Thanks for the feedback.

It’s best to keep bullfrogs without eco earth or other substrates so that cleaning is simplified. Turtle rafts work well as land areas. You can increase the water volume also. I suggest that you change app. 50% of the water weekly – a siphon will ease the job; be sure to use an instant de-chlorinator on the new water. Add ammo-chips to your filter and use an ammonia test kit to check levels in-between water changes.

You should break down the tank and clean thoroughly (table salt is a good disinfectant to use) before getting new frogs.

Please right back when you are ready and we can discuss diet if need be.

Good luck and please keep me posted.

Best regards, Frank Indiviglio.

And i jsut cleaned my tank yesterday when my last frog was still alive he didnt die until about an hour and a half after i put him back in the clean tank do have to take everything back out and clean it again before i get new frogs?

Thanks for your interest in our blog; sorry to hear the bad news.

It’s difficult to say with certainly, but almost always when several frogs die quickly with those symptoms a bacterial infection is involved. Bullfrogs, even young ones, produce a great deal of ammonia, which is invisible and odorless unless very concentrated. High ammonia levels stress their immune systems, leaving them open to bacterial/fungal attack. It can also damage skin, and kill them outright (highly toxic, internal organ damage). Water tends to become acidic if not replaced regularly as well, which adds to the problem.

Always a chance that parasites were involved, esp. in wild-caught animals. Low loads do them little harm in the wild, but high numbers build up in aquariums.

Please let me know the size of the tank and frogs, filtration used, frequency of water changes, etc. and we can go over some ideas and preventative steps for future.

Good luck and please keep me posted.

Best regards, Frank Indiviglio.

thanks Jared

Thanks for the feedback. If they are already leaving then no need to change your set-up; just be careful when dropping the water level suddenly – ammonia levels will rise in the reduced volume; might be better to add back some, especially as some are already transforming.

Yes, those are toads based on eggs/size.

A sprinkler in the area they are dispersing to will assist survival; they dessicate easily at that size, especially if ground is too hard to burrow into. A shallow pan of water, buried flush to the ground’s surface will help keep them nearby – perhaps a plastic garbage can lid with some rocks inside; but smaller ones will be used also. Cover in the form of flat boards or logs useful, they will hide below leaf litter as well.

Good luck and please keep me posted.

Best regards, Frank Indiviglio.

When I say large tadpoles, I mean between 6 and 10 mm. Prettys sure they’re toads…from the rope-like egg casings they came from.

Thanks again
Eric
Chester, Connecticut

You mentioned “large” – American to toad tads are very small, less than an inch or so when full grown, and black in color. Some native frogs are a good deal larger, and Green and Bullfrogs often over-winter as tadpoles (greenish in color); please write back if you possibly have another species in your pool.

Good luck, enjoy and please keep me posted.

Best regards, Frank Indiviglio.

Thanks for your interest in our blog.

You raise a very interesting point, thank you. American bull frogs do indeed bask. However, they prefer higher temperatures than most native frogs, and the behavior seems more related to that than to UVB needs. I say this because I have raised a number to adulthood without UVB, and know of a commercial farming operation which does the same. They do have quite high calcium/Vit. D requirements, and metabolic bone disease is common in individuals raised on calcium poor diets. I wonder if the frogs might have the ability to utilize UVB in the absence of adequate dietary UVB? (please see below)…I’ve not been able to find anything on point (have any free time and a pond on your hands?!). American toads rarely if ever bask, and I and others have raised many without UVB – but this is based on anecdotal evidence only, nothing published that I know of.

I’ve noticed the same as you report re the tadpoles…UVB does penetrate water to the depth of a few inches, and hence the tadpoles may be absorbing some, but again the behavior may be related to temperature and the heavier growths of algae in shallow waters. Bullfrog tadpoles raised without UVB normally transform into healthy frogs if provided a balanced diet.

My experience with alligator lizards (and alligators!) as well as certain turtles is as yours – adults of some species do fine without UVB, but youngsters require it.

What strikes me as very interesting is the fact that some species that are well known as requiring UVB in order to synthesize Vitamin D seem able to make do with dietary Vitamin D in some situations. I’ve run across this with day geckos and red eared sliders – both of which typically fare poorly without UVB when young and, re the geckos, as adults. I’m convinced it has to do with the nature of the diet, but so far nothing definitive seems to have been published. Please check out my article on Day Geckos at the Central Park Zoo for further information…your thoughts and observations would be most appreciated.

Good luck and please keep me posted.

Best regards, Frank Indiviglio.

I myself have kept adult alligator lizards (Elgaria multicarinata) for years without access to sun or full spectrum lighting. However, I discovered that hatchling Elgaria multicarinata do need full spectrum light or sun to thrive.

Therefore it seems likely to me that tadpoles and/or metamorphs may need UVB.

Diane Lee