Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm not sure if this is the correct forum for this post, but here goes...

My father (please don't think badly of him) has a small (~200 gallons) fish pond with goldfish, Koi, and catfish in a variety of sizes. Last summer he had a very voracious visitor, a huge bull frog, who ate countless fish. He was caught at least three times and released into the marsh in our back pasture, about 3/4 of a mile back from the fish pond. He found his way back to the fish pond within 24 hours every time. (Well, really, it was like an all you can eat fish buffet to him.) He was eventually caught and *dealt* with.

This year the pond has some smaller visitors, common green frogs. I've told him that they are not bullfrogs, and even used his own nature/field guide to show him how to differentiate between them, but he is taking NO chances. I've already taken two larger frogs (2&1/2 to 3 inches from snout to vent) down to the marsh to keep them out of harms way. The other day when we were visiting my children found two small frogs (1&1/4 to 1&1/2 inches) near the swimming pool. I'm assuming that they were born in the pond, but maybe I'm wrong. I wasn't sure how to best ensure their survival, so I brought them home. That was two days ago.

I'm a school teacher and accept just about any type of critter into our classroom. Most stay for just a day, but others have stay longer. Just this past year we were lucky enough to find an exceptionally calm adult female green frog (~ 3&1/2 inches). She greatly enjoyed the schmorgesborg of crickets that we offered and stayed with us for 10 days in a 20 long aquarium/terrarium with 1/3 land and 2/3 water. I'm thinking that these two small frogs may do well living in the same set-up(?)

We've feed the small ones little feeder crickets and I've seen them both eat. One is has a nice plump frog shape. The other is quite slender with a shape more like an African Dwarf Frog. I'm pretty sure that they're both females. (Does the tympanum size indicate sex in young frogs as well as in adult frogs?) So now I'm asking you, as experienced herp keepers, to offer advice. Should I try to re-home them in the marsh or some other body of water; should I continue trying to convince my father that they are not a threat to his fish and put them in him pond; should I keep them as captives and if so should they be kept alone or together?

Any advice is appreciated,
Abrienna

1 Male ACF (4 years old)
2 Female green frogs (for now)
considering Oriental Fire-bellied Toads

6 gerbils
2 cats

Well releasing them is a good idea, not in the pond though, if your dad is going to get mad, just at the marsh.

Or you could keep them. I know everyone else is going to say don't keep them but I say that it would be fine to keep them. Taking 2 green tree frogs from the wild to me isn't a big deal.

Since their almost the same size they could live together.

Just don't make their tank 2/3 water this time, they will enjoy it all being land with tree branche and lots of plants.

Just but a water dish for them.

Thank you for your reply.

I was planning on taking them down to the marsh, but like I said I'm pretty sure that they were born in the fish pond, so is taking them down to the marsh a safe bet for them, or just a formula for disaster (i.e. lunch for larger frogs)?

Sorry to be such a bother,
Abrienna

Smaller frogs being eaten by larger ones is part of natural selection, and shouldn't be a turn off to you releasing them. It sounds like you're going to have a reacurring problem with the frogs year after year. You may just end up having to take out the frogs manually and move them further away. Check your local laws, some places have laws against releasing animals that have been kept captive. You could be spreading disease etc., which is why the laws are in place.