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ronalda4

overwintering blue morph frog - Mich zone 5

ronalda4
11 years ago

I found a blue morph frog living in my 3500 gal garden pool in June. {{gwi:226991}}

Problem is the pond was way too much upkeep for me to handle. We tried to save the frog before demolition but he got away. Three weeks later we finished our down-sized 300 gallon pond and guess who came back?

I love my new 300 gallon livestock tank pond about 22" deep and actually more beautiful than the previous one. We have an shallow upper pool that cascades down to deeper one. I looked up blue moph frogs online and found that they are quite rare. If he /she tries to winter over in my 22" pond I fear he will die. I could turn him loose in the swamp but he is so beautiful and unique I would like to see him again next year. I had frogs die in my lined pond that was 4 feet deep. Is the danger to the frog during the winter a lack of O2 or the cold? Any suggestions how to keep him alive?

Comments (10)

  • NaturesFolly
    11 years ago

    Make sure that you have an open area in the pond so that the gasses can escape, I use an air pump from Foster and Smith.. it has saved my fish and frogs for 3 years now because the pond does not freeze over completely.

  • ronalda4
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    I plan on using both a bubbler and a horse water heater. The only success I had on my larger pool was when I threw 2 old outdoor chair cushions in the pond for the winter. Maybe I'll cut one in half to throw in my little pond.

  • NaturesFolly
    11 years ago

    After doing a search on "Blue Morph Frogs"... I do not believe that is what you have, I believe that they are a more tropical frog and cannot survive in our zone.. could I ask how you came to believe it was a Blue morph frog?

  • ronalda4
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    I sent the above photo to 7 Ponds Nature Center and they identified it. They tell me that he is a green frog whose yellow coloring gene is missing - since yellow and blue make green minus the yellow gene frog becomes blue. We live out in the country in Oxford MI - no neighbors. Never had a tropical frog. Did you notice his black eyes. No gold colored iris - in one eye - other eye has trace of iris. Google "blue bullfrog".

  • ronalda4
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    I just googled blue morph and found that was not what I should call him. He doesn't look anything like a blue morph. He is a blue mutation of a green frog. I shorted that to blue morph not knowing there already is an actual tropical "blue morph".

  • ronalda4
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    I just googled blue morph and found that was not what I should call him. He doesn't look anything like a blue morph. He is a blue mutation of a green frog. I shorted that to blue morph not knowing there already is an actual tropical "blue morph".

  • frankielynnsie
    11 years ago

    He is so very distinctive and pretty. I hope he will survive to pass his genes to other green frogs. I had a huge frog in my 300 gal. water trough pond and he has been MIA for the past 2 days and the fishies are very skittish so I think someone had frog for a snack. There is a smaller green frog in there now. I wasn't happy to have the big one so only miss him a little bit. I sat by the pond trying to get the babies to come up and eat and enjoyed the little frog, 2 dragonflies, a blue tailed skink and 2 hummingbirds. Ponds are great to attract wildlife.

  • NaturesFolly
    11 years ago

    Ah, ok lol, I can see where the confusion happened :) I also have one of these frogs in my large pond, those black eyes are very distinctive aren't they? Mine seems to be a bit more yellow at this point. A couple of years ago I had a brown frog in my small pond that had the black eyes and my local DNR office did not have a clue what he was. I will try to get a pic of my little black eyed frog too.

  • duddlydoright
    11 years ago

    great find! I found one of these over here in ohio a couple years back, I identified it as a green frog mutate as well. This one looks larger though, so gorgeous. Im sure hell be fine.

  • sleeplessinftwayne
    11 years ago

    As long as you have an area close to the pond where he can dig into the soil deep enough he should do fine. A deep layer of mulch over loose soil is perfect. I have had them winter over in left over bags of potting soil and survive quite nicely. Frogs native to your area go into a type of hibernation in the winter.

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