Need advice about wild-caught amphibians and other animals. Very important.

[Wayfarin]

Hello, folks!
This thread is being posted for a rather urgent reason.
We currently have a wild-caught young American bullfrog. We've only had it for a few days.
We've been feeding it freeze-dried crickets and mealworms. It also ate a tadpole that was caught from the same pond.
Because it is wild-caught, and because bullfrogs are rather large and high-maintenance, we were thinking of releasing it. I don't want it to die in captivity prematurely.
However, there is one thing that concerns me. Is it safe to release it?
We intend to release it where we found it. However, I'm a little concerned that we might somehow cause harm to either the frog or other wild animals by releasing it.
Is it safe to release frogs (and other animals, for that matter) that have been in captivity for a few days? Will released amphibians die? Do they spread disease?
I only want to do what is truly best for the frog, as well as the other animals in the pond.
I will NOT euthanize it!
Any input would be very much appreciated. Thanks!
God bless!

 

[viper69]

Very little of what you wrote makes sense

Release it where you found it!

 

[HooahArmy]

I second viper69; you ought to release it. In the short time it spent with you, it should not have picked up anything nasty. Rather, it might have brought pathogens into your home, as frog skin naturally harbors salmonella and other bacteria and fungi as well.
The frog was doing well in its natural habitat and that's where it belongs. Once released, it should have no problem establishing a new home or even finding a new home and catching prey once again. It won't die since it was wild-caught to start and should instinctively know how to survive. Keeping a wild-caught frog however could stress it intensely, and that in turn could cause it death. Send the little fella home and it'll be jolly once you do so!

 

[kingshockey]

you shouldnt be catching animals and taking em home unless your ready to care/keep em properly otherwise just catch and release the same day where you caught them at. even though you plan to release the frog all you managed was to put it into a high stress situation along with feeding it freeze dried bugs rather than its normal natural live food just my opinion only.

 

[Wayfarin]

you shouldnt be catching animals and taking em home unless your ready to care/keep em properly otherwise just catch and release the same day where you caught them at. even though you plan to release the frog all you managed was to put it into a high stress situation along with feeding it freeze dried bugs rather than its normal natural live food just my opinion only.

Honestly, I did want to keep it, and I was ready to prepare to provide it with whatever it needed. But I generally believe in keeping captive-bred animals over wild-caught ones, which is why I'm releasing it.
It's not very stressed at all, although it was initially in the beginning. It pounces on anything that moves near its face, so I can't even stick my finger in there!
I know that freeze-fried insects are not nutritionally complete, but they are high in protein and better than nothing. I would not deprive a captive frog of live prey, and the reason I'm not feeding it live insects is because I don't want to accidentally spread a parasite to it that it in turn could spread to something else.
Freeze-dried insects are basically sterile.

 

[Wayfarin]

All right, it's going to be released right back where we caught it. Thanks for the advice!

(By the way, bullfrogs are native here. They are not invasive or naturalized.)

 

[Dry Desert]

All right, it's going to be released right back where we caught it. Thanks for the advice!

(By the way, bullfrogs are native here. They are not invasive or naturalized.)

There are many native wild species here in the UK.

Doesn't mean I have to go out and catch them.

Don't understand you people.

Just leave things alone and don't interfere - this applies to just about everything else these days !!

 

[Wayfarin]

There are many native wild species here in the UK.

Doesn't mean I have to go out and catch them.

Don't understand you people.

Just leave things alone and don't interfere - this applies to just about everything else these days !!

I meant that it's safe to release a native species. Bullfrogs are not native to the UK, but they are native here.

To each their own, I guess. Where I live, often the only way to access a native amphibian as a pet is to catch it from the wild.
Any wild-caught amphibian kept in captivity often has the benefit of a long lifespan due to a lack of predators.
(The one we caught had a small scar on it's leg, possibly from a larger bullfrog There is also an otter that forages in that pond.)
But the negative impact of taking an amphibian out of the wild is that there is one less breeding individual to keep the species going.
For endangered species, this can lead to extinction in the wild. Even common species would become endangered if everyone was capturing them.
(Also, some amphibians are too stressed to keep for very long.)
For anyone who wants a pet reptile or amphibian, I suggest that they be captive-bred.

However, I think that the best and most pleasurable way to have "pet" native amphibians would be to build an outdoor pond for them, which we happen to be looking into. We've had green frogs, bullfrogs, and even a painted turtle wandering around our town with no pond to colonize. I want to change that.

(If I still decide I want a bullfrog, there are often tadpoles available as free "hitchhikers" with feeder fish at pets stores that cannot be released into the wild.)

 

[Smotzer]

If it came from the wild from a particular area it can and should go back to the wild in the same particular area lol

 

[Wolf135]

You should probably release it where you found it, wild aminals tend to get stressed in captivity, especially when they're fully grown.
Not to mention taking aminals can hurt natural habitats.

 

[Frogdaddy]

As long as the bullfrog was not exposed to other captive amphibians or cross contaminated by using husbandry tools you should be ok. I would hate to spread chytrid to a wild population.

 

[Wayfarin]

If it came from the wild from a particular area it can and should go back to the wild in the same particular area lol

It's already been released back where it came from.

 

[Wayfarin]

As long as the bullfrog was not exposed to other captive amphibians or cross contaminated by using husbandry tools you should be ok. I would hate to spread chytrid to a wild population.

We disinfected our tweezers by soaking them in a vinegar and soapy water solution for about 30 minutes to an hour. We only have reptiles, so there's likely little risk of chytrid fungus. The spread of chytrid fungus was one of the reasons I posted this thread, but I'm convinced that there is little risk of spreading it.
The bullfrog has already been released back where it came from.

 

[Frogdaddy]

We disinfected our tweezers by soaking them in a vinegar and soapy water solution for about 30 minutes to an hour. We only have reptiles, so there's likely little risk of chytrid fungus. The spread of chytrid fungus was one of the reasons I posted this thread, but I'm convinced that there is little risk of spreading it.
The bullfrog has already been released back where it came from.

Excellent. I'm glad you were thoughtful enough to realize the possibilities. Just for future reference a simple bleach solution is adequate for disinfecting husbandry tools. 1 part bleach to 9 parts water will do the trick.

 

[Wayfarin]

Excellent. I'm glad you were thoughtful enough to realize the possibilities. Just for future reference a simple bleach solution is adequate for disinfecting husbandry tools. 1 part bleach to 9 parts water will do the trick.

For the future, I think I'm going to minimize sharing husbandry tools for the most part anyways. I don't have a large collection of reptiles and amphibians, so we can afford to have tweezers and other tools for each animal.