Blue leopard frog?

[MCCPC]

Hi all! I just joined this forum. I love reptiles & amphibians- I have 4 red sided garter snakes, two wandering garter snakes, a Florida bluestripe garter snake, a painted turtle... and now possibly a frog!

I went to the park today to (temporarily) collect a frog or two for a little pond-life presentation I'm doing for my daughter's 3rd grade class on Thursday. I frequently go to this particular park to catch & release frogs & snakes with my daughter. We have allot of fun catching critters, having a look at them, and then letting them go.

I especially love seeing all the color variations in the leopard frogs we find from normal, to super pale, to bright bright green. My favorite coloration is super pale with iridescent green spots Today I had a bit of a shock when I found an iridescent blue leopard frog. When I first spotted it, I thought it was a candy wrapper! I have it in a 5 gal temporary holding tank at the moment and I keep peeking at it expecting that it won't be blue anymore I just really can't believe my eyes!

In all the years I have spent outdoors catching, watching, and photographing wonderful amphibians & reptiles, I have never seen a leopard frog this color! I did a google search and it only came back with one hit & really not allot of information. I am wondering if anyone can tell me more about this coloration? Is it fairly common? Genetic? He looks like the super pale variety I sometimes find at the park, but his back is pale iridescent blue instead of cream colored. I'm waiting for my camera battery to charge and then I will try to get some good photos of him.

I'm seriously thinking about keeping him... I have had leopard frogs before, I have the proper set up and I know how to care for them. I'm usually strictly catch & release when we go "frogging" but this guy just seems like a once in a "blue moon" find, lol. It's perfectly fine from a legal standpoint in my state (I always check laws!).

Thoughts?

[XDragonFrogX]

I have no idea so im no help lol but im curious about him! Could you post a picture?

[UncleChester]

Add 'axanthic' to your search terms and you'll have more luck. It's genetic and caused by missing or messed up yellow pigmentation. Yellow+Blue=Green, and the yellow has been taken away.

It seems to be fairly rare, but you do get local populations. I have a few Rana clamitans with blue heads at my pond, but no full on blue yet. Here's a population of Rana clamitans with some that are full on blue: Parks Canada - Thousand Islands National Park of Canada - It isn't easy being blue

Someone on here has a blue Hyla cinerea, and I've seen a few more pictures of them on the web.

Can't wait for pictures of the Leopard that you found!

[MCCPC]

Thank you Brian! I knew there had to be a term for it! Very cool interesting stuff. I got the photos & I'm downloading them from my camera now... not sure if I'm going to have them up tonight though. Loooong day and I don't know if I have the patience for going through them & re-sizing and loading them into image shack at the moment, but if not tonight, then I'll have them up tomorrow I promise! Picked up some crickets today & blue frog ate them right up

[MCCPC]

Oky, here we go! Blue frog photos:



*Wanted to add, the normal frogs will be going back to their stream today. Blue frog will be staying with me

[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

[UncleChester]

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

Have you ever found a Leopard frog with a noticeably large tympanum? There's a couple of definite males in the picture below (the one calling and the one on the right) whose eardrums are 'small'. This is the typical size of tympanum for both sexes from my experience wading around breeding ponds. I'd hypothesize that someone believed since this difference in the sexes was the case for some Ranid species, that it must apply to others (it's very obvious in adult Rana clamitans for example). That, or the populations near me are abnormal.

[Psychotic]

Have you ever found a Leopard frog with a noticeably large tympanum? There's a couple of definite males in the picture below (the one calling and the one on the right) whose eardrums are 'small'. This is the typical size of tympanum for both sexes from my experience wading around breeding ponds. I'd hypothesize that someone believed since this difference in the sexes was the case for some Ranid species, that it must apply to others (it's very obvious in adult Rana clamitans for example). That, or the populations near me are abnormal.

No, not like with a green frog or a bullfrog. I've noticed some have bigger ears than others. But it is probably natural variation between individuals. It's been a while since I've caught leopard frogs. There are none in my pond or in my aunt's pond across the road. I did find a baby pickerel frog in my pond earlier this year which was very strange. I've never seen them in this area before either. Anyway, next time I find a population of leopard frogs I'll make sure to pay closer attention.

[herpdoc]

neat find. i've only seen blue bullfrogs or green frogs and never leopards before. i've been keeping a group of southern leopards for a while now with a mixture of males and females. unfortunately, sexing leopard frogs isn't as easy as with bullfrogs or green frogs since there really isn't any difference in size of the tympanic membranes due to gender. as someone said before, females are generally a bit larger than males. males will also have vocal sacs near their forearms (an extra flap of skin in that area) and have prominent thumb pads and that's pretty much the only way to sex them. if conditions are right, the males will croak and you can see the vocal sacs expand.

[Bullfrogkeeper]

Nice find! Would u be interested in selling? I have had a lot of experience with the rana genus. I've never found a blue leopard frog but have found some cool green frogs, but let me know if u are interested.

[boardn88]

Any updates on the blue leopard?