Is this a bullfrog?

[jonpwn]

I found this guy living in a well by my house where i have a vent for a u-trap for my house's sewage system. i think he's a bullfrog, can't even figure out how he got there or what he eats since the well is covered by a gigantic cast-iron plate with a much-smaller-than-his-body sized opening.
his body's about 4 inches long from head to i guess what should be his tail.

anybody know the exact name of this fella? and don't mind my silly brother with his shadow.







thanks!

[Kurt]

anybody know the exact name of this fella?

Bob, I think, but then again I haven't seen Bob since high school, so I could be wrong. Its been 28 years since I graduated.

Seriously, it's a bullfrog, Lithobates catesbeianus. The lack of dorso-lateral ridges and the fourth toe extending well beyond the webbing differentiates it from other North American Ranids such as the pig frog, Lithobates grylio.

[John]

Colouring looks odd to me but it could be a bullfrog.

[jonpwn]

so he's just a common american bullfrog? Thanks for the answers, he croaks pretty loudly so I'm not sure if I want to keep him in my house.

[Kurt]

Colouring looks odd to me but it could be a bullfrog.

There is quite a bit of variation in bullfrogs throughout their range, but not as radically as in a frog like Dendrobates tinctorius. The South Shore Science Center has a bullfrog on display that looks nothing like the bullfrogs that show up in my pool. When I first saw it, I thought they had mislabeled it. I later read about the variation in the species, but forget where I read it.
Jonpwn's bullfrog looks a lot like the one pictured on Eco-wear's "Frogs & Toads of the World" T-shirt. Of course, this is not how I IDed it. The frog does not have any dorso-lateral ridges and there are only two Ranids in eastern North America that lack them, Lithobates catesbeianus and Lithobates grylio. One way to ID one from the other is the length of the toes. In the pig frog the 4th toe barely extends beyond the webbing where in the bullfrog it goes well beyond the webbing.
Another is the call. Lithobates grylio is called the pig frog for a reason. It sounds just like a pig. The bullfrog sounds like a bass chello.

[jonpwn]

if it helps, i live in new york.
i don't want to take him out of the well again to examine/photograph him and keep on bothering him. i highly highly doubt i'm going to keep him inside the house, loud croaks and huge size with a massive appetite are more than enough reasons not to raise him.

[Kurt]

Then it is definitely a bullfrog, as the pig frog is from down south.