"These frogs can really swim"! (Millie)
Leopard frog (Click the picture to hear him) Bullfrog (Click the picture to hear him)
Both of these frogs are fantastic swimmers. Not all frogs are. In fact, frogs can drown. This is not the case with these two. They never venture far from water in nature and will submerge when they feel threatened. A frog may seem a bit clumsy out of water but when swimming, they are truly graceful and a pleasure to watch. My Leopard frogs and Bullfrog have swam in our pool when the chlorine level has been low. (It never seemed to hurt them but they didn't get to go in except on occasion.) They have also gotten to swim in the bath tub, especially since it was a good place for them to hang out while their tank was being cleaned. Besides, swimming is great exercise for these frogs.
Housing them depends on their size. Both of these frogs are also expert at the high jump so screening is an absolute necessity! The Bullfrog can become as large as Pyxies so they need a very large tank and a very big bathing bowl. The Bullfrog would probably be happier in a pond. The Bullfrog is the frog that is jumped in competition at the Calaveras County Frog Jump held each May. The book by Mark Twain, The Famed Jumping Frog of Calaveras County featured the Bullfrog. Leopard frogs and Bullfrogs can be housed together but you have to be alert for bullying (sorry, couldn't resist) and subsequent injuries and infections. With Bullfrogs, make sure they are the same size! Room mates are fair game when you're hungry and especially if your room mate is a lot smaller!
Both frogs of course like crickets dusted with Calcium and Vitamin D3 but the Bullfrog being bigger, will enjoy the occasional mouse too. Leopard frogs are quite prone to metabolic bone disease so Calcium on their crickets is very important. Both of these frogs are shy but the males are usually less so. It is easy to distinguish males since their ears (large circle behind the eye) is the same size or larger than their eye. The females ear is smaller. These frogs especially are not fond of handling and will do their best to discourage you with the usual methods; squirming, wetting and sometimes croaking indignantly. They can be friendly (for them) however, and I have had Leopard frogs who "talked" to me. In other words, they would croak and I would answer, I would talk to them and they would croak and so on for sometimes a few minutes at a time. And sometimes for no apparent reason, they seem to just want to hear themselves croak.