Oops, I fergitted ta corngritylates ya on yer 100, Puppys :)

I don't get any of those around here. I get the very small bright green frogs that I have to capture and put back out every night because as soon as that sliding glass door opens, they jump right in!

The only huge one I've seen was a big toad that couldn't hop through the hole in the fence so I had some mighty fun poking it. hehehehe.

We used to have bullfrogs on the pond when I was growing up. You could hear them all night (specially during mating season). On my rather tiny pond I have only gotten the green kind. My back yard is slightly wooded and we do get some nice tree frogs. Saw a really cool one the other night while having a glass of wine on the back deck with my brother. It was stuck to the wall and the kids(and my brother) got a kick out of it. When my son touched it's back lightly it crawled up the side with it's sucktion cup feet. The kids (brother included) thought it was sooooo cool the way it moved. (We're twins, but one of us never grew up. In this case, it's a good thing ;) -Ais.

Speaking of frogs, Jeff, how'd the little guy you took home from the swap fair? Have you seen him since you took him home?

We have LOADS of frogs here, you should hear them when they get cranked up. You can't even hear the TV when they are going good.

I will share mine if anybody wants them :)
Fran

we back up to lake easement(read swamp!), and so the bulls come up, figuring our pond as living on easy street. well, those bad bulls are too stinking greedy for my tastes. i like my green/bronze frogs, but the bulls get relocated to the swamp again- otherwise they start eating my other frogs & such.

got home from a date the other night- all dressed up- and saw a big bull sitting there just daring me. so i dared- for about 1/2 hr when i really had more important things to do as the swap was the next day. baby sitter just laughed on her way out. anyhow, asked dh to help- he wasn't happy- but we never did catch him that night.

so, he came in the other night to tell me he'd caught my frog & i wanted to see it. as i figured, it was a green/bronze frog, so i set him free. BUT-- the big bull was sitting there taunting me a bit away. hubby wearing nothing but undies, wielding the flashlight, me on hands & knees chasing around the frog at 11 pm. (it's actually a lot easier to see in the pond with the flashlight at night than to catch one during the day.) we got him! pete said the next day he was soooo tempted to push me in when i was practically head first in the pond netting the rascal. i told him it was a good thing he hadn't! hee hee. kids & i repatriated him next day to the swamp. and on it goes....

Jeff, you WANNABE tiara-wearer! Pretender to my throne!

Sorry, Jeff, I did not know I was speaking with the Prince of the Pond Forum! I'm blown away!

Heck gals and guys, I ain't no prince, just a fat ole toad waitin' fer a princess to come along and have faith enough to venture that first kiss... galump. :)

As for my froggies, jus so ya knows, ladies, I don't "get" bullfrogs, I IMPORT them. I buy tadpoles every year. As far as I know, no native frogs or toads have yet found my ponds.

Every year I buy bullfrog tadpoles and they grow up partially, overwinter, finish growing into big ole bullfrogs the following spring and then disappear on me that spring or summer... This year a handsome male croaked for exactly PART of one day before he disappeared -- to predators, I imagine -- but I know not what :(

Next year, I'm getting a dozen or more and playing a numbers game. I have a funny feeling when I finally DO succeed in getting some froggies to hang around long enough to reproduce, the whole neighborhood will know it from the "croaking," lol.

Here's the one who gave me a few hours of intermittent singing before he disappeared, shot taken the previous night, just after he had established himself down at the "big pond."

{{gwi:584794}}

Oh well... there's always next year. I know I have new bullies from this year's taddies, because they hop and hide every time I come by the pond and I caught one hiding under the water in a matt of plants the other night -- good sized for a first-year, too.

Guess I'll know next year, now, huh?
Garuuuuump!

Is it safe to continually bring bullfrogs into the environment? They could be hopping off and destroying other nearby ponds?

Purty frog, Jeff. Maybe if you kiss a female she will be your fairy princess. Even if she doesn't metamorphosize, she may surpass a Homo sapiens female in several categores.
Keep the faith and keep growing flowers and loving Mother Nature...now she's a girl that can be bipolar, but at least you know what you are potentially dealing with.

peace, claire in sanford

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

I thought of getting a pond for myself to fill with kois but I wouldn't have the money to take care of it. And I also figure, heck... all them little green frogs are coming from somewhere at least so I don't need to provide one for them.