Adopted a new friend.. Male or female?

[ian1001]

Hey guys! I just started getting back into frog keeping and posted a little while ago my baby pixie frog I bought. Sadly this frog was already very ill and passed away luckily however I just adopted this guy from a friend! He's about 2 years old and is absurdly massive haha my question is he a male or female? I was thinking female but just interested in input thanks!

[Bruce]

Well it's definitely a dwarf pixie, and I'm gunna say male if he got that large.

[ian1001]

Id doubt he's dwarf man my friend who gave him to me accidentally bought a dwarf before this and made sure to get a giant

[ian1001]

[ejh805]

The first two pics look like a dwarf but the 3rd is hard to tell.
Based on the 1st 2 I'd say female (if it is a giant). A male giant would be much larger at 2 years and have a very wide head.

Edit:
The pic you just posted, 100% dwarf.

[b24082]

and a bit obese...Looks like a steady diet of mice. What was your friend feeding?

[Herpguy]

This is NOT a dwarf. It is an edulis (They are very separate species). This is an adult male, and a pretty impressive one at that. This is a rather rare frog, where did your friend get it?

[ejh805]

This is NOT a dwarf. It is an edulis (They are very separate species). This is an adult male, and a pretty impressive one at that. This is a rather rare frog, where did your friend get it?

Herpguy,

Maybe I'm confused, but isnt a P. edulis a dwarf? and P. adspersus is a true giant.

http://www.frogforum.net/african-bul...-p-edulis.html

[Herpguy]

ejh805, unfortunately almost everybody in the pet trade refers to Pyxicephalus sp. "dwarf" as a P. edulis, when in fact they are very different. The dwarfs are much smaller than the edulis, and have much more patterning. Almost every small Pyxicephalus adult you see is a "dwarf," and not an edulis. This is an example of a true Pyxicephalus edulis. This species can grow to just over 5" for males, and have reduced patterning, but not as absent as in adspersus.

[ejh805]

Okay.
I think I follow.

So if a P. edulis isn't a dwarf, what would the scientific name for a dwarf be? As there are only (I think?) 3 recognized Pyxicephalus species , only 2 of which are common in the pet trade (adspersus and edulis). I believe the 3rd is obbianus and is very very uncommon.

[Herpguy]

Unfortunately the taxonomy is so screwed up that there really isn't a proper latin name for it yet. I wouldn't doubt that there are a lot more than 3 out there, but there hasn't been enough research done. Currently recognized is the "dwarf", "Mozambique", adspersus, "tanzanian", and (sometimes recognized) the obbianus.

[ejh805]

I see what you're saying, and agree with the mixed up taxonomy.

However, anything that isn't a true giant (P. adspersus) is, in common layman's terms, known as a "dwarf". There are many physical differences and it's quite apparent that dwarves are not simply small versions of the giants.

I think it would be interesting to get DNA samples of peoples dwarf pixies and compare differences. Looking at everyone's dwarves on here, there are a wide range of appearances and it would also be interesting to know what part of Africa they originated from.

[Herpguy]

It's also worth saying that those "types" are recognized by the hobby, not by science.

Exactly, they're referred to simply as "dwarf," but there's much more to it than that.

It would be very interesting to see an extensive study done on finally categorizing these frogs, but I doubt that will happen any time soon. Africa does not do nearly as good a job in the taxonomy section as say South America.

[ian1001]

That's really interesting he's a different species. My friend said he got it at a reptile convention as a baby to a guy who didn't know much about frogs. At least It's confirmed not a dwarf because he is way too big lol. How rare are they in the pet trade? I did notice that his color is more dull and a darker green than alot of other pyxies I've seen. He also has a very yellow belly with a slight greenish Tourqois tint when the color goes from green to his under belly.

[ejh805]

It's also worth saying that those "types" are recognized by the hobby, not by science.

Exactly, they're referred to simply as "dwarf," but there's much more to it than that.

Maybe some of the more experienced people on the forum could document the differences in peoples dwarves.

Ian,

In laymans terms, your guy would be considered a dwarf by most simply because it isn't a true giant. My P. adspersus is barely 3.5 months old and probably about the size of yours.
That's not saying that it isn't one of the rarer types.
He is a big fella though! Take lots of pictures for us

[Herpguy]

I don't know exactly how rare they are, but they are hardly seen for sale, probably mostly because people confuse them with the dwarf species. They are definitely a nice looking species.

[ian1001]

and a bit obese...Looks like a steady diet of mice. What was your friend feeding?

Basically the guy had the frog at his house and his girlfriend didn't want it there anymore so he brought him to the pet shop to live where he worked. Basically the frog lived next to the mice/rat feeder cages and the guy would just drop mice in whenever so pretty much. What should I feed him? He seems too large for crickets and I can't get roaches. Also I forgot to mention that he said the frog was imported as a baby from Japan.. No idea how that could happen lol

[b24082]

Earthworms are a great staple. You can use the non scented ones from walmart. Horned worms, crickets, mice (as a rare treat) dubias are all great choices. He needs to go on a frog diet.

[b24082]

I really like it btw. Looks really cool.

[GrifTheGreat]

Judging by the marbled cross stripe pattern I'd say Herpguy is exactly right and there are probably 4 types rather than 3. Mike of Mike's Phat Frogs has one of the rare versions of Adspersus and it's female. It may even be another subspecies. Looks kind of like a cross between Adspersus and a large toad.

Out of all the photos I've seen on here or P. edulis I've never seen one with a color pattern like this one. So I don't believe it to just be a P. edulis with a unique pattern. It's impressive.