fostered gtf over the winter...when to release them?

[Charlieamanda]

I took in 24 gray tree froglets last fall & I'm trying to figure out when's the best time to let them go? My above ground pool is now a frog pond & I've fostered hundreds..thousands of tadpoles that hadn't morphed b4 the pool froze solid, as well as, several hundreds frogs & toads that morphed too late in the season to survive, which was the case with the 24 gray tree froglets I took in & still have.
I live a top a mountain in Pa in a town that's bordered by NY & NJ & as of 5/11/13 the tree leaves haven't fully come out. The days are fairly comfy between 60's- low 70' s, but our nights are still cold ranging between upper 20's-upper 40's. I know Grays tree frogs are hardy lil fellas, but I'm afraid releasing them too soon, w the nightime temps mostly in the 30's & 40's, may throw them into a false hibernation or just screw them up, since I didn't hibernate them. I kept them between 68-72'F and fed them regularly. About half of them are at or close to full size, the rest range from slightly below an inch to somewhere between 1-2".... sadly about 1/2 are missing legs, I'm not sure wether that was due to morphing so late in the season, the nasty bitting creatures in the pool, lots of the tads were missing some or most of their tails from them, or just pollution, which is odd for this area.
Any advice or suggestion would be welcome & appreciated. Thanx

[UncleChester]

Hi there! I had a couple of Grays turn up indoors in February, one adult and one nearly an adult. I used the activity of my local wild population as my cue to release them. When I could hear the wild ones chorusing on a nightly bases, I set them free.

They are built to survive freeze/thaw cycles in the spring, and from what I've been reading they don't seem to need to ease into a cold period. However, as long as you're willing to keep feeding them, if you want to hold on to them until it's a little warmer at night it shouldn't hurt them.

It's too bad about the missing legs, those little ones will probably have less of a chance on their own. You've given them a much better chance than they would otherwise have had though.

[Tubby0512]

I have a grey Tree Frog as a pet. His name is tubby. I rescued his sisters and brothers and some of his froggy friends from my pool. I do it every year. When they turned to frogs I released them back into the wild. if you had them over winter I would wait until you can hear the Grey Tree Frogs calling outside. Than release them. I would release the one s that have all of their legs. The ones missing legs will not survive. they will be eaten or die on their own. so I sugest you keep those ones. you can give them a fighting change to survive.

[Mentat]

Agree with above comments to release when wild populations are active . The crazy weather probably had to do with late batch and malformed frogs. Mother nature can be harsh and merciless; if you can't keep the handicapped ones could try to find adoptive homes, or just release them and let nature decide.

[Charlieamanda]

Thanx for the replies..I'm gonna wait a bit & released the largest & healiest, ones w all their limbs, first & hope the weather and mother nature will be kind to the smaller ones and limbless when I release them during optimum conditions. I'm hopeful the limbless will have a fighting chance they adapt fairly easy, are developed & have been well fed so they have an advantage : ) Unfortunatly I can't sell, trade or barter the limbless grays, I have actually contacted the fish/game & boat assoc. about it in past yrs, they did mention that if somebody wanted to come get one or two it wouldn't be a problem :-)