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Ponds & Aquatic Plants

bullfrog ID

12 years ago

Can someone confirm this is a bullfrog? He(she) morphed in my small pond this summer and has grown quite a bit. I would prefer to keep bullfrogs out and maintain my green frog population. Thanks

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Comments (10)

drh1
12 years ago
I believe the ridge behind the eye is the thing to check. If it goes around the ear diaphragm you've got a bullfrog. If it goes down the back (more or less a straight line) you've got a green frog. This one looks like it might be a female bullfrog to me. Just my guesstimate.
---David
rsingley
Original Author
12 years ago
Yeah, it's missing the tympanic ridge typical of a green frog so I'm pretty convinced it's a bullfrog, I just wanted a second opinion before I let him go in a nearby lake.

Thanks
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Actually, Dragonstone, since bullfrogs are native to this entire area of the country, I don't concern myself with the possibility of them hopping off and doing damage somewhere else. If they were a non-native species, I likely wouldn't be able to buy them here, as they HAVE done considerable damage to some ecosystems out west, where they were imported. Also, roughly 100 yards from my ponds in 2 different directions are natural creeks -- a medium-sized creek to the south and a small one to the west that empties into that one. Both of those creeks could, and probably SHOULD be natural homes for bullfrogs, already, yet I've never heard the characteristic sound they make, likely because we've done enough environmental damage this close to the city to denigrate the environment and make it un-frog-friendly. At any rate, if any of my male frogs had made it to one of those creeks, I'd likely have STILL heard them, since their "jug-o-rum" call can supposedly be heard for a quarter mile or more, and I've yet to hear it coming from those creeks. Also, as far as I know, I'm the first and only person in my neighborhood to "catch" the man-made ponding "bug" so far. As far as I can see when I drive around the neighborhood, nobody else has put in a water garden to date, although many have made compliments on mine... So no, that's not a concern to me, but it was good of you to think of it. Also, bullfrogs DO NOT "destroy ponds." Even where they're doing damage to the ecosystem, the worst they do is eat all the other native amphibians and take their place in the ecosystem, which is why many other folks who have water gardens and like keeping smaller pond frogs, such as pickerel frogs, leopard frogs or green frogs, will catch any bullfrogs they have and relocate them to a lake somewhere, because given enough time, all they'll have left is bullfrogs. Happy Croakin'! :) Jeff
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Hi, before I start i wanted to explain that i brought in bullfrog tadpoles for my pond back when I planned on having a natural eco-friendly pond. But this year I decided to clear out my pond and begin breeding some fancy goldfish which I'm buying as smaller 1 inch fish. My dilemma is that although all my bullfrogs have since dispersed I only one remains )probably a territorial thing since my pond is only 12' by 8' by 2.5' ft He/ she is over half grown(1yr old) and now eating my young newly purchased fish. (i witnessed this myself). I thought maybe he also had left since i had not seen or heard him jump into the pond in over two months. But yet i was still having my juvenile fish disappearing, so I put a net across the whole pond to prevent any early morning wading birds and rule them out as the culprit as I also had a very large fancy goldfish disappear suddenly also . Last night i finally saw the bullfrog just floating on the surface of the pond and went to try and net him, but I've been working on this for over 6 months and Im sure he/she is on to me at this point (no one said their stupid)! I had it blinded with a large flashlight as this is how we used to catch them as kids and simply sneak up and grab them by hand. Today, I have removed all possible hiding spots within the pond and covered up every possible crevice it may be diving straight into when it knows I'm nearby as to keep it from evading me tonight hopefully! I used to feed them live crickets which they would happily jump up and feed on, but and even that will not bring it back to the surface to feed.. He must of jumped directly under one of these hiding spots and not even knew there were crickets in there as it probably couldn't see them from his/her hiding spot. My dilemma is. what is the best method for doing a catch and release on him/her if its already trying to evade me so well at that I have a net, and will go into the pond as he should be easy to spot between my flashlight and interior underwater lights I'm sure that during the day it must be staying under a large boulder along the pond somewhere because I've done a complete sweep of the pond for as long as I could prior to the water turning too murky from all my searching and moving of potted plants and such. I'm sure its going to show itself eventually again. Hopefully tonight as I plan on leaving the net off until I'm done catching him during the evenings And I need to catch it, as its getting very costly to keep buying these breeding young fish over and over again.. Any ideas for this smart bullfrog? I obviously dont want to hurt him, although a nice foreleg dinner would suite mefine, if I thought it were big enough and worth prepping it for dinner lol Thanks mitzi
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horton
12 years ago
I would agreed with the honourable member from from Vermont on his identification of the frog in question.

