Grow-a-Frog roll call?

[d.g.]

I ordered a Grow a Frog kit yesterday. I know what I'm getting myself into, I've been researching ACFs for a few weeks trying to decide if the committment was worth it. After all, we have a pond across the street that might have tadpoles in it come spring, and those can be released afterward. Eventually it came down to whether we wanted another "odd" pet, and the answer was yes.

 

I know there have to be a few Grow-a-Frog grads here, likely with frogs still kicking, so to speak. Can we get a roll call? How old are your frogs, how many do you have, and what are they *really* like as part of your family? Do you keep any other animals in with your frogs? Most importantly, knowing what you know now, would you do it again?

 

Also, do any of you have the "rare, white frog"? My 6yo ds really, really wants a white one, but I'm not sure if it's worth it, kwim?

[cjzimmer1]

Well I don't have mine anymore because they were just too much for us. My sister bought the kit for my kids thinking they were DWARF African frogs which we have had many times with our fish.

 

So we ended up with 2, a male and a female. Despite the literature that said they rarely mate outside of a laboratory, Ours mated every time I changed the water. Since initially they were in the little tube tank they sell (because we thought they would only get an inch or so big), that was a weekly occurrence.

 

They are messy frogs and produce A LOT of waste. Things were better when I moved them into a 15 gallon tank but from the research I read, even that was really too small for 2 of them (with no other occupents). They got quite big. The male was about 4 inches from nose to rear and the female was about 6 inches.

 

They were fun to watch (when they weren't mating), they were quite friendly and liked to play with the kids fingers.

 

We had our about 9 months but I was seriously grossed out about the amount of mess and extreme mating they did, that we finally gave ours to a local pet store. They sold them in less than 48 hours so hopefully the new owners knew what they were getting because we sure didn't.

[lisabees]

We had one for years! It was an easy pet. Always a conversation starter. We kept him in our kitchen. When they get big, they are kinda creepy. But, yea, I'd do it all over again if I didn't want a real pet.

 

We moved on to a crested gecko. That's an awesome pet too (in addition to our dog and cat).

 

Have fun! ;)

 

eta: Oh yea, the mating!!! I would get soooo angry with the male!!!!! It was a happy day when he finally died. :)

Edited December 1, 2010 by lisabees

[d.g.]

Well I don't have mine anymore because they were just too much for us. My sister bought the kit for my kids thinking they were DWARF African frogs which we have had many times with our fish.

 

So we ended up with 2, a male and a female. Despite the literature that said they rarely mate outside of a laboratory, Ours mated every time I changed the water. Since initially they were in the little tube tank they sell (because we thought they would only get an inch or so big), that was a weekly occurrence.

 

They are messy frogs and produce A LOT of waste. Things were better when I moved them into a 15 gallon tank but from the research I read, even that was really too small for 2 of them (with no other occupents). They got quite big. The male was about 4 inches from nose to rear and the female was about 6 inches.

 

They were fun to watch (when they weren't mating), they were quite friendly and liked to play with the kids fingers.

 

We had our about 9 months but I was seriously grossed out about the amount of mess and extreme mating they did, that we finally gave ours to a local pet store. They sold them in less than 48 hours so hopefully the new owners knew what they were getting because we sure didn't.

 

I'd heard the small tanks didn't last long. These will eventually be going in a 29 gallon tank we acquired from my MIL a couple of weeks ago. You say the mess was gross...did you have any sort of filter system? I'm still deciding on whether to go with one or not.

 

We had one for years! It was an easy pet. Always a conversation starter. We kept him in our kitchen. When they get big, they are kinda creepy. But, yea, I'd do it all over again if I didn't want a real pet.

 

We moved on to a crested gecko. That's an awesome pet too (in addition to our dog and cat).

 

Have fun! ;)

 

eta: Oh yea, the mating!!! I would get soooo angry with the male!!!!! It was a happy day when he finally died. :)

 

We like creepy around here. Compared to our Hissers, I'm pretty sure frogs won't cause much of a stir.

[sbgrace]

We had two. They live with my brother in law now. I didn't know what I was getting into in terms of long term pet. They are about 3 years old I think.

[yslek]

B got a kit last February. We think he got a mutant tadpole or something. :D It stayed a tadpole for about six months, and then took forever to grow some tiny, spindly legs. He's had the legs (and quite a good-sized tail) for the last three months or so. No signs of further change. :001_huh:

[cjzimmer1]

29 gallon sounds about right for 2 of them. I recall reading they needing about 10-15 gallons of water PER frog.

