Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi my name is Donna, I am new to this site and have some questions, I have a big pond with several frogs, I have had the same ones for 5 years, just recently I found a tiny frog which I have never seen before, no bigger than half the size of your pinkey finger nail now all of my frogs I have watched grow since tadpoles, but never seen one this small and has all it's legs. All the other frogs were 5 times it's size as tadpoles, and I thought they all came from tadpoles , but I can't imagine how small this thing was as a tadpole, I am afraid to put it in the pond, for fear the bigger ones will eat him, any info on what kind of frog it is would be appreciated.

ellie may (is what everybody calls me)

Sorry for the late reply.

Tadpoles metamorphose into frogs at a wide variety of sizes depending on species. Some, such as bullfrogs, might be nearly 3-inches long when they make the switch and others, like American Toads, can be smaller than a human fingernail. It's hard to say using just size exactly what you have -- unless you are in a very unlikely part of the world then it did indeed come from an aquatic tadpole. What would be useful is if you told us where you live and what colors or textures this little guy has and then maybe we can work on an ID. If you happen to have a way of getting digital photos, a picture is generally worth a thousand words when it comes to ID though getting a good shot of something that small can be very tricky.

In either case, I hope we can figure it out!

Also, you are right to be concerned about other frogs eating it. One study showed that about 70% of the diet of large Bullfrogs is made up of smaller Bullfrogs. Frogs do eat smaller frogs. However, I would be less concerned about that to start off with -- depending on what kind of frog this thing is it might not even stay in the pond. All frogs go to water to lay their eggs but only some stay to live out their lives in the same spot.

Anyway, cheers!

Thank you very much for responding to my ?

Sorry about that , was'nt finished, any who
Yeah I have had many frogs in my time, but never even seen one this small, could'nt imagine how small it must have been as a tadpole, it is brown with little spots on it;s back, and was caught by my nephews at patuxent ponds, (gambrills md) by mistake, it just got caught in the net while chasing a bigger one, But the ones I have in my pond have been there for 4 yrs, and were not that tiny, ever. I am going to send pic later this evening, when I have more time.

Thanks

This is the pic of the frog, its a big pic move it to the right

[img]http://home.comcast.net/~steve.donna1/frog.jpg[img/]

sorry again for taking a few days to get back to you.

That looks like some sort of toad in the genus Bufo. I'm not familiar with all the species you have in your area so you will want to take a look at a species list to narrow it down from there.

this checklist for Maryland has four toads on it -- I'd put money on it being either an American Toad or a Fowler's Toad. The picture is pretty blurry so it's hard to say for certain -- it might be something entirely different. A more crystal clear pic would get a positive ID but naturally, taking a picture of something that small is very difficult

http://www.terrapinbook.com/pdf/herpchecklist2002.pdf

In terms of American vs Fowler's there are two things you can look at. Is the belly all white or are there some spots? All white is a Fowler's trait while spotted is an American trait. That might not hold true in the young ones so don't rely on it entirely. Is it covered in lots of tiny little bumps or are there fewer larger bumps? This can be hard to tell without something to compare against. On the back of the two toads are black spots. The black spots have brown or red bumps on them. American Toads have between 1 and 3 larger bumps on each black spot while Fowler's Toads have 3-5 or so smaller ones. Kind of a minute detail when you're dealing with such a small specimen but those are my thougts.