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Cuban Tree Frogs? Please help!
Hello...I am new here! Glad to see a place where people who can go and post questions such as these! I'm typing from all the way down in central Alabama at the moment with a question about some tadpoles. Well, many, many tadpoles, actually. Our location is about 20 miles outside of Birmingham, AL. As we were getting ready for bed about 3 weeks ago, we heard a LOUD orchestra of frogs in the backyard. I am an amphibian lover, and wanted to let my children see them if at all possible. We discovered 6 frogs in our swimming pool. They presumably were just "hanging out" in there. Odd though, we had never seen them or heard them before. So, they allowed us to catch them and let my adventurous and amphibian loving 4-year-old daughter cuddle with them. I have raised tadpoles every summer that I can think back to as a child, and especially in my classroom. Never did it occur to me that these were some kind of exotic species, bent on destroying the native species of Florida. They morning they became big enough to really distinguish them using other pictures and descriptions of tadpoles, I was shocked to find that time after time, I would click on the one that was named Osteopilus septentrionalis. Some websites gave check off lists where you clicked on which type of tail, eye placement, etc. Others just gave characteristics and a picture. I was horrified that they looked to be the Cuban Tree Frog that is particularly loathsome to most people in Florida. Despite the fact that they really did look exactly like the pictures, I still didn't want to believe that we had 100+ of these alive and fat (about 500 at first), being treated like royalty in our backyard. I didn't take any pictures of the adult frogs, but I know we thought it was odd that they looked so different. I also remarked to my husband that one of them was nearly white, and blended in with the outside of the pool. The tadpoles are separated into three homes. Apparently, the adults came back and laid more eggs, as we have a tub of very small ones, medium sized and a sort of terrarium set up for the many that now have either two or four legs. I must say, my daughter and I have also noticed the legs on the tadpoles look so out of proportion! Very long, and dangly. Strange looking. I've also witnessed extreme cannibalism.Yesterday, I saw one with a smaller one hanging out of its mouth. I have taken some pics, but they were taken from my cell phone as our camera is being fixed. I do think they are clear enough that you can see the features. If not, please let me know, and I can borrow a camera to take closer pictures. There are several that look as though they are only a few weeks from being able to go off on their own. Please tell me what to do with them...I'm worried they are what I think they are and it will break my daughter's heart (and mine!) However, we do not want to be responsible for breeding a species that would be detrimental to our local ones! Maybe these are just Gray Tree Frogs?
Thanks for the help...
