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Red Frog: |
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lalchitri Senior Member Joined: 06 Jun 2006 No. of posts: 132  View other posts by lalchitri |
Posted: 11 Jul 2006 I've noticed this red coloured frog thats been residing in my pond for the past week. My guess is its a common frog, but apart from its colour, it seems different in other ways also. First a pic with a common froglet in the foreground (the pic doesn't do the adults 'redness' any justice as the flash seemed to make it look slightly brown in the pic).  the major differences i've noticed are - this frog seems to be entirely water based and hasn't left the water (apart from sticking its head out at the edge) in the week that i've noticed it in the pond. other obvious common frogs i've seen in the area seem to want to get out into the garden asap. - it seems to be a lot more lethargic. when it wants to come to the surface from the bottom of the pond it will take a few strokes and then sink back down again. it will keep doing this a couple of times before reaching the top. all this despite the pond only being a foot and a half deep. - the hind legs seem to be a lot longer and the feet more webbed, but that might just be my imagination. - the eyeballs seem to be bulging out of the side of the head more. Reformed Teetotaller |
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lalchitri Senior Member Joined: 06 Jun 2006 No. of posts: 132 View other posts by lalchitri |
Posted: 11 Jul 2006 it also has a lump on either side running down its back, between the hind and front legs. this appeared to be heaving up and down today. the snout is also a lot more rounded if you compare it to the common froglet in the above pic. heres a close up pic  Reformed Teetotaller |
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GemmaJF Admin Group Joined: 25 Jan 2003 No. of posts: 2090  View other posts by GemmaJF |
Posted: 11 Jul 2006 It is a common frog, though it doesn't look like a very well one. I've also observed these bulging eyed, oddly marked and generally unhealthy common frogs and noted the more rounded snouts of many of them.. I've not got the answer as to why (though there are some suggestions floating around I've yet to see any serious research), but they are not at all like healthy common frogs are they? The bulge could be some form of parasitic infection.
Gemma Fairchild, Independent Ecological Consultant |
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lalchitri Senior Member Joined: 06 Jun 2006 No. of posts: 132 View other posts by lalchitri |
Posted: 18 Jul 2006 from the pics i have posted, does it appear to be a redleg sufferer? as far as i know, redness in redleg is from bleeding under the skin. in my frog the redness appears to be the skins actual colouration. would you agree? whats the normal lifespan once a frog gets redleg? as an update the frog is still alive and well, is more active than before, but has still not left the ponds main body in two weeks (is this due to the hot weather?). it does leave the water though and sits on the ponds edge under a log jutting out from the water. in fact thats were most of the frogs in the pond tend to congregate (damp and lots of insects). when i checked today there were two adults and three froglets there. the other adult was also reddish-brown (though not as much as the thread subject and it was an overall colour unlike the mottling of the above) but didn't have the bulging eyes and rounded snout. the froglets are all of a normal green-brown colour. Reformed Teetotaller |
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lalchitri Senior Member Joined: 06 Jun 2006 No. of posts: 132 View other posts by lalchitri |
Posted: 18 Jul 2006 an updated pic old subject in background. new entry in the foreground. also 3 young 'uns.  Reformed Teetotaller |
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GemmaJF Admin Group Joined: 25 Jan 2003 No. of posts: 2090 View other posts by GemmaJF |
Posted: 18 Jul 2006 Hi, I don't think the general colouration is indicative of redleg, however I have seen such individuals show what I believed to be the symptoms of the disease such as broken veins in the legs and local haemorrhage. I'm not sure but I favour some form of genetic or environmental factor for these odd frogs, I'm fairly sure frogs just didn't look like this 20 years ago! Gemma Fairchild, Independent Ecological Consultant |
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lalchitri Senior Member Joined: 06 Jun 2006 No. of posts: 132 View other posts by lalchitri |
Posted: 18 Jul 2006 thanks for your help gemma. thats a relief i suppose.  Reformed Teetotaller |
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Molliecat Member Joined: 24 Jul 2006 No. of posts: 4  View other posts by Molliecat |
Posted: 24 Jul 2006 I have a red frog too. We count around fifty frogs emerging from our small koi pond each evening as we switch on the lawn sprinkler. We first noticed the red frog about a week ago... it is one of the larger frogs, and seems healthy and active - it is, however, blood red in appearance. I have never seen anything like it before. |
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Molliecat Member Joined: 24 Jul 2006 No. of posts: 4 View other posts by Molliecat |
Posted: 25 Jul 2006 Here he is. Would appreciate your comments.
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lalchitri Senior Member Joined: 06 Jun 2006 No. of posts: 132 View other posts by lalchitri |
Posted: 26 Oct 2006 red is still well and alive. here's a pic of him i took this morning. he's been joined by another regular who seems to be gaining weight at an astonishing rate. has anyone else seen a frog as fat as this. i haven't and am not sure of the reason. his braveness seems to be growing with his size also!  Reformed Teetotaller |
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lalchitri Senior Member Joined: 06 Jun 2006 No. of posts: 132 View other posts by lalchitri |
Posted: 26 Oct 2006
Reformed Teetotaller |
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lalchitri Senior Member Joined: 06 Jun 2006 No. of posts: 132 View other posts by lalchitri |
Posted: 10 Feb 2007 forgot to mention at the time, but the fat frog died a few days after these pics were taken and posted. it was found at the bottom of my pond. it had grown so huge that it had real difficulty moving on land and in the water. i guessed it fell to the bottom of the water, had difficulty swimming to the surface and drowned slowly. i still can't guess what made it grow from a normal size to such a mammoth in a matter of weeks. Reformed Teetotaller |
- Red Frog |