 

There was a yahoo group that I joined that had lots of information about frogs in general but the bulk of them where the African Clawed Frogs. They ran of rescue of some sort too as there were lots of people like me who had grow-a-frogs but were completely unprepared for what they were getting.

 

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/FroggyFriends/?yguid=96193140

 

Hopefully the link works for you but if not go to yahoo groups and search for FroggyFriends.

 

As far as filters go. I didn't have one in the tube tank as it was the center piece for our kitchen table (which was perfectly fine and fun conversation piece as long as they weren't mating) and I didn't want a cord there where it would get tripped over.

 

Once I moved them into the big tank, I had these foam filters that grow a frog sold. They helped (as did the additional water) but they were no where near as efficient as a fish tank filter. I think I had read that the fish filters weren't good choices for the frog hence the reason I bought the foam ones. In hindsight, I would just use the fish filters and the mess probably wouldn't have been as much of an issue. When I took them to the pet store, they just dumped them in a fish tank (with their filters at all), so maybe I was in error about the type of filter to use.

 

They weren't bad pets, they were fun to watch, but I was pregnant and totally unprepared for a pet at that time. The dwarf frogs, I could have handled but the big ones require a bit more maintenance that I had the energy to put into them. Plus the mating was bad. They didn't hit that stage till about the last month to month and half that we had them but I know I counted at least 5 different episodes (for lack of a better description) in about 6 weeks and each one lasted for days. The hundreds if not thousands of eggs also really messed up the tank. I left the eggs in the tank hoping they would eat them all. They got most of them. After I got rid of the frog, I left a couple of inches of water in the tank because I promised the kids I would get some fish if they let me get rid of them frogs. The pet store said the best was to keep some water and add fresh to get the bacteria cycle off to a good start. Well I drained the water except a few inches and filled up jugs of water to declorinate it. They I came down with the flu and ignored the tank for 3 weeks. When I went back to the tank, I found an tadpole swimming around the tank. I not sorry to say I quickly flushed him before the kids spotted him because I know they would have wanted to keep it.

 

But if you know what you are getting into (which it sounds like you do), they are probably fine pets.

[MamaSheep]

We've had hissers too! They only lived about a year, though.

 

Our two frogs are about seven years old. They're definitely a conversation starter and all the kids neighborhood friends like to check in on them whenever they visit. We took them to school once for show and tell when dd was in first grade and let some of the kids hand feed them a few worms, and dd was the most popular kid in class for a long time after. She took the hissers in too. Also, the worms came from our worm compost bin and we took a bunch of those in and let them devour some old homework in a tub on the counter for a week or so (the worms ate my homework!). I'm sure her teacher thought we lived in a zoo...lol.

 

Anyway, yes, they can be fun and they each definitely have their own little froggy personalities. We have a male and a female too, and they do seem to mate after massive water changes, but mostly when the water has gotten particularly swampy (which they don't seem to mind much, but it does smell after a while). Ours have only actually laid eggs maybe 4 times in the years we've had them. If you don't do anything about it they eat all the eggs, though, and you don't have to worry about it. Unless it traumatizes the kids. We did pull a few out a couple of times to see if they would hatch. We had one batch that did, but all the tadpoles died pretty soon after. I think we may have used some tainted water (it "said" spring water on the label, but I think it had some additives). They do like to snuggle each other, though, eggs or no eggs. One of ours is easy to hand feed, the other (male) tends to be very shy and skittish.

 

Our male is an albino. We originally ordered 2 tadpoles and one of them died, but they have a replacement guarantee. We needed to get a froglet about the same stage as our other one, though, so nobody would eat anybody else, and they let me request an albino froglet. The customer service people were very friendly and helpful.

 

We don't keep any other critters in with our frogs. They will eat anything that will fit in their mouths. A while back we had some large apple snails in there with them, but I think the last one got picked out of its shell and eaten. We have sometimes gotten feeder fish or ghost shrimp for them, and ds and dh really enjoyed watching them hunt, but seriously, anything living that is small enough to fit in their mouths WILL be eaten. Fish are food, not friends. You might be able to keep them with something like an oscar of similar size--I don't know, we haven't tried. But definitely do not put these in with your child's beloved guppies.

