At what age can male and females be put together in a tank?

[Eridu Serpent]

I just want to know at what size can you put a male and female together. My male is 1 mth older than the female, he is 358g, the female is only 80g...I am worried he will try to eat her LOL
Is there any better times to try?
I mean as he grows she will but the size differences will always be there.
If he is well fed all the time will he try to eat her?
I don´t ant them to mate, just for them to be in the same tank.
I know if the water is not too deep the female will be safe if the male tries anything with her later, also I plan to keep my
tanks the same all the year round so they will not aestivate.
The male already croaks nearly every night.
He is 358gs, she is 80gs.

[Bombina Bob]

Hi there
If you mean african bullfrogs, i would say when the frogs are at a year of age or when the male
starts to call, make sure you estivate the frogs first to replicate the dry and rainy season, these
frogs are only out for a couple of months in the year. I wouldnt worry because the males get
MUCH bigger than females. remember if you get successful breeding, the tads are a big commitment

[Eridu Serpent]

I do not want them to breed, merely for them to be in the same tank.
I want to keep the tank the same all year round so they do not aestivate.
There is no way I would want to breed them as I´d worry about what sort of homes the babies
would be going to...mine are just pets, I have not got them to make money from.
I have one male, purchased another male which has turned out to be a female.

[GrifTheGreat]

I do not want them to breed, merely for them to be in the same tank.
I want to keep the tank the same all year round so they do not aestivate.
There is no way I would want to breed them as I´d worry about what sort of homes the babies
would be going to...mine are just pets, I have not got them to make money from.
I have one male, purchased another male which has turned out to be a female.

Most of the time it is recommended to keep them in individual enclosures, but if the frogs are very similar in size you should be able to keep them together in the same enclosure.

[DeeDub]

+1 to Grif. You want to make sure the male CANNOT eat her. The earlier the better because the size difference is a major factor. If he cannot eat her (cannot get her in his mouth) you can put them together. Monitor them closely the first few days and keep them both well fed.

Pictures showing size comparison would be helpful as well.

Welcome and good luck.

[Lija]

I saw a case when big male was trying to eat a female that was living with him for 2+ years, both died, female was too big for him apparently, he got her in his mouth, was trying to eat and she got stuck. it is hard to say why now, but the owner mentioned that he may had skipped a feeding, tank was 24x18x18, so the tank size was probably an issue here as well.
that is just to illustrate that it is not a joke, and if you are to put those you have together make sure they're are well fed, tank is big enough and the female is big enough not to become food and always keep an eye for any signs of aggression or anything.

[Locascio]

ive always kept lage frogs in the same cage if thay are will fed it should be fine but dont be upset when you come home and find 2 dead frogs. thats THUG LIFE opps i mean FROG LIFE. that doseint mean it cant be done ive hade frogs along time and its only happn a few times

[Eridu Serpent]

+1 to Grif. You want to make sure the male CANNOT eat her. The earlier the better because the size difference is a major factor. If he cannot eat her (cannot get her in his mouth) you can put them together. Monitor them closely the first few days and keep them both well fed.

Pictures showing size comparison would be helpful as well.

Welcome and good luck.

Well I was told by the breeder they can live together, so I asked for another male so they would hopefully be the same size at some point or as near as.
BUT it is a female and the same age as the male, she is so small compared to him.
I did not know if there was a better time to try and to be honest I wondered just how big a prey my Goober could eat.

I know she is too small yet, she is at least 3 times smaller than the male. It just made me think if they could go together later or was it better
done when they were both very small.

[Lija]

yes, females grow way slower and same age males and females will have very big size difference. as well it is true, males and females can live together, but you can never relax if you have 2 or more frogs in one tank, you need to constantly monitor their behavior. I don't mean go all OCD about it, but just watch them.
i would say if your male is 6-7" and female 4-4.5" - that is ok for sure ( as sure as it can possibly be), 8+" male and 3" female - absolutely not ok.
even for similar size frogs make sure you have a big tank, so frogs will have possibility to get out of each other way, the more crowded it is the more aggression you'll see. actually same sex animals will fight if housed in small in comparison enclosures.

[Mentat]

Well I was told by the breeder they can live together.... I know she is too small yet, she is at least 3 times smaller than the male. It just made me think if they could go together later or was it better done when they were both very small.

Think in this case; "can" live together does not means that it will be succesful for any length of time . If your male is 3 times the female size, there is a chance of the male trying to eat the smaller female. If female was around 2/3's of male size and they live in a large enclosure; your chance of success would increase. Good luck !

[Eridu Serpent]

After reading the horror story of someone coming home and finding both dead I am so confused as to what to do now!
My first idea was that I wanted to house them together when I thought I had two males.
However when I found out one was female I thought hmmmmmmmmm ok this should be fine, but that story scared me

The breeder said he will happily exchange my female for a male, but I am not sure at all.

