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Thread: HELP with American Bullfrog, please?

  1. #1
    danywill
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    Default HELP with American Bullfrog, please?

    Hello all, I'm new here.
    Well, I work at Petsmart and have often heard about tadpoles being shipped in with the feeder fish by mistake (supposedly this is because the feeder goldfish are bred in large outdoor ponds and frogs like to lay eggs in there.) In over a year working there I had never noticed any wayward tadpoles, however yesterday I spotted one. It was in the comet tank and was struggling because there was no way for it to climb out of the water. It already has all four limbs and apparently no longer has gills. I couldn't leave the poor thing in there to eventually drown or get fed to something. So, being an idiot, I took it home with me.
    It is an American Bullfrog tadpole/almost frog and is currently about three inches long (including it's tail.) I had a spare 10gallon aquarium at home so right now I have it set up in there with 50/50 water and land. I know, of course, this is too small for an adult bullfrog. I have an empty 55 gallon as well (I do wildlife rescue and have had a lot of different pets, thus I have a small fortune in various empty enclosures) but I didn't want to spend the money/effort to set it up yet.
    From what I've read on here even my 55gal won't be sufficient for an adult bullfrog! Wow, I'd really rather not buy and maintain a 100gal bullfrog enclosure! So I have a few questions:
    1. It's been oft stated on this forum that bullfrogs do better in the wild... I'm thinking about keeping this little guy until it matures and gets pretty big then perhaps releasing him at the lake in a local nature preserve. I live in Indiana and bullfrogs are a native species. Do you guys think this is an acceptable plan?
    2. As I said it has all four legs and is breathing oxygen but it still has a very long tail, I'm not sure what to feed it at this stage. It seems completely uninterested in pinhead crickets, I also tried some tadpole pellets and it didn't go for them right away. I'm not sure if it ate any eventually or if they just dissolved. Any ideas?
    3. How deep should I keep the water for it at this size?

    Thanks to anyone who took the time to read that novel, haha. Any help would be greatly appreciated! I just want to help this little frog have a decent chance at life, though I guess anything would be better than ending up cichlid food.

    here's a link to a quick picture of it I uploaded to give everyone a better idea of what life stage it's in http://i43.tinypic.com/34ryno9.png

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  3. #2
    Namio
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    Default Re: HELP with American Bullfrog, please?

    The tadpole does not look bullfrog to me, but I can be wrong. Bullfrog tadpoles should have many dots throughout their tails and yours don't. The striping on the hind limbs and the shape of the head do not remind me of an American bullfrog. Interesting...

  4. #3
    danywill
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    Default Re: HELP with American Bullfrog, please?

    Really? Uh oh. A coworker of mine rescues tadpoles from the feeder tanks whenever she sees them and they have always grown up to be bullfrogs and she later releases them in a pond. I don't have experience with tadpoles so I just took it for granted it was a bullfrog since that's all we've ever had.
    Because of what you said I asked the aforementioned coworker if the picture of mine looked like the ones she raised (she wasn't at work the day I took it home) and she said hers didn't look like this one. I've been looking at various tadpole species online to compare but I'm totally stumped!
    This complicates things, now I'm not even sure how to take care of it if I don't know the species!
    Can anyone help identify it,

  5. #4
    Moderator Mentat's Avatar
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    Default Re: HELP with American Bullfrog, please?

    Hello Dany and welcome to FF! Right now would just let frog be in the 10 gal. with 50-50 set-up. I would not feed it until tail is almost or totally gone. Do 50-100% water changes with dechlorinated water daily depending on volume unless the is a filter with cycled media in the water section. I'm guessing a water depth around frog height or slightly more will allow frog to swim in it fine.

    Even if American Bullfrog, you might be able to keep in 55G for a while. If other smaller species; then you can re-evaluate once ID is made. Good luck !
    Remember to take care of the enclosure and it will take care of your frog !​

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    Super Moderator Heatheranne's Avatar
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    Default HELP with American Bullfrog, please?

    Hello and welcome .

    He should do fine in the 10 gallon for now. 50/50 is fine. Use Coconut fiber (not husk) for the land area to be safe.

    He will very likely not eat until his tail is absorbed. How big would you guess his mouth is? Estimate the measured distance between his eyes. He will be able to eat insects of the same size as the distance between his eyes, or less. Pinhead crickets will likely work. I can't tell from the photo how big that area is.

    I am going to guess and say he looks like a green frog or Rana clamitans. They are similar to an American bullfrog but smaller. Clamitans have a ridged line down their sides, bullfrogs do not. From what I can tell, it looks as if he's getting his lateral ridge.

    Here is a photo of one I moved recently to a safer area.


    Here is some info about them.
    http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rana_clamitans

    Be sure to keep a weighted screened lid on the enclosure. Once they can hop, they can hop far and can be tough little stinkers .

    Once he grows larger and develops more features you will be able to identify him for sure. This is my educated guess .
    https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10203589094112277&id=1363241107&set =a.1434844115446.2055312.1363241107&source=11&ref= bookmark

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