Question about Native NW Oregon, USA frog species

[Anna]

Can anyone tell me if it is legal to buy tadpoles and frogs that are native to my area for the purpose of releasing them in my backyard pond? I don't want to introduce any non native species! If it is ok, where do I buy them? On eBay I only ever see southern species. And I h be been looking all spring...

[Seth]

I would contact the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, they probably have the answer. But if I was you I would just go catch some tadpoles from some other pond and put them in yours. That's what I did. I expect them to breed this next spring. Also I am wondering what species it is? If its R. aurora then they might not want to be in your pond anyway, as they seem pretty skittish to me, but you could try. If its P. regilla then that will most likely work. If its R. pretiosa then I cant really say for sure as I haven't ever found this species.

Good luck! :) -Seth

[Anna]

Ok thanks I'll try that! I think only the pacific chorus frog, will work here...
However, when I was younger I caught a couple northern leopard frogs only about ten blocks from here. But they were not even listed as inhabiting my area "Willamette Valley". But they might work also.

[Seth]

I don't think any leopard frogs live in the Willamette valley. It might have been a Bullfrog that had patterning like a Leopard frog. Like this the one in the picture i attached. Good luck with the frogs! -Seth

[Evan]

Defiantly a bull frog.

[Anna]

Ok, you're right! It was not a leopard frog. But after going through hundreds of pictures I have determined it was not a bullfrog either. It was rana aurora! I found a pic that looks just like my old frog on herpwiki.com! I never connected the fact that my frog was pink with the rana aurora...ok to be honest I'd never heard of that species before this sight!

[Seth]

Originally Posted by Zaddiegirl

Ok, you're right! It was not a leopard frog. But after going through hundreds of pictures I have determined it was not a bullfrog either. It was rana aurora! I found a pic that looks just like my old frog on herpwiki.com! I never connected the fact that my frog was pink with the rana aurora...ok to be honest I'd never heard of that species before this sight!

Ok haha, glad you figured it out. Also I am glad its not a bullfrog, those things are extremely invasive and would not be good to introduce into you pond. That might spread them and lead to more native amphibians declines - Oregon spotted frogs have already had serious population declines in part because of bullfrogs. But R. aurora are fine

Good luck!

[AquaticEngineer]

I have a been getting Pacific Treefrog tadpoles from all of my neighbors ponds and rearing them out in the my own backyard setup for my kids to watch :)

What part of Oregon are you in? I'm just out side of Clackamas and I find plenty of Pacific Treefrogs and even found a pair of Northern Red Legged frogs (protected so they stayed put) on one of the creeks nearby.

I keep a few adult frogs inside for the kids to watch and I'm hoping they will mate indoors