How to Raise American Frogs? A Full Analysis of the Key Breeding Techniques

The American frog, also known as the river frog or water frog, is native to the United States and was introduced to China in the late 1980s. Its meat is tender and delicious, making it a premium edible frog. It is now bred throughout the country. The main breeding methods include earthen pond breeding, intensive breeding in cement ponds, cage breeding, and rice paddy breeding. Let's take a look at the breeding techniques for the American frog!

Construction of Frog Breeding Ponds

1. Pond requirements: Choose a location with clean water quality, abundant water sources, no pollution, and easy drainage and irrigation, as well as good lighting conditions, shelter from wind and sun, convenient transportation, and a quiet environment. Ridge-style breeding can be adopted (that is, half is a water ditch and half is ridge land). Generally, the area is 50-60 sq m, with a ridge width of 2-3 m, a ditch width of 2 m, and a ditch depth of 30 cm. Each ridge and ditch form a unit-style breeding pond separated by netting. The netting is fastened and fixed with wooden stakes or bamboo poles, and the netting is 1.5-2 m high. Each unit frog pond has an access door for people to enter and manage.

2. Sun protection measures

① Plant melons and beans around the pond, letting the plant vines climb onto trellises to prevent direct sunlight.

② Use shade netting for sun protection.

③ Use grass to build shade cover. The frog pond should be disinfected with quicklime, strong chlorinated lime, etc. At the same time, plant ryegrass, alligator weed, etc. on the dry ridges to create a cool and quiet habitat for the frogs.

Feed Preparation and Feeding Methods

To feed American frogs, expanded pelleted feed is the first choice. Alternatively, earthworms, sterile fly maggots, yellow mealworms, small fish and shrimp that are caught or artificially bred can all be used for feeding. Force-feeding can also be used, feeding common conventional feeds such as corn and wheat bran.

1. Preparation and feeding: To prepare a complete expanded pelleted feed for American frogs (hereinafter referred to as expanded feed), common feed ingredients such as fish meal and peanut bran can be used. In addition, a certain amount of phagostimulants, binders, and nutritional additives (such as multivitamins, trace mineral elements, amino acids, etc.) must be added. This is because the American frog's vision is not well developed, and it can only see small animals that are flying or wriggling, while it is "blind" to stationary or dead small animals. At the same time, the American frog is also a carnivorous animal and does not like plant-based feed. In order to make carnivorous frogs ingest stationary feed based mainly on plant-based ingredients, phagostimulants that stimulate the frog's vision, smell, and taste can be added, such as edible red pigment, nucleotides, trimethylamine lactone, garlic powder, citric acid, melilot, etc. At the same time, in order to keep the feed floating on the water surface for more than 2 hours without disintegrating, a binder -- sodium alginate -- can be added to the feed.

① Formula: fish meal 16%, peanut bran 16%, wheat bran 18%, corn 25%, secondary flour 20%, bone meal 0.5%, additives (including phagostimulants, binders, and nutritional additives) 4.5%.

② Processing: First use the two-stage grinding method to grind the raw materials, that is, first use a grinder for coarse grinding and pass through a 30-mesh sieve, then replace the grinder's screen with a 50-mesh one and grind the already ground raw materials again. Next, weigh the raw materials according to the formula, use part of the once-ground raw materials as a carrier, pre-mix the nutritional additives, phagostimulants, and binders, then pour them together with the other ground raw materials and mix for 15 minutes until uniform. During mixing, an appropriate amount of water can be added to the raw materials so that the moisture content of the raw materials reaches 22%-25%, preferably so that it forms a ball when held in the hand and disperses again when the palm is opened. After mixing well, