releasing grey tree frogs back into wild

[BC]

I am new here and new to raising frogs. I read somewhere that frogs should not be released.
I rescued 6 tadpoles from a late hatch in Oct. One frogget died withing a week , two froggets seem to be doing fine..growing and eating and the other two are still tadpoles. My plan was to just save them from a sure death and return them back into the wild in the spring when the adults came out. Shortly after bringing the tadpoles inside we had a freeze and the 50 or so remaining tadpoles died as in the previous year. It seems some of the frogs lay eggs too late in the season for all the tadpoles to make it to froggets before a freeze happens.
I love the grey tree frogs we have around our home and they enjoy my water gardens . We have had many, many tree frogs living near us for as long as I can remember.

Can anyone give more info. as to why it would be wrong to release them? Or, tell me how it can be done safely?

Thanks, BC

[Crunchy Frog]

Hi. I'm not aware of any reason why frogs from locally collected tadpoles should not be released back into the area where they were collected. I raised nearly 60 rescued Grey tadpoles last summer, and released 52 of them back into the wild. I released them into nearby wooded areas, after raising the froglets for several weeks, as I felt that the newly morphed froglets would be more vulnerable to predation.

There may be some reason why this was wrong of me, but I don't know what it would be. I don't currently have any other animals, so they would not have picked up any novel pathogens.

Since you have them in your yard, I don't see that it would be a problem to release them in the spring. Were the tadpoles in your yard, or did you find them somewhere else?

You may want to check out the Care Sheet for Grey Tree Frogs. http://www.frogforum.net/tree-frogs/...caresheet.html

It's very important that you dust their food frequently with Calcium/vitD powder, and a vitamin supplement, but not at the same time.

Maybe someone else with a different perspective can chime in on why it might be a problem to release them.

[BC]

Thanks for your input! As much as I like the little guys, I am still thinking that they would be happier living a free life in the "wild" since they were born outside. Also, I will check out the care sheet info.
BC

[UncleChester]

Apart from possible pathogen issues, local laws and upsetting the natural balance would be other concerns. This is assuming you're releasing them where you found them. You should check your local laws though.

It may seem sad, but never forget that the overwhelming majority of frog eggs laid never end up making it to the land stage and even fewer survive to enter the breeding population. Helping large numbers develop past the most vulnerable stages does have the potential to be disruptive to the local balance. Ideally in a healthy ecosystem this will balance itself out and most likely a small amount of human interference is insignificant compared to normal seasonal population variances. Certainly helping a half a dozen tree frogs along won't even be a measurable blip.

[Mentat]

Visit your Fish and Wildlife or similar state regulating webpage and there will be the laws regulating your state and contact info to ask them .

[BC]

Thanks