It does look like a Bullfrog for sure the way the ridge curls around it's ear (tympanum) and ends there.

On a Green/Bronze frog the ridge runs from behind it's eyes down both sides of it's body to the top of it's legs.
On a female frog the ears are smaller or similar in size to the eyes.
On a male frog the ears are larger than the eyes.

Check the two links below for photographs of both a Bullfrog and a Green/Bronze frog.
You will have to copy and paste the link to the Green frog.

Green/Bronze frog link.
http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/herps/amphibid/species/bronze.htm

"Horton"

Here is a link that might be useful: Bullfrog link.
sharon_greenacre
12 years ago
Green/Bronze frog link

Just making the link clickable.

(Horton, I'll be happy to teach you the html code if you like! And yes, I'm an old pal.)
drh1
12 years ago
Is this the Sharon I think it is?? (NH)?
---David
Let's chip in and get Horton an "English" dictionary....where they spell "honorable" the correct way!! :-)). Actually I understand we all need to buy a dictionary soon since there is a rumor going around they may stop printing them (since we can always look up the correct spelling on line....yeah, right). Of course with my inability to spell I should be the first to talk!!!!
sharon_greenacre
12 years ago
Ha-ha, I didn't even notice his glaring error, David! (Being married to a fellow who calls today "Chewsday" makes me tolerant of such things, I guess; he learnt this stuff as a boy in England, and there's no reforming him.)

Yes, 'tis I, old friend. Didn't mean to be such a stranger! I've been meaning forever to tell you I enjoyed your Netherlands pictures. Must have been a great vacation.
horton
12 years ago
Thank you for posting the click-able link Sharon.
As for teaching this old dog new tricks, that is very neighboUrly of you. And that's no mistake, glaring or otherwise!

Don't be paying too much attention to the old fellow from the far north. It is getting near to hibernation time up there and he is becoming groggy. LOL
"Horton"
sharon_greenacre
12 years ago
Very well, NeighboUr, I'll post the code I used to make that cute little blue link. The only thing you'll need to do differently is omit the spaces after the two Green/Bronze frog link

BTW, frog lovers my enjoy this pic from 2006. Maybe these guys should be called Green/Bronze/Aqua frog. I never did get around to showing this guy off to the state herp folks. I'm sure it would be of interest, as the blue coloration is fairly rare. Unfortunately, I only saw this handsome fellow a couple of times. Fortunately, he happened to show up when our friend MaryO was over for a visit, so she saw him too.

{{gwi:171844}}
drh1
12 years ago
Sharon, Neat frog! Excellent colour! He's probably turning blue cause of the cool weather we're about to get this weekend from across the border. LOL

There used to be a website out there where you could get examples of several HTML codes to help figure things out. Like so many things it has "disappeared" into electronic limbo. But before it went I saved a copy as a pdf document (see URL below)...you'll have to futz around in it until you find the example you want. I suspect there is an equivalent site out there somewhere but probably they want you to sign up for something or other. By the way, the document and it's applications does not help one spell correctly.:-))
Time to get my woolies out and check for inappropriate moth holes!
---David

Here is a link that might be useful: HTML tutorial guide
sharon_greenacre
12 years ago
I like this one too. Who can resist a "cheat sheet" called "Web Monkey".

Web Monkey

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