Unknown Tadpole Rescue ID [HELP PLEASE]

Hello!

Recently stopped by a chain pet store (boo, I know, but I haven’t found a good source of superworms froma small business yet), and was hanging around the aquarium to say hello to all the sad bettas and sick fish (they break my heart :sob:)

Well, in the feeder minnow tank there were 3 tadpoles, which I know happens sometimes as these are fish from huge farming plants. I joked about the tadpoles to the staff member nearby, who didn’t realize there was ‘trash stock’ in the tank and went to throw them out.

Softie I am, I managed to convince him to let me have them, and they are safely in a 10 gallon iso tank with clean water everyday and fresh food for them to munch on.

One issue…I have no idea what they are! They could be a native near my area (Ohio) such as a leopard frog or Cope’s gray tree frog, or could be totally a mystery, as the store says theyve found (and killed :sob: :sob: :sob:) many whites tree frogs before.

Could anyone help ID these fellows so I can anticipate their adult care?

More info:
About 3-3.5 inches long
No rear leg development visible yet
Stark white belly, speckled light gray back

Thank you!

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With how big they already are, if they don’t start developing legs soon, then you are probably looking at bullfrog tadpoles that will get a good bit bigger before popping legs out. That, or they could also not have gotten the hormone that tells them to grow legs and could be tadpoles forever. Make sure to update when they get legs, or if they do. A lot of tadpoles look a lot alike sadly.

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If they are huge then they are likely American Bullfrogs, but could potentially also be Pig Frogs.

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The size and general look does make me think bullfrogs, which may or may not be invasive in your state, so do check up. Releasing them as adults may not be an option even then, since in captivity they may pick up immunities to things they can carry and spread, I’ve heard. They look like they’re doing well- have you raised tadpoles before? I’ve only ever had fish myself- I just grew up around ponds.

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When in Michigan, I had a 1,000 gal water garden. Most years, I would buy a dozen bullfrog or green frog tadpoles and throw them in. Most would mature and then disappear. There were no native wetlands within a half mile, so I don’t know where they’d head to? Though we had blue herons that would often stop buy, so…

The tadpoles we were sold were intended to be released in ponds. To be honest, I never paid attention to the State’s regulations regarding the frogs, I guess I assumed the pet stores we frequented DID pay attention?

Granted, the tadpoles we bought were wild caught, or I was led to believe so as they were only seasonally available. Over the twenty years or so we owned that pond, we bought quite a few. The stores never identified them as one species or the other, but my mind always felt the green frogs were the lighter ones - like the guy in your photo.

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I love tadpoles, frogs and toads :heart: im glad you saved them, imo no species is deserving of being killed for no reason.

If you have a pond you could put them in there or keep them in an enclosure. The downside to keeping bullfrogs is the noise they make at night but if you can tolerate that they make for fun pets. They do eat a lot though so have a good stock of insects.

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Thank you all for your input! <3

They are around 3 inches long and probably the circumference of…a little less than a quarter.
We have tons of US bullfrogs around here, and these guys arent as green or yellowish as they tend to be, which got me stuck.
If they end up being bullfrogs or leopard frogs (native in our area), I have a friend with a goldfish pond that may take them (bonus, their reproduction wouldnt explode as the fish would limit frog eggs).

But honestly I am leaning toward pig frogs at the moment, since they are so grayscale.
I hope they pop legs soon! I return to uni in 4 weeks and would love to be able to give my mum a heads up on their care needs for when I’m gone.

So far they are thriving and playing with the sticks in their enclosure which is adorable! My little mystery trio :heart_eyes:

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Note: IF they end up being bulls or leopards, I will check with my local wildlife center to ensure release (even in a private pond) is acceptable.
If it’s not, then I’ll figure it out then, but these little dudes deserved a chance for more than a petstore trashcan

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Since you didn’t capture them from the wild, I think they are legal to be in possession of. I’m not sure if they are legal to release or not so you would need to check first.

I think it’s great that you rescued them. I’d love to see pictures of them as they grow.

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Of course! I’ll post pictures as often as I can, they are a delight!

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I’m gonna also agree with bulfrog… they would show up from time to time in the feeder goldfish from my old big box pet store job. We would see those, sometimes guppies or a small cichlid looking species (sunfish maybe?) mixed in with our goldfish or crayfish. Crays were the worst.

I’m a bit confused why the employee says they see the Australian White’s tree frogs in the feeders as well. IIRC they’re only invasive in 2 locations in florida. They may be confusing it with the American Green tree frog. I know one of the biggest goldfish feeder breeders boasted in an article once about 80% of the fish you see being his. I can’t remember the name but I don’t believe he was based in florida.

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The employee also said she was 90% sure they were African pixie frog tadpoles, so honestly I started with a blank slate bc…yikes. I know they don’t train their employees there, but it still shocks me each time.

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No, the tadpoles didn’t morph overnight (I was concerned for a second though, believe me!) but they did seem to summon another friend to the screened in porch.
I just about jumped to the moon bc this little sass basket slapped onto my leg and started running up my thigh at 9pm when I was checking on everyone…in the dark…

Tadpoles are still not forming legs, the little gremlins


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(he was released into the hostas after making sure to pee all over me. Like, YOU hitched a ride on ME, but sure, pee eeeevereywhere)

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We have achieved back legs in 2 of the 3 little dudes!
They have also exponentially increased what they are willing to eat during a feeding so here’s to hoping for lots of growth.

I leave for uni in 10 days, so if we can tell by then what they are I’ll have a solid plan of action, if not, I’ll bring them with me in a half water half land based set up.
Technically not the kind of aquarium the uni allows but…people have cats and bearded dragons snuck in so if I teach the frogs not to yell it should be alright.

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Sorry for the blurry images, aquarium glass, fast tadpoles, and low lighting are the unholy trinity for an android camera

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I didn’t know anything called a ‘Pig Frog’ existed! I can’t help but wonder if they are the amphibian equivalent of the hognose snake. :smile: :thinking:

This is such a cool thread!! I used to work a lot in a research environment with Bombina orientalis (Fire-bellied toads), and got to see a lot of them throughout the process of metamorphosis in different environments, it was awesome.

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Pig Frog = Lithobates grylio, a frog found in the southeastern United States. They can be as big as 6.5" and their coloration is a very variable mix of gray, green, brown, black and yellow. As adults the easiest way to tell them apart from Bullfrogs is by the size of the ear. I don’t know how to differentiate them as tadpoles.

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It looks like pig frogs are just Texas’ version of bullfrogs, BUT there are frogs with funny shovel faces like hognoses, they are called spotted shovel nose frogs (Hemisus guttaus) if you want a land flavor, and if you want a tree flavor try Tripiron spatulatus…and I genuinely think the latter part of its latin name is in reference to a spatula :joy:

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