African Bullfrog in my garden?

[kenderdine]

Hi from South Africa - I see from this forum that most of you ask questions about your pet frogs, but I would like to know about the possibility of a wild African Bullfrog in my garden. Is there anyone out there from South Africa who has Bullfrogs on their garden?

I only hear the noise at night, and the sound is quite like the call on the soundbyte on this website, but it is a much louder, and rasping sort of noise - it sounds like a huge creature!

It is Summer here now, and I presume the breeding season. We have had a lot of rain, and the noise comes from a damp area near a downpipe. There is a large rock and I think he is under there, I have searched the site but cannot find him. Our garden is about 1 km. from the nearest river - could it be a Bullfrog, or do they only live in real wetland areas? Our garden is normally fairly dry. Do they ever move about during the daytime? I so badly want to positively identify the noise.

[John]

Where in South Africa are you? These frogs are generally not found in people's gardens. They are generally found where water accumulates in shallow pools at or near a larger water body like a lake. The sound they make is not very loud, it's just very deep. And it shouldn't sound rasping at all. I think it more likely there's some other kind of frog in your garden. It's rare for them to breed this late in the season unless you haven't had rain in October/November. If you could make a recording of the noise we would be able to tell if it definitely is a bullfrog or not.

[kenderdine]

Thank you for your thoughts. I live about 16 km. from the centre of Johannesburg, in a suburb called Rivonia, Sandton. There are a few known, small wetland areas around Johannesburg that support Bullfrogs, but most of these are being threatened by the inevitable development that is going on.

Are there any other sound recordings of different frog species on Frog Forum? If there are, I would be grateful for a link to them. The mystery continues, but I am enjoying my nameless frog - he was calling as I typed my first post last night.!

[John]

Recordings of South African frogs are hard to come by outside of South Africa, I'm afraid. However there are several books with accompanying CDs that should be available to you in SA. Vincent Carruthers recently published a book called "South Africa, Frogs and Frogging", which has a CD of the calls of 20 species - a good place to start.

[Buck Rogers]

Hi and sorry for only replying 3 months later. Where abouts are you situated in Rivonia? I highly doubt it is a bullfrog, there have been very few Bullfrog sightings in Rivonia as it has become too industrial and there is no longer the ideal wet lands to support them. You say it is near a down pipe so I can put my money comfortably on it being either a red toad (Schismaderma carens), olive toad (Bufo garmani ) or guttereal toad (Bufo gutturalis) all species are extremly common in our suburban gardens.

Does the sound have a bit of a croak to it? Sorry hard to explain but a bullfrogs call is a deep bellow and you would usually not really notice it as a frog and more of a sick cow than a frog.

[kenderdine]

Hi, and thank you so much for your reply - I think that you have solved my query!

Since my first post, I have decided that the call I hear is definitely not that of a Bullfrog. I have just 'googled' the 3 Toad varities you mentioned, and found a sound clip for the Guttural Toad, and that is EXACTLY what this one in my garden sounds like - it is a loud, hollow, rattling, popping sound.

A website I found in Cape Town, calls it an 'aggressive invader' and one to get rid of?? I am quite distressed to have one living here! I have lived in Rietfontein Road, Rivonia since 1966 - have always had what I call 'ordinary little, green/brown garden frogs hopping about and calling on Summer evenings, HOWEVER, this Summer there have been no frogs at all. I put it down to the many Hadedas that feed here, and thought they had eaten all the froglets, but could it be that this wretched Toad has eliminated them??

Thanks again for you input.