My idea is now to have Goobers tank next to a large water tank with Pickles tank the other side.
I will then cut two holes and make a tunnel into the middle tank.
The middle tank can have pond plants, the filter, rocks etc in it.
At the moment I have my tanks set up with their own water tanks inside the large ones.
I might do it like this...any thoughts please?
This may stop him from eating her
if they have their own space and large water area.

He is quite large nearly 6 inches and is only 5mths old, she is 5mths old but about 4 inches.
I shall wait to see how large she gets before trying this.

[DeeDub]

Where did you read the dead frog story?

-----------------
Thanks
DW

[Lija]

Where did you read the dead frog story?

-----------------
Thanks
DW

is the Q for me? it was case study on veterinary board.

Eridu, size difference is ok to be housed together for now

[Eridu Serpent]

I am too scared now

[Mentat]

...The breeder said he will happily exchange my female for a male, but I am not sure at all...
He is quite large nearly 6 inches and is only 5mths old, she is 5mths old but about 4 inches...

The breeder will gladly take your girl because they are harder to get than males. When I had my male African Bullfrog, was looking for a girl locally for a year and all local stores had what looked like males only.

I like your future set-up idea. If you use connecting tubes of different diameters (smaller on female side) that would only allow her to pass but not the larger male providing her with a resting side (if she figures all this up). I've seen something similar work when breeding large agressive fish like Central American cichlids, by using a divider with a hole that let's pass only the smaller female. The difference with frogs is that with their large mouths the male could grab the female in the middle section and it would be all over. Going back to the illustrated set-up; depending on water temperature you might consider a submersible heater for middle area.

If your frogs are 6 and 4 inches, agree with Lija that you can try and place them together now. Please make sure enclosure is large and observe them during initial contact to see what is their reaction to each other. Be ready to separate them again if the male intentions are nefarious, with these guys you never know. Good luck .

[Lija]

just noticed you're planning to place heat cables under the tanks, don't do that, place on a side.

[Eridu Serpent]

The breeder will gladly take your girl because they are harder to get than males. When I had my male African Bullfrog, was looking for a girl locally for a year and all local stores had what looked like males only.

I like your future set-up idea. If you use connecting tubes of different diameters (smaller on female side) that would only allow her to pass but not the larger male providing her with a resting side (if she figures all this up). I've seen something similar work when breeding large agressive fish like Central American cichlids, by using a divider with a hole that let's pass only the smaller female. The difference with frogs is that with their large mouths the male could grab the female in the middle section and it would be all over. Going back to the illustrated set-up; depending on water temperature you might consider a submersible heater for middle area.

If your frogs are 6 and 4 inches, agree with Lija that you can try and place them together now. Please make sure enclosure is large and observe them during initial contact to see what is their reaction to each other. Be ready to separate them again if the male intentions are nefarious, with these guys you never know. Good luck .

Good idea about the size of tubes
I have a water heater, forgot to draw it in the picture lol
I have to have one here until spring comes as winter is very harsh even though indoors.
At the moment I have two flat 15wt water heaters for each frog...these are under a plastic guard in their trays.
I got a glass tube one and broke it!! So the new ones packed away before I had a chance to drop it or anything.

I will wait a month or two I think see if she grows a bit more (so scared now)

[Eridu Serpent]

I have then taped to the underside of the tanks with cardboard as insulation, I find if I keep the soil moist the heat spreads really well.
Even if they dig down to the plastic box floor they cannot burn themselves, they are also set on a thermostat.
Each night I dig a hole in the soil and test it then sit them in the hole...I call it tucking them in LOL

[Locascio]

Just use styrofom to divide the cage into 2 sides. thats what i do sometimes as a quick fix to keep frogs from each other.it doseint really need to be very tall just a few inchs. i did tho rase a pair of pixies for over 2 years in the same cage durin that time thay wint from 10 gl tanks to as larg as 55 gal. and when i was moveing to my new house i hade them in a 5gal for weeks untill i was able to move them into there bigger cage the male was over 800 grams and the female was like 400 i rased them from the size of my thumb to huge animals and he never tryed to eat hur. BUT i will say it dose happn sometimes. right now ive got 16 pacman frogs and ive got them in 56QT bins 5 in each bin small,med,larg and i dont have any problems with them eating each other i do offer food every other day and thay are all will fed

[Herpguy]

These frogs are not as cannibalistic as people think they are. These frogs are much more intelligent than horned frogs, and have much better prey recognition. I have kept these frogs in size differences where they could EASILY be fitted into the maw of a cagemate, with absolutely zero problems. I have yet to hear of a firsthand account of cannibalism EVER happening in this species. I will go as far as saying that it will not happen with well fed juveniles on up.