The Big Frogs

[Ravnos]

There are two species of frog that are pretty common in the pet trade that are what I would consider the "big" frogs. The Pyxie Frog (also known as the African Bull Frog - Pyxicephalus edulis) and the Pacman Frog (or the Argentine Horned Frog - Ceratophrys ornata). There are several subspecies therein.

Considering how far apart they are in nature, they are remarkably similar in many ways. They both seem soley designed for the purpose of eating as much as possible. They are little more than a mouth attached to a stomach with little feet sticking out.

They are fairly inactive animals, usually finding a comfortable spot in their substrate and burrowing into it and just sitting there until food comes along. Then they burst forth, grab the food (and anything else that happens to fall in their mouth) and then go back to sitting in their little dugout again. These frogs are not particularly good swimmers just because of their large size, they should be kept in a shallow tank with a moist land area. They are very suseptible to poor water quality and need to be kept especially clean. Size of the cage is dependant on the size of the frog of course. They should always be kept one frog to a cage - they can be cannibalistic.

The horned frog can get to 5 or 6 inches in size... and I don't give a length or width differentiation because they are more or less round. Generally the females get larger than the males. They come in many striking patterns, variating greens, browns, yellows, oranges... and even abino variants.

African Bull Frogs can hit 9 inches, and are the reverse of the horned frogs, the males are the larger ones. There is even a dwarf species that doesn't get much beyond 5 inches. They are generally just green colored with a yellow underbelly.

Diet is fairly simple, but can be deceivingly complex. Since they are not very active animals obesity is a real problem. Generally speaking though, these guys can and will eat anything moving that fits in their mouths. Fish, crickets, meal worms, mice, lizards, other frogs - you name it. Care must be taken with cage decorations, anything that can fit in the frog's mouth (rocks, plants, sticks, whatnot) must be removed or it may end up ingested. Moderation and variation is the key, and it doesn't hurt to put in some fast moving stuff like crickets to get them some exercise.

Pyxie Frog - Bubba.
http://www.austinherpsociety.org/photos/t-amphs/party_pyxie2.jpg

Horned Frog - Jabba the Frog.
http://www.austinherpsociety.org/photos/amphs/jabba5.jpg
http://www.austinherpsociety.org/photos/amphs/jabba6.jpg

Rav

[MistyMeanor]

hahahahaha! that pic with the hat is too cute!
What kind of frogs are typical here Rav? They don't look like either of these the ones I see around my house. Their color or markings are not very vibrant. I have seen them small about 2-3in in length, to large 4-5in in length.

[Ravnos]

Well, those guys are from Africa (as in the African Bull Frog) and South America (or more specifically Argentina in the case of this Horned Frog).

In Austin the main frogs you'll see are Leopard Frogs. Very common throughout much of the US. They are a couple inches long and green/brown spotted. They can jump incredibly far. There are also American Bull Frogs which are typically a mottled green color but often get pretty big - monsters that eat anything they can get ahold of. Then there are many smaller species of frog like the cricket frog, the green tree frog, and many, many others. If you go out towards Walter E. Long lake at night, you can really hear the vast number of different frog calls. :)

Rav

[Chrisanne]

Frogs are yucky, but your pics are always so good Rav

[MistyMeanor]

I went and looked at some sites about texas based frogs... the closest pics that resembled what we have around our house were the texas toad, and the american bull frog.

[Ravnos]

I forget which county you're in... the Texas Toad is not known to range into Williamson county, but the Gulf Coast Toad is around in great abundance in the entire Austin area.

There is no shortage of bullfrogs either, wherever there is a good amount of water nearby. They have a pretty distinctive belching-like call that you would hear every night

Rav

[Ravnos]

http://www.austinherpsociety.org/photos/amphs/blobclark.jpg

This is my Budgett's frog, Blob... a species vaguely related to the horned frog posted above. They are found in central South America. Again, like most of the rest of the big frogs, they are basically just a stomach attached to a mouth. They sit in shallow, mucky water, and eat anything and everything that comes along that fits in that mouth. :)

Rav

[AmandaDi]

Omg! that frog is interesting alright!

[MistyMeanor]

That is the ugliest dang frog I have ever seen! :pukey:

[Ravnos]

The American bullfrog is the largest frog in North America. They can be uncannily large, and their croak sounds like someone belching into a barrel. They are very common all over the US, and have even taken up feral residencey in many other parts of the world.They are generalists, much like the African bullfrog or Argentine horned frogs and will devour anything that fits into their mouths - including other frogs, even of their own species.

http://www.austinherpsociety.org/photos/amphs/bullfrog11.jpghttp://www.ravnos.org/photos/amphs/bullfrog12.jpg

Rav

[AudieV]

COOL!!! I love frogs! They always look like they have a smile on their face LOL!!! That last pic looks like the WB Frog!

[tunes]

Me too Audie - Frogs are awesome! Thanks Rav for all the pics and info. That one with the green on his back is very handsome!

[Chrisanne]

your pics are always so good Rav. Thanks for sharing

[Ravnos]

Bubba the Frog, the first picture above with his stylish hat, has made his tv debut in a Drive Clean Across Texas commercial (http://www.drivecleanacrosstexas.org/campaign_materials/tv_radio/tvspot/CreaturesEng_30.mpg) . :)

I also aquired Lump, his new stunt double.
http://www.austinherpsociety.org/photos/amphs/lump.jpg

Rav

[MistyMeanor]

Hahahaha! Thats adorable!! So you got a famous froggie huh?

