During Hurricane Irene we were clearing the furniture from the yard, when i closed a chair a tiny frog popped out from under the handle.
Very excited, I picked him up to admire him and noticed his little toes on his back legs were bleeding, he started fading and was stressed.
Did not look like he would not make it, I read that most injured frogs in nature don't.
Feeling devastated as I have owned and raised frogs majority of my life because I absolutely love them, I could not leave him there to die and he probably would have, he could barely jump..
Its a norther spring peeper.

I placed him at the bottom of a plant, outside while I created a habitat for him in a tank, said to myself if he's still there when its ready I was meant to fix him.
The "habitat" is quite like a forest floor, moist, substrate, moss, etc...with plants/branches for climbing & a shallow water hole.
He was still there and as I went to walk in my back door (Second floor deck and it was dark out) I noticed something on the bottom of my door.
It was, another frog. Same type. Its not uncommon to see frogs here in NY but have never seen two in a day/ month/ year! let alone one on my deck in the 10 years I've lived here.
So I picked him up. Perhaps he was the comfort the other froggie needed. I took it as another sign. The uninjured frog was healthy & started eating/feasting immediately.
The injured frog was not eating but started looking less stressed so i left him alone for the night.

By the next day his poor little leg had become giant/ swollen and red but he seemed less stressed
Over the next few days I cleaned it and nursed it with a wash of water( placed some room temperature water in the bottom of a cup and had him on the side of the cup gently turning the cup to let the water wash off the substrate. )Then i used a moist q-tip (so the fuzzies don't come off), with a small amount of bacitracin (if you try this make sure it does NOT have a pain killer in it, it will kill it) and very gently applied a tiny bit onto the area. (his leg is so small only a tiny bit is needed, also so it doesn't weigh it down making it harder for him to move.) and then let him go hide in his habitat... a couple days later, both the red was swelling was gone. He is eating and being froggie I could not be more happy. (I am so glad i decided to do this this, and hope this info helps someone!)

My question is this.... My goal was to try to nurture him back to health, heal the wound and make sure he can jump and catch food on his own.
Which I've done. I fully planned to let them both go as soon as he healed and could eat well on his own.
He looks and seems all better but it's already getting cold here around 60's - 70 during the day and nights 50.
I know the spring peepers are able to freeze and hibernate but I really hate to let them go when already cold out there and not give them much time to find a place to hibernate.

They seem pretty happy so far but my understanding is that this type of frog does not typically do well in captivity.
I would like to set them free, and was about to but just read that you should not let captive frogs go if you've had them for a while.
I've had them since August 27th. Is that a while? Between the Weather and duration in captivity, do you think they would survive if set free or do you think its better to keep them at this point?
I really did not plan to keep them, my frogs were always purchased/ saved from pet stores, not found outside. Knowing we have alot of snakes and birds here is not helping me in deciding what is best for them. Any advice on what the best thing to do here would be? Please..and Thank you for reading

Hugs,
Lisa