FrogZilla

Her Royal Highness The Lady Bullfrog has been the lone bullfrog
in the pond for years. When she first showed up I assigned her
capture to two teenage boys supplied with nets, pizza and pop.
They spent the whole day out by the bog and never caught her.
Such bravery and tricksey-ness must be rewarded so we left
HRH TLB alone and the worried decimation of the native frogs
never happened.
Two days ago I was looking out at the pond, from the house, and
spotted the biggest bullfrog I've ever seen! Youngest son stalked
the frog and confirmed it was a suitor frog, a male. He managed to
get a picture
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...rogzilla-1.jpg

So HRH TLB has a boyfriend. How romantic.

k :-)



kathy

Big boy arrives!

Jim

Phyllis and Jim wrote:
> Big boy arrives!
>
> Jim
>
You don't have anything to judge the size by, but I would guess maybe
2-3". We had "buffo"? frogs in Florida that were 5-6" in diameter.
Scared my dogs. Believe they were also poisonous. That's a frog.

Chip

Chip wrote:

> Phyllis and Jim wrote:
>> Big boy arrives!
>>
>> Jim
>>
> You don't have anything to judge the size by, but I would guess maybe
> 2-3". We had "buffo"? frogs in Florida that were 5-6" in diameter.
> Scared my dogs. Believe they were also poisonous. That's a frog.

"Bufo" is just the genus name for toads - the American Toad /Bufo
Americanus/ being the most common in North America. I suspect, though
(especially at that size) that you're talking about Cane Toads /Bufo
Marinus/ - and yes, they're poisonous (I think pretty well all frogs and
toads are at least a little toxic).
--
derek

On Mon, 26 May 2008 20:29:35 EDT, Derek Broughton
<> wrote:

>> You don't have anything to judge the size by, but I would guess maybe
>> 2-3". We had "buffo"? frogs in Florida that were 5-6" in diameter.
>> Scared my dogs. Believe they were also poisonous. That's a frog.
>
>"Bufo" is just the genus name for toads - the American Toad /Bufo
>Americanus/ being the most common in North America. I suspect, though
>(especially at that size) that you're talking about Cane Toads /Bufo
>Marinus/ - and yes, they're poisonous (I think pretty well all frogs and
>toads are at least a little toxic).

There may be something in the skin, but I never noticed any toxic
reaction as I was hunting or skinning American bullfrogs and the meat
is delicious.
--
Hal Middle Georgia, Zone 8
http://tinyurl.com/2fxzcb

Yup, toads are nasty tasting, they have these
glands on their backs that provide them with a
defense mechanism.
Bullfrogs were first brought out West as menu
items. They escaped the ponds where they
were farmed and now are all over the place.
Plus ponds shops and nurseries started
selling the tadpoles for pond pets.
These are probably great grandchildren of
ones I got when we first put in the pond.

k :-)

Hal wrote:

> On Mon, 26 May 2008 20:29:35 EDT, Derek Broughton
> <> wrote:
>
>>> You don't have anything to judge the size by, but I would guess maybe
>>> 2-3". We had "buffo"? frogs in Florida that were 5-6" in diameter.
>>> Scared my dogs. Believe they were also poisonous. That's a frog.
>>
>>"Bufo" is just the genus name for toads - the American Toad /Bufo
>>Americanus/ being the most common in North America. I suspect, though
>>(especially at that size) that you're talking about Cane Toads /Bufo
>>Marinus/ - and yes, they're poisonous (I think pretty well all frogs and
>>toads are at least a little toxic).
>
> There may be something in the skin, but I never noticed any toxic
> reaction as I was hunting or skinning American bullfrogs and the meat
> is delicious.

We eat things all the time that contain toxins (oxalic acid being the most
common, iirc), so that doesn't mean much. But I agree that bullfrogs are
certainly not very poisonous. I think they all produce some amount of the
same sorts of toxin though (ah, for the good old days when you could find
professional herpetologists on rec.ponds).

Cane toads, though, are _very_ poisonous. They kill dogs...
--
derek

Yesterday I noticed that the tadpoles had transformed and we now have
a new crop of little froggies! There were three lined up in a row on
the ledge of the veggie filter for their first airing. Also, the
leopard frogs are hanging around the little frog pond. I'll keep a
look out for the egg mass.
Bonnie
NJ