 

Knowing now would I do it again? I'm not sure. The literature it came with said they only live about 5 years. I have since read on the internet that they can live up to 20 years. If my dd wasn't so in love with them I might see if I could find them another home because I do get a little tired of changing swampy water. But a filter does help. We have the kind that hangs on the side of the tank. I've seen people say that filters are not good with them because it disturbs their lateral line system, but our frogs like to frolic in the little waterfall, and they don't seem to be suffering from it. If they did, I'd take it out. I dunno...they're kind of fun. I do wish I'd been better informed about their life-span, but we have definitely enjoyed them here.

[Jenny in Atl]

We've had a number of frogs (currently have three African-clawed-blind- albinos). Frogs are not hard to care for, and I love it when they sing.

[d.g.]

Wow, thanks for all the info, gals. It's helping confirm my conclusion that this is an involved pet, but a fun one. We don't mind changing swampy water...it'll just go on our houseplant jungle or our outdoor plants. All the nitrogen should be great for them! The mating...well, we'll deal with that if/when we get there. Could be a great "show" for one of my SILs, she might never come back for a visit. :lol:

 

Now we just have to figure out a name or several. Hmmm...off to research frog tales other than The Frog Prince...

[Cindy in the NH Woods]

I would make sure you have plenty of aquarium sand for tank changes. Our poor African Clawed frog (Esme) may have kicked the bucket when we switched to gravel. She probably got a blockage as these frogs sweep their food into their mouth with their front claws. (We thought this was cute to watch.) :) She would also lay eggs. And then eat them. Caviar anyone? This was not fun to watch.

 

When her tank got dirty, the odor was enough to make me want to throw up; kind of rotten egg like. She was a dirty girl, but friendly and cute.

[MamaSheep]

I would make sure you have plenty of aquarium sand for tank changes. Our poor African Clawed frog (Esme) may have kicked the bucket when we switched to gravel. She probably got a blockage as these frogs sweep their food into their mouth with their front claws. (We thought this was cute to watch.) :) She would also lay eggs. And then eat them. Caviar anyone? This was not fun to watch.

 

When her tank got dirty, the odor was enough to make me want to throw up; kind of rotten egg like. She was a dirty girl, but friendly and cute.

 

Yeah, I hear gravel will do that. We actually have some chunky decorator type rocks in the bottom of our tank because I don't like dealing with the sand, and they seem to work fine. Just so they're too big to eat.

 

Oh, and to the OP, I should probably have said before that those extras we have fed them aren't really necessary. They do fine on pellet food for reptiles and don't need live food, unlike some frogs. My dh and kids just like to feed them random critters for the food-chainey fun of it and because they think it must be boring for a natural-born hunter to sit in a tank eating dry pellets their whole life. Finding a good balance in the amount you feed them helps with keeping the water cleaner, btw. Uneaten food sitting around makes it yucky faster than the frog poop.

Edited December 1, 2010 by MamaSheep

[scubamama]

I saved my allowance and got a Grow a Frog in 2nd grade....it was still going strong when I left for college!

My mom called it the "Forever Frog"...I had to give it to a neighbor with a fish tank before I went off to college b/c my parents were not going to take care of Croaker....:lol:

I think it finally died sometime in my Juniour year.

Man, that allowance went into a long term purchase there!

 

Michele

[d.g.]

Yeah, I hear gravel will do that. We actually have some chunky decorator type rocks in the bottom of our tank because I don't like dealing with the sand, and they seem to work fine. Just so they're too big to eat.

 

Oh, and to the OP, I should probably have said before that those extras we have fed them aren't really necessary. They do fine on pellet food for reptiles and don't need live food, unlike some frogs. My dh and kids just like to feed them random critters for the food-chainey fun of it and because they think it must be boring for a natural-born hunter to sit in a tank eating dry pellets their whole life. Finding a good balance in the amount you feed them helps with keeping the water cleaner, btw. Uneaten food sitting around makes it yucky faster than the frog poop.

 

We're planning on large "river stones" or similar for our tank. Sand just sounded like a mess to keep clean and I'm pretty sure rocks will look better.

 

I know they don't need live food, but ds would be mad if I didn't let him see how the frogs "hunt" live food. Do your frogs have a favorite "treat"?

 

scubamama -- that's impressive!! I'd say you definitely got your money's worth!!

[Mommy22alyns]

When her tank got dirty, the odor was enough to make me want to throw up; kind of rotten egg like.

 

 

That's why ours became pets at DH's work before they made their great escape. :001_huh: They were really cute and smart though; they'd come and get their food right off the spoon.