Breeding begins.... (pic heavy)

[onedge30]

Hi all! Well, the outdoor rain chamber is up and running. I have seen more unique behaviors in the last few hours then in years!!!! They have only been in the set up over night, but the males are calling and wrestling. I have seen several sumo over the head throws and several backward jumps!! Just crazy. I am trying to get a video of the action, but have been unsuccessful. I will try harder. There are 4 adult males and 6 females. The females are in the laundry baskets for now. The last photo is a shot of the misting system pvc pipes. Enjoy!

[Chomp]

thats awesome but those are some tiny Bullfrogs for breeding arent they compared to Frog Ranch and zoos?

[Eel Noob]

Amazing! Yes, would love to see them guys doing some sumo wrestling moves on each other. I really like the light green male waiting for the females outside the basket.

Chomp if you're saying these are tiny, how big are the frogs the Frog Ranch uses?

[onedge30]

I hope the pool just makes them look small. The males are all 7 inches and most of the females are 5-6 inches. It is an 8 foot diameter pool.

[spencerburgo]

Hi all! Well, the outdoor rain chamber is up and running. I have seen more unique behaviors in the last few hours then in years!!!! They have only been in the set up over night, but the males are calling and wrestling. I have seen several sumo over the head throws and several backward jumps!! Just crazy. I am trying to get a video of the action, but have been unsuccessful. I will try harder. There are 4 adult males and 6 females. The females are in the laundry baskets for now. The last photo is a shot of the misting system pvc pipes. Enjoy!

looks great keep us posted with your progress please,

cheers spencer............

[sflyingcow]

I've looked into breeding ABF just wondering if you used any hormones if you were trying it all natural.
Also do you think it makes them more likely to breed with competion opposed to having just a pair?
Thanks it looks great

[Kevin1]

Have you received any precipitation since these frogs have been outside, Jeff?

[onedge30]

@sflyingcow- I am trying to get them to breed w/o hormones. Yes, there does seem to be some relationship to having multiple males competing for the female.

@Kevin- Only one day of rain so far. And one very cold night. I was freaking out. It dropped down to 54 degrees. I used the rain system to keep the warmer water running thru the main tank. They are really soaking up the sun today.

[Kevin1]

that's good Jeff. Glad there all ok and no one has been eaten. lol Let's hope for more rain!

[onedge30]

Kinda sad that I have nothing to report. I have been running varying rain periods, have had some very cold evenings, no natural rain, and now all the bullfrogs seem to be just cohabitatiing just fine. No mating or calling at all!!

Eleven bullfrogs all living in harmony.

Pic one - butch of females hangin' out.
two - mixed group by over flow.
three - group of males.
four - fancy colored female.
five - group of males.
six - Sumo posing.
seven - Sumo insisting on a photo!

[willtilian]

pic 4 looks like a winner for the contest

[kmcconch]

How old are the males and females?

[onedge30]

I would have to guess, but say that most of them are around 2-4 years old. Sumo may be the oldest around 4. So, they are all still youngsters.

[kmcconch]

Mine is almost 6 months old, and seems to be going through a growth spurt again. Your females look wonderful. I hope mine will look like that someday soon

[willtilian]

i did read somthing that to breed they need to be 8 years old ill get the link

[Eel Noob]

Did you get any videos of them calling?

[onedge30]

Here's one of calling. I have some pacman calling, also at my youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/user/onedge30.../2/PNcb2C36O1s

[onedge30]

Well, I think they have lost all interest in breeding. They are just all living together. See pictures below.

I think my next step will be to let the frogs go back under the ground for the summer. I have a 3 ft x 8 ft wood tank that I am going to fill half way with soil/coco fiber mix. It will be outside in the summer heat, but shaded and protected from the any rain. Then, around mid August, I will wake them up and prepare for our fall rains. I will not be giving them any time between waking up and being put together to breed.

[coastal20]

I wonder why they were not interested in breeding, I thought you had the perfect setup. Have you had any bad storms in Florida yet? The reason why I am asking that is because tonight we had really bad thunderstorms here in NY and my male finally started calling (only took him 5 years) and tried to mate with an American Bullfrog, he grasped it and everything. Wish I had a mature female now. Good luck in the fall breeding.

[Eel Noob]

Love the blues in this picture.