Injured Eyed Wild Caught

[iheartfrogs]

I guess if you're intent on replacing the perfectly good coco-fiber with stones/gravel, just make sure the pieces are bigger than his head and not sharp at all... we don't want any injuries. But I'm sure you already knew that.

It is not "perfectly good" if it is undesirable to me that he is eating it.

I don't believe everything I find on Google. However, if I read one post that says something is fine, and another that says something harmful, as a mother I would be inclined to stay on the safe side.

PacMan Dies from coconut fiber substrate [Archive] - Arachnoboards

He also scratches his bad eye when there is coco fiber or duck week in the water, and some of those fibers are longer than his little body.

[UncleChester]

Mentat: Green frogs don't usually eat during mating season, which lasts for months.

This is incorrect. Just speaking from the hundreds of hours I've spent at a pond with numerous Green Frogs throughout all seasons. They'll eat at any time of year that they're active. During breeding season males spend considerable time and energy calling and defending their breeding sites and less time concentrating on eating. However, they'll still eat anything that comes near and will fit down their gob when the opportunity presents itself.

Also note that the 'common frog' you linked to is a Rana temporaria, a different species from Europe. I think they may be an explosive breeder with shorter breeding season, so it wouldn't be impossible for them to go a few weeks without food while at a breeding site (I'm not so familiar with them).

I don't understand why he's eating dirt and moss and not bugs, but I imagine that if his natural life cycle goes like this: tadpole eats algae, young frog aquatic hunting, grown frog land hunting, then maybe he's young and eating dirt out of his pool because that's all he ever did before that car accident and I interrupted his natural development.

When they reach the land stage, they tend to hang around the margins of ponds. They'll eat stuff in the water or on land, whatever happens by and is moving. My money would be on juveniles having more of a land based diet than adults during the summer months as I find juveniles away from the ponds far more often than the adults. If yours is going after coco-fiber in the water it's likely because he thought it was something alive floating by and was likely desperate. I've never seen a wild one go after a floating inanimate object- it usually takes a faster moving insect (or other frog) for them to attack.


If the coco-fiber substrate is causing you problems, you could consider covering it with leaf litter to help contain it.

Thanks LCB, are Bull Frogs and Green Frogs the same thing..?

Nope, they're different species.


Have you decided to keep this frog for the rest of it's natural life? IMO, it's not too late to release it. The eye looks much better. It's chances are definitely lower having only one functioning eye, but it's not certain death. I've seen several adult one eyed frogs.

[iheartfrogs]

@ Brian:

Yeah... If they didn't eat here during mating season, they wouldn't eat at all.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read the thread and post your experience c:

The mad scientist in me would keep him forever just to observe his growth. Although I originally did plan to release him, the season has turned to fall. It's really chilly here and I'd feel bad. Re-creating his habitat has been a lot of fun. I met a PetSmart employee that ran an animal rescue for 12 years, she specializes in exotic pets. She even raised and kept a few local bull-frogs. I feel a little selfish for keeping him, but I don't feel unprepared.

I guess anyone reading this can relate. It's a lot of fun to make a little home for something beautiful and keep it.