Blue leopard frog?

[FriedrichsFrogs]

holy **** that is awesome! the gold and black against their blue looks realy cool

[Psychotic]

What a lovely frog and lucky find! I'm always on the lookout for unusual wildlife. I have never found a fully blue frog (that wasn't naturally blue). I have found a green frog with a blue head before.

Do you have any plans to attempt breeding? I'm not sure about this gene but I would assume that it is recessive like albino.

[UncleChester]

Gorgeous frog Thanks for sharing!

[MCCPC]

Thank you all for the comments!

Ashley, yes I would like to try breeding the blue frog, after I learn more about frog husbandry. To be honest, I'm not even sure how to tell male from female, aside from the fact that only males croak/chirp! So far I haven't herd a peep out of blue frog. Our last leopard frog would sing all the time- especially when my husband played his acoustic guitar. That frog was such a character. It's kind of nice having frogs around again.

I say *frogs* plural because we have ended up keeping two others from the same location, and I admit part of the reason for that is a desire to breed the blue frog. One is a typical colored leopard frog for this area, sort of a light olive/tan with nice green spots. The other is super saturated green. I've never had more than one leopard frog at once, so I don't know if I'm reading too much into it, but they really seem to enjoy each other's company. I have the viv set up with live grass & moss which they really seem to enjoy. They are all feeding well on gut-loaded crickets.

If anyone has any advice for sexing, breeding, ect, I would welcome it

[Psychotic]

I believe the blue frog is a female. However I'm not sure on the size of the frog from the pictures. So, I don't know if she is sexually mature. But aside from croaking, males have much larger tympanic membranes (ears). They will be bigger than the eye. On a female it will be the same size or smaller than the eye. That's the easiest way to tell.

I don't know if you know much about genetics but if this gene is recessive like I think. Then breeding to a normal will produce all normal babies (unless the other parent is carrying the "Blue" gene) that are Hetrozygous for the "Blue" gene. This means if you breed siblings or back to the blue parent you will get "Blue" babies and normal babies.
If you don't want to inbreed a lot then the only way you can do it is by doing several breedings and then breeding the half siblings together. Het to het breedings will produce a lower chance of having "Blue" babies though. You then can continue out crossing and then breeding back in order to prevent weak genetics due to inbreeding.

Sorry if you already know all that. I breed snakes and find genetics fascinating.

[UncleChester]

But aside from croaking, males have much larger tympanic membranes (ears). They will be bigger than the eye. On a female it will be the same size or smaller than the eye. That's the easiest way to tell.

Hi Ashley, I've never heard this applied to Leopard frogs before. Do you have any pictures of a male Northern Leopard frog with a large tympanum to show the difference? I've looked through some of mine and the tympanums are all small (several are definite males). I think you have to go by calling (vocal sacs in the armpits may also be visible), nuptial pads on the male during breeding season, and females being larger than males (tough to tell even if you know the frog is mature). If the frog lays eggs it's pretty obvious too.

[Psychotic]

Hi Ashley, I've never heard this applied to Leopard frogs before. Do you have any pictures of a male Northern Leopard frog with a large tympanum to show the difference? I've looked through some of mine and the tympanums are all small (several are definite males). I think you have to go by calling (vocal sacs in the armpits may also be visible), nuptial pads on the male during breeding season, and females being larger than males (tough to tell even if you know the frog is mature). If the frog lays eggs it's pretty obvious too.

I don't keep leopard frogs so I don't know for sure. I've found them in the wild though. I've read it in a couple of places but most places just reference their size. I don't know how accurate this website is. Warner Nature Center - Leopard Frog