[Ladybeetle911]

your frogs names crack me up...blob, lump, lol :lol2:

[Ladybeetle911]

Have you seen these? Noone I know has, except the person that gave them to me. Arent they cute? Yes they are adults.

[Prawnie]

im in heaven, frogs are my favourite animal

ive had a african bull frog and a running frog in the past, eric my bull frog was also on tv years ago lol

i have a page dedicated to frogs on my website

[AmandaDi]

Oh I missed this with the itty bitty froggies! How adoable!!!

[Prawnie]

http://www.ravnos.org/photos/amphs/blobclark.jpg

This is my Budgett's frog, Blob... a species vaguely related to the horned frog posted above. They are found in central South America. Again, like most of the rest of the big frogs, they are basically just a stomach attached to a mouth. They sit in shallow, mucky water, and eat anything and everything that comes along that fits in that mouth. :)

Rav

if u ever need a home for him when u go away just let me know lol , he's adorable

[haleybobl]

Rav,

I have wanted to get an albino Pacman frog for years now. I have done research and so on, but is there any way to get around feeding mice as they get older. I want it to be happy and healthy, but I just have a huge issue with feeding my "pets" to my other pets. I have come close many times to buying one, but I just can't bring myself to do it yet because of the feedings. Thanks for any helpful info!

[i heart animals]

im not a big fan of frogs, but those pictures are awsome !!
the one with the hat is adorable !

[Ravnos]

Rodents are certainly not a necessity in their diet. In fact, many people believe that rodents cause them to get too fat - and being very lazy creatures, too much fat generally means a shortened life span. Personally, I feed a variety of stuff - crickets, meal worms, roaches, minnows, as well as thawed feeder mice. I don't feed live rodents to any of my animals. The main reason I feed mice is because they are obviously a much larger meal. One mouse can take the place of many, many bugs - but moderation is important.

Rav

[haleybobl]

What would you say is a good feeding plan for a pacman juvinile to adult if I do not want to feed live food. Cost effective and healthy.

[Ravnos]

With frogs it is kind of hard to avoid all live food items. Amphibians often hunt by the movement of their prey items. Babies should be fed a few bugs daily. Varying sizes of crickets are usually available at pet stores that provide for reptiles/amphibians. No uneaten food should be left for more than a few minutes. Even something as unthreatening as a cricket can do quite a bit of damage to amphibian skin by biting. As the frog gets older, the feeding can go to every two or three days. Of course, increasing the amount of food. Each frog is going to be a little different so you sort of have to judge the amount to give. Some care sheets give numbers like "10 crickets a feeding" but I have never found that to be a good judge at all. Some frogs eat more at a time, some prefer less, some want bigger meals like a large minnow. If its not too gross to you, there are many providers of frozen rodents out there as well, so thawing a mouse and then wiggling it in front of you frog with tongs is another easy way to feed them something with a bit more substance. Never feed by hand, horned frogs have large bony protrusions in their mouths that are extremely sharp and quite capable of doing quite a bit of damage if they managed to bite you.

Insect food items should be gut loaded, meaning they should be fed a good diet before being fed to your frog. As well, dusting with calcium powder is not a bad idea, though I haven't found it to be entirely necessary if you're feeding a variety of stuff that has been gut loaded well.

Rav

[haleybobl]

I have 3 lizards at home already, so crickets would not be a problem at all. I just was always told that you HAVE to feed them mice. Not really my thing. Thanks for the helpful info. How do you set your cage up for these guys? Everyone I have talked to gives a different opinion on this. And do you need lighting like UVB?

[Ravnos]

Cage setup is really personal perogative. I've seen numerous setups too, from naturalistic mucky peat moss type substrate, with only a water bowl - to entirely water and no substrate at all. I prefer simplistic, makes it much easier to keep clean. In each cage I have it basically water up to their nose, with a flat rock on one end so they can get up and out of the water if they want to. Water is changed out weekly, or as needed.

I've seen them kept successfully with and without UV lighting but, personally, I think that it can only benefit them when used with a proper day/night cycle. It is known to help bring out their colors, so generally do recommend that people put UV on them.

Rav

[haleybobl]

Got it! Thanks. When I take the big plunge and decide to get one, I will post and let you know. What tank do you think would be nice (not just the bare minimum required) for a full grown one. Also, Do you need to "upgrade" tanks as they grow, or can you start them out with a big one?

[Ravnos]

They are really not generally very active. I have my little guys in Rubbermaid shoe boxes, and then move them up to 10 gallon tanks. Again, its another judgement call. If you happen to get a frog that is more active, then a larger cage is probably a good idea. They aren't big hoppers, so you generally don't need to worry about a locking lid. Good airflow is important as well.

Rav

[haleybobl]

I have a 20 gallon that I figured is more than suficient, so that's good to know. I know on everything I have read they just kinda sit there, but all of my animals are so spoiled with huge cages and tons of toys I didn't want a frog to feel left out. Thanks so much for all your help!