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               SALUTING THE AMERICAN BULLFROG!  
	
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                              An Item From:   
			The Wildlife Garden Forum

                         North American Bullfrogs
                           Posted by Edd Harris 
                             eddmg@prodigy.net   
 
     The American Bullfrog, Rana catesbeiana (Shaw), our largest native 
frog, is nomally found from New England south and west to the Rockies, 
but has been introduced to many other areas. This was done officially, 
by state fish and game departments, and also through individual efforts. 
Ever since, Big Bull has been increasingly blamed for a host of ecological 
problems, ranging from eating fish and ducklings, wiping out other native 
frogs to just disrupting nature in general.
     In California, imported bullfrogs (and their voracious tadpoles)
have been cited for the near extinction of the native red-legged frog, 
Rana aurora, and several related cousins.
     There seems to be no middle ground, when it comes to bullfrogs....
	
     "Some people hate them with a passion and think they should be wiped 
out, while others love them and raise them in ponds and fish pools.
     What do you think of bullfrogs? Should we raise them in our ponds, 
or discourage them in any way possible? Below is a good site to learn about
our native bullfrogs...."    

                    	A Follow-Up Posting:  

    RE: North American Bullfrogs, Posted by: Bill Bevil (bbevil3@juno.com)
    As you know from my postings on the Frog Forum, I am still on the fence
regarding Bullfrogs. I really don't think there's any harm in introducing 
them to an urban wildlife garden, especially since these locales are often 
devoid of any amphibians at all. I will probably break down and buy some 
bullfrog tadpoles...having them is better than having nothing at all!  
     Speaking of BUYING, though, wouldn't it be great if there were vendors 
out there who sold tadpoles for species other than Bullfrogs?  I personally 
would rather use another species if I had a choice, just because there is 
so much controversy, but the only way I'm gonna get them is by collecting 
them from the wild.  Bill   (Comment: See Frog Kit, above!)


			 Bullfrog At Home:  

     The following is taken from an Ohio source, but is applicable to much 
of New England and Middle America:

"An Introduction to the Natural History of the Frogs and Toads of Ohio."




                         "A Big Hanfulla Boo-Frawg...!" 

     The bullfrog is Ohio's largest frog, reaching a body length of from 
four to seven inches (100-175 mm).  Very aquatic, it seldom ventures far 
from permanent ponds, lakes or large streams and rivers. It emerges from 
hibernation and becomes active in April but prefers warmer weather and 
doesn't really begin calling at breeding sites until mid to late May. 
(In Connecticut mid-May is more typical of bullfrog emergance.) 
Their sonorous calls can be heard into late-July, or even August, but some 
individuals may remain active until early October. Farther south, in the
latitude of Philadelphia, solitary individuals are reported to remain
active in spring-houses the year-around.

     The skin typically varies from olive brown through shades of green, 
with spots or blotches scattered about the back. Age, light and temperature 
are also influencing factors.
     Bullfrogs lack the dorso-lateral folds characteristic of other frogs,
like their smaller cousins the Green Frog, Rana Clamitans (LeConte). Adult
sex can be determined by comparing diameter of the tympanic membrane or
"ear disk" relative to that of the eye; in males, it is much larger than 
the eye, while in females it is equal to or smaller. The male's throat is 
often bright yellow, whereas females have an off-white pale yellow mottled 
throat.

     Male frogs call to both attract potential mates and to proclaim their 
territory. They have paired vocal sacs, sometimes likened to built-in
Helmholtz Resonators. Their low-frequency bass-fiddle calls can be heard 
booming over a distance of a kilometer from breeding sites.  The sound is 
reminiscent of a bull bellowing in the distance, hence their common name. 
Spectrograms of typical calls show a 300 Hz scan with 0.6 second duration.
     After uttering challenges to encroaching males, real combat can 
develop, the two contestants trying to clasp each other in seeming death-
grips. (Biting does not appear a typical combat option, but only-slightly 
smaller rival males may very well end up by going head-first..."down the 
hatch!")

    Mating occurrs in shallow water, or even under water. Fertilized eggs, 
averaging 1.3 mm diameter, are laid in a jelly-like surface mass. Up to 
20,000 eggs may be produced by a single large female.  These hatch in four 
or five days, depending on water temperature.  
     Bullfrog tadpoles are olive-brown on back and sides. Body, tail, and 
crests are dotted with small dark spots having distinct, sharply defined 
margins. Tadpole development is comparatively slow, with up to three years 
required to achieve a 70-140 mm length usually attained before metamorphisis. 
Rear legs appear first, and may be present for a full year. The front legs 
appear only at the very end of transition, erupting from now-useless gill 
openings, as lungs evolve. The head shape changes radically, with elevated 
eye-sockets and a wide mouth. Though a full-fledged air-breather, the new 
froglet keeps his tadpole tail for some time, drawing upon its food reserves 
while learning to hunt moving prey, and to avoid being eaten by almost every 
other creature in the pond...including its own canibalistic parents....



  "Great set of legs on you, kid!  What say we do lunch together...?" 

     Two to four years are necessary for a bullfrog to reach sexual maturity. 
In the wild a frog may live from seven to nine years, (with a good measure of 
luck!) while the record for captive specimens has reached 16 years.



                       American Bullfrog Range 

     As noted by frog calls in several Connecticut ponds, bullfrogs tend to 
take over smaller bodies of water, and may well eat their green frog cousins 
out of house and home. After consuming every moving thing in sight, including 
their own smaller offspring, the big guys then become the prey of such
predators as herons, raccoons, snakes and various members of the Mink Family. 
Smaller frogs then slowly replentish the local amphibian scene...until the 
return of R. C. Shaw...!

			 Bullfrog Abroad:  

    In Japan, where he was introduced to rice-paddy culture ca 1920,
the bullfrog is known as both: Tonosama-Gaeru and Ushi-Gaeru.

				*	*	*

		        Bullfrog On-line:

http://ag.ansc.purdue.edu/aquanic/publicat/govagen/nal/frog_culture.htm
 FROG CULTURE Aquatopic. Robert S. Isenstein, August 1995. Aqua-Topics
 Aquaculture Information Center National Agricultural Library...
 P76 1990 1988. Lester, D.  Raising bullfrogs on non-living food...?

http://bullfrogs-louisiana.com/		Bullfrogs have been an interest of 
 mine for many years. I have done extensive work on the challenges involved 
 in feeding Bullfrogs in captivity. Is eating non-moving food possible...?

http://dnr.metrokc.gov/wlr/waterres/amphibian/bullfrog.htm  Bullfrog ID
 in King County. New ponds especially for raising bullfrogs. 

http://www.conservation.state.mo.us/conmag/1995/jul/jul6.html Raising Tadpoles
 Have you wondered what it takes to raise tadpoles into frogs...? 

http://www.cs.uh.edu/~clifton/helpdesk3.html	The Help Desk, by  Margaret 
 and Clif "My son is interested in raising bullfrogs for commercial use...."

http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/caer/ce/eek/teacher/frogact.htm "EEEK! Raising 
 Frogs in the Classroom" by Dreux Watermolen, Bureau of Integrated Science 
 Service, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Hatching frog eggs and 
 raising larval amphibians to metamorphosis can be a Big Leap....

http://www.gramps.com/text/biz2/r0163.htm	RAISING AND MARKETING EXOTIC 
 ANIMALS FOR PROFIT. The business of raising and selling rare/unusual animals,
 where both expenses and profits are much bigger than normal. 

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=000ANg y2k 
 Frog Legs?  I ate wild frog legs (smoked) as a kid. Any info on raising/
 growing frogs for y2k food? I remember they tasted like chicken....

http://www.mda.state.md.us/aqua/frogs.	Bullfrogs. Compiled by: Ann Townsend 
 Young, US Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service  National 
 Agricultural Library Alternative Farming Systems Information Center,
 Beltsville, Maryland..."Raising bullfrogs on non-living food."

http://www.oit.itd.umich.edu/bio/doc.cgi/Chordata/Lissamphibia/Anura/Ranidae/
Ranacatesbeiana.ftl     North American Bullfrogs

http://www.safelink.net/bullfrog/   Rana Ranch Bullfrog Farm features captive
 bred, commercially raised bullfrogs.

http://www.sonic.net/melissk/index.html	Melissa Kaplan's Herp Information
 Collection  "Nothing happens in contradiction to nature, only in contra-
 diction to what we know of it."

http://www.ualberta.ca/~rswan/ERAAS/bullfrog.htm  Class Amphibia includes 
 Frogs, Toads, Salamanders, and worm-like Caecilians....

			
		     Some Closing Observations... 

     LIFE, it has been said, could be a hell of a lot simpler... 
just raising Bullfrogs!

     Of course, there ARE problems, as you watch your little tadpoles grow 
up into bearers of marketable frog legs. You might go out to the pool some 
fine morning, and there are all your prize breeders floating upside-down, 
done in overnight by the Fast-Fatal French Frog Flu!
     Long legs extend down into the turgid waters, distended white bellies 
gleam dully, and little front hands clutch out, as in futile supplication 
to the Indifferent Overcast Above....

     So, you may as well buck up and hit that old road, with this bit 
of great tried-and-true advice in mind:

		"As you struggle through this life, Pal,
		 Whatever be your Goal,
		 Keep your eye upon the Doughnut,
		 And NOT upon the Hole....!"

				*	*	*