Resue Frog, Lost on What to Do

[garfieldnfish]

I need help.

My daughter found a tiny tadpole in her friend's swimming pool and brought it home. I placed it in a 2.5 gal tank and against all odds it made it. It has also totally morphed into a frog within less then a month. It still has 3 mm of tail left but at the rate is it disappearing it should be gone by Sunday. I am still not sure what frog it is but I am positive we can rule out bull frog due to it's small size. He is only 3/4 of an inch at this time. I am at a loss as to what to feed him now. So far as a tadpole I fed him fish food, tadpole and turtle food as well as frozen bloodworms and algae wafers. Now that he has morphed, he will not go back into the water unless pushed and I am afraid he might starve. What can I feed him? Or should I release him back into the area where my friends pool is? I have daphnia, microworms, vinegar eels and grindal worms as live foods and since I live in Atlanta I could easily cultivate mosquito larve, but if he does no longer go into the water none of those will work. Any advice would be welcome. Also if I posted a picture of him on this site could anyone identify the frog? Right now he is 3/4" almost morphed and totally brownish/green no special markings.
Any advise would be welcome. We really like the little guy and even so we know it would be best to release him the thought of a bird getting him makes this hard to do. I have several larger tanks I could convert to a frog tank like a 10 gal hex but unless I can figure out what and how to feed him I am more afraid of starving him than what the birds could do to him.

[Charlotte Benedict]

First, find out exactly what type of frog he is. After that, you can do research on that type of frog and if it will do well in captivity or if you have what it needs to thrive. If you could post a couple pics, that would be helpful. Also, all frogs are insectivores, but newly morphed frogs have to eat small, slow moving frogs. I recommend getting a flightless fruit fly culture for when he is going through the transition, and if you decide to keep him long term you should get a cricket keeper and invest in crickets for your froggie. Hope that helps! Keep me posted and send some pics!

[Heatheranne]

I agree. Search the Internet for frogs in your state. Which state are you in? I can try and help. We'll need to know what species he is for proper housing, humidity, and temperature. Does he have little circular pads for toes? Does he have lumps behind each eye area that extend back a little?

If you plan to keep him, I would start setting up a ten gallon tank for him. Coco fiber (not husk) is a universal floor substrate for most frogs and toads. He'll need a water bowl with shallow water, a mist bottle, and plants with smooth edges. Change his water bowl water daily. You can use fake plants or real but need to use safe plants, and all fertilizers need to be completely rinsed off. Do not use soil with the styrofoam balls in it. Let me know if you plan to keep him and I'll provide more guidance.

Flightless fruit flies and springtails can be used for smaller frogs. You'll need calcium with vitamin D3 amphibian powder supplement and multivitamin amphibian powder also. They can be found in the reptile section of your pet store. Place bugs in a ziplock bag with a small pinch of calcium powder and give it a gentle shake, then feed. Calcium should be given every other feeding and multivitamin only one day a week, but not on the same day as the calcium.