good reputation and this guy knows more than I do after a month or so of research... In the end I purchased the frog for $125 which seemed like a decent deal to me.

    After having her/him for a week I am pretty certain HE is a SHE which is why I named her Large Marge his/her SVL is about 5 inches..... Can you guys give some input on the sex? I am quite angry at this store owner mainly because now I have become quite attached to Marge and when I got her she was almost sickly pale green and after a week she is bright and colorful. The conditioners they had her in was just a little critter keeper full of water with no place for her to burrow or even dry out... He also said he primary fed her frozen rodents (Which is why I maybe thought she was a fat male) so I do not even want to try and return her to those conditions..... If he truly is a she I will probably just leave some bad reviews of the store... I seen the guy at a reptile show this weekend and told him I was unsure about the sex still and he kind of dismissively said "dude it's a male for sure" but I still have reservations..

    If it is a female I know its not good to keep 2 in a enclosure but does it not work at all? I would like to get a male in addition..

    Sorry, for the long story but any input on the pictures would be appreciated!
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  3. #2

    Default Re: Pixie Frog Sexing.. Did I get lied to?

    No one wants to take a stab at the gender of this little guy/gal?

  4. #3
    100+ Post Member daybr4ke's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pixie Frog Sexing.. Did I get lied to?

    Hi! Unfortunately your thread got a little buried so I didn't see it when it was posted. If it is 6-9 months old it should be croaking if it is a male. I have a male 4-5 month who is around 5 inches SVL and croaks almost every night around 10-12 PM. If you keep this frog in your room you should be able to hear him if he is male. I might suspect yours is a female. I do have some questions about the frog that could help narrow this down a bit:
    1. How long have you had the frog since the purchase? If it has been a while, there should have been some growth. If the frog is closer to the 9 month end of the estimate, it should be bigger if it is a male. If you had the frog for a few months, this puts it closer to 9 months to a year, which SHOULD put it near full size.
    2. Where do you keep the frog? I purchased mine from its previous owner via Craigslist, who kept it in his garage with his reptiles and other pets, so he never heard it croak, and freely admitted he didn't know the gender. Keeping it somewhere close, even for a period of 2 months or so should illuminate the gender pretty well.

    I'm sorry I can't just say, "That's a (fe)male.", but it's not the easiest thing to discern. There are some other indicators, color/pattern related that I could check and add later, but they aren't a very certain way to tell. I wasn't sure about the gender of my frog until it let out a low rumbling croak that sounded like a muffled monotone belch.
    I would recommend you hold off on any reviews until you're sure, but if it turns out to be a female, I would definitely be annoyed in your position. A baby pixie can go for 35-50$ usually. You paid premium for a frog after being told it was male, but if it is female and the gender wasn't really so certain you could have bought a baby and gotten the same results(you also would get to see the little guy or gal grow up, which I think is really fun.).
    As for your other question, Pixies can be very bad tankmates. I have heard some people keep breeding pairs together, but it is generally recommended that they be kept separate tanks when not being bred.

    I hope all this helps, please post again if you have any more questions.
    1 Male Giant African Bullfrog
    2 Woodhouse's Toads
    11 Pacific Treefrogs
    1 Dubia Roach Colony
    2 Australian Green Treefrogs

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  6. #4

    Default Re: Pixie Frog Sexing.. Did I get lied to?

    Thanks Bryce!

    1. I have had him/her for about 2 weeks now and have not heard a croak. I even tried playing a recording of a GABF calling to see if it would make him/her croak.

    2. The enclosure is in my office as I am in there a lot and really wanted to enjoy viewing the frog.. So we are together a majority of the day....

    I am a bit annoyed but not because of the money factor.. I would have just bought 3 or 4 baby frogs... but I know that I get attached to things and I already had to fight with my fiance in order to keep one frog... So it is more frustrating that I now have this potentially female frog that I want to keep (He/she has a lot of character and is really sweet)... but I also want to get a male.... Which is exactly the situation I wanted to avoid in the first place..

  7. #5

    Default Re: Pixie Frog Sexing.. Did I get lied to?

    I agree you should wait to leave a review until you know for sure the sex was misrepresented, but I think the condition he/she was in alone should warrant a negative review. I'm glad you now have the frog and hope you're able to convince the fiance of getting more... I've found that first suggesting something that is a for sure no (like snakes for my SO), then "compromising" with another frog has worked in the past. I have had luck as well with using toys/ice cream as a distraction [emoji14]

    Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

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  9. #6
    100+ Post Member daybr4ke's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pixie Frog Sexing.. Did I get lied to?

    I think it took at least a few weeks before my frog started croaking. He doesn't do it every night, either, maybe 4-5/7 days a week?
    After a few months go by if you don't hear any croaking and you don't notice much more growth, I feel it would be safe to assume it is female. My own frog usually only croaks at night, but I don't know about the habits of other frogs. I'm currently assuming it has something to do with a change in barometric pressure or something.
    Playing a call for your ABF was a great idea, I tried it with my toads once. I'll try with my ABF when I get home to see if I can get him to reciprocate.
    Edit: I agree on the conditions they were keeping the frog in being substandard, I kinda forgot about that. Especially at that size, a Kritter keeper is really cramped.
    I feel I should also mention that I think they won't start croaking until they feel very secure in their environment, which can take some time.
    I hope you can convince your fiance to let you have a few more frogs!
    1 Male Giant African Bullfrog
    2 Woodhouse's Toads
    11 Pacific Treefrogs
    1 Dubia Roach Colony
    2 Australian Green Treefrogs

  10. #7

    Default Re: Pixie Frog Sexing.. Did I get lied to?

    Well, at least your uncertainty gives me hope. I thought for sure everyone was gonna be like 100% female! I am hoping she turns out to be a he in end...

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  12. #8
    100+ Post Member daybr4ke's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pixie Frog Sexing.. Did I get lied to?

    You can never be 100% sure at first. Unfortunately it's very difficult to tell the gender just from looking at the frog, but time will tell. I really hope it's a male, too!
    1 Male Giant African Bullfrog
    2 Woodhouse's Toads
    11 Pacific Treefrogs
    1 Dubia Roach Colony
    2 Australian Green Treefrogs

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