Black feet & arms at 4 months?

[emberlisa]

One of my seven frogs (all siblings) has developed a blackness on his front claws and arms. I'm thinking it means that he is male, but I didn't think the blackness developed until sexual maturity is reached. My little guys are only 4 months old. What do you think? Is this normal or should I separate him from the others?

[mpmistr]

Just an early bloomer. One of my frogs cant be over 4 months old (I got him at 3 months ago and he was TINY) and his hands are darkening as well.

If he's acting normal and healthy I would just let him be.

[emberlisa]

Just an early bloomer. One of my frogs cant be over 4 months old (I got him at 3 months ago and he was TINY) and his hands are darkening as well.

If he's acting normal and healthy I would just let him be.

Oh ok, maybe some frogs just develop early, that makes sense. Do you think that my frog and your frog are at sexual maturity then? I have my male in a tank with 2 others (I believe they're female) and I wonder if he will try to start mating with them or if he'll instinctively know that they are not mature females and leave them alone until they are.

[mpmistr]

I've not seen my frog put the moves on any other frogs in my tank, his hands have darkened but not as much as yours has (but mine may be a month younger).. but I don't know I only have three and I don't know what sex the other two are.

I doubt anything will happen. If he starts getting his groove on with the other frogs I'm no sure if only one horny frog would really cause much stress lol.

[Jenste]

He might be maturing early but that does not usually mean your females are also. Breeding young can negatively impact the females health and overbreeding, especially when young, can even kill a female. Best wait until she is over 18 months of age before you attempt breeding the lady's and no more than one breeding per 3 months and no more than 3-4 breedings a year.

For the girls health, you may want to look into having 2 tanks - a bachelor pad and a bachelorette pad. Considering they are siblings, no breedings should be done.

[mpmistr]

Is it really bad to mix females/males though? I only have three ACF and I'm setting up a 40gallon breeder for them and I wouldn't want to separate them.

[emberlisa]

He might be maturing early but that does not usually mean your females are also. Breeding young can negatively impact the females health and overbreeding, especially when young, can even kill a female. Best wait until she is over 18 months of age before you attempt breeding the lady's and no more than one breeding per 3 months and no more than 3-4 breedings a year.

For the girls health, you may want to look into having 2 tanks - a bachelor pad and a bachelorette pad. Considering they are siblings, no breedings should be done.

Hi. I suspected that I may have to separate the mature male from the others. I’m really uncertain about anyone’s sex except for his. I’d been thinking all along that I had 1 male and 2 females because I thought 2 were developing a tail, and their bodies were more plum shaped and they were larger than the 1 I thought/now know is male. Now I think at least 1 other has light grayish black on one palm so who knows. My green anole just died last week. He lived in a 10 galloon so I can move the male frog in there and I’ll put other males in with him when they catch up. Thanks for answering my question and spreading the knowledge!!

I definitely agree that siblings should not be bred, although some people on this site have said it wouldn’t affect their genetics too much. I think it would. Why spend time and money raising tadpoles to sell if there’s a chance they won’t make it through metamorphosis or they will be deformed? I actually think these siblings may have been inbred already. 3 frogs are normal looking, and the 4 others seem healthy except they’re small and have what appear to be deformed back claws. I keep the water levels low because they spend all their time on the bottom.

[emberlisa]

I've not seen my frog put the moves on any other frogs in my tank, his hands have darkened but not as much as yours has (but mine may be a month younger).. but I don't know I only have three and I don't know what sex the other two are.

I doubt anything will happen. If he starts getting his groove on with the other frogs I'm no sure if only one horny frog would really cause much stress lol.

Did you name your frogs yet? Its hard if ya don't know the sex. I gave mine unisex planet names lol.

Nothing seems to be going on yet. But I've def heard that males can be very aggressive towards females when they reach maturity. From what I understand, the males squeeze females until eggs shoot out, so there's a chance that a male might squeeze an immature female to death if eggs don't come out. I'm going to put him in his own tank for now.

[mpmistr]

Did you name your frogs yet? Its hard if ya don't know the sex. I gave mine unisex planet names lol.

Nothing seems to be going on yet. But I've def heard that males can be very aggressive towards females when they reach maturity. From what I understand, the males squeeze females until eggs shoot out, so there's a chance that a male might squeeze an immature female to death if eggs don't come out. I'm going to put him in his own tank for now.

Mine all have pretty unisex names.. I've never seen any aggression or attempts of sexy time with my frogs. Worst thing to ever happen was one once bit the back foot of another during a feeding frenzy lol.