Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have two 4 year old bull frogs I have raised from tadpoles. They are currently living in a 50 gal tank, half sand and palnt and half water.

Was wondering if it would ba advisable to release the guys into the wild. There is a small pond a few yard from the house.

any thought would help

thanks

Hi there:

Is there anything else living in the pond? Is it suitable habitat. Keep in mind that if anything else lives in there, there won't be much of it left.

DAVE

actually it's a goose and frog pond. I've heard bulls and green frog and there are toads all around as well.

I would strongly discourage it. Most states have laws that prohibit the rerelease of animals unless you are a rehabber.
It is very easy to introduce pathogens to areas where they can do serious damage to the local ecology. For examples of this, the mycobacterial infection that is killing sections of the native gopher and desert tortoises has been postulated to have originated by keeping these tortoises where they could be exposed to exotics and then the tortoise either escaped or was released infecting the native species. There is some theories that the wide spread problems with chytrid are partially due to the widespread farming of bullfrogs with the resulting infectionb of the local ecologies. The USGS service documented the spread of viruses in the family of iridioviruses (ranaviruses) due to movement between sites by researchers resulting in large numbers of deaths at the new locations.
It may be possible to release the frog if the following conditions are met, 1) your state does not prohibit it (you would need to contact the local department of fish and game or Department of Natural Resources
2) you do not keep any other frog species from any other locality (animals that may be rereleased as part of a relocation program are usually required to be kept in quarantine from other animals to prevent disease transmission)
3)you are returning to the exact location where you aquired the frog.
If you cannot meet these requirements then I recommend looking for another person to take the frog. You can post on the mice on ice adopt page or check with your local herp society.

Ed

np
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