Hormone induced frog breeding.

[Kevin1]

Hey John in the other thread you mentioned something about starting a new thread on the subject. I didn't quite know what section to post it under as I'm not really asking about species specific hormone treatments. I was wondering what your experiences were on the subject? Also anyone else who has experience with hormone treatments such as LHRH and any others. Thanks

[Kevin1]

all righty then.. can someone delete this for me?

[John]

Just saw this. As it says in my signature, I don't read everything on the forum. This is particularly true at the moment.

I will quite happily discuss this topic in general but I don't make a habit of publicly sharing a protocol for it because, in my view, the skill set required is not something possessed by most of the people who want it. The animals do not need to be subjected to the cruelty of the inexperienced keeper who can't temper rampant curiosity with common sense and ethics.

[Kevin1]

All righty John. I'm not wanting to learn how to use it. I'm just more curious of how it's done. I find it cruel in general and wouldn't want to do it.
If done right though, do the frogs suffer from any side effects? I've heard horror stories of things happening to horned frogs, but I imagine this is from people abusing the treatment.
Oh and I didn't mean to sound impatient I apologize. It just seemed not many people were interested in the topic.
Thanks.

[onedge30]

Kevin - John,

I would be very curious to know the ins and outs of the process with frogs. I too would prefer to create a breeding environment, close enough, so that hormones would not be needed. But would want to understand the next step in the process, and all the risks, if I wanted to move forward.

I have experience breeding koi with and without hormones. My personal breeding, over a period of 3 years, was all natural spawning. I set up the right conditions at the right time, paired the right koi, and had spawning occur within a 6 hour period. Usually at dawn. My experience with hormone injections was working on a koi farm. I believe the choice to use hormones was from laziness and the possible need to push a few 'hard to spawn' koi. Never were the hormones used to strip the eggs and milt. Note - I did see several prize koi die, directly from the use of the hormones.

[Kevin1]

Thanks Jeff, I was talking to Seth about this the other night and how I feel. That if they need hormones to spawn than you must not be giving them the right conditions to produce enough hormones on their own to want to breed. Though Seth did say that it's more of an insurance that they will produce than a necessity. That's interesting that you bred Koi Jeff. At my old house I used to keep koi in my outdoor pond, well wasn't all mine since it was my parents house. I forget the breed names but I remember my favorites were red on the sides, white on top, and 2 rows of large blue scales at the tippy top of the body.

[John911]

Few questions. The majority of horned frogs come from the frog ranch? So what are the odds that our frogs are infertile?

[Mercedesherp]

Frog Ranch is a very large producer. There are others who also do so.
I have raised Frog Ranch produced cranwelli from babies to adulthood and successfully bred them WITHOUT the use of hormones. Fantasy frog ( hybrid cranwelli x cornuta ) are sterile. I do not think there is much of a sterility problem
associated with Frog Ranch production methods.

[Mercedesherp]

I had intended to edit this article quite a bit more and eventually add some photos. I have lost interest in continuing further work on it.
Some of you may find some use of it.
I do not, nor, have not, used hormones to breed anything.
I do think it is important to share accurate information.
Anyway, you will probably need a rain chamber whether or not you utilize hormones.

( I cant get this Word document to upload here. I will try to email to someone who is able just contact me)

[Kevin1]

Have you tried asking John( Clare)?

[Minhocao]

Hank, I'm always interested to see information and pictures.
You know where to send it.

[Mercedesherp]

No problem guys.
I had to learn the hard way by trial and error. If I can help anyone by sharing my experiences, which may or may not, translate into fewer mistakes, better understanding, and better production of captive bred frogs, the community as a whole benefits.

I have forwarded a copy of my article to John Clare.
I will also forward it to other forums for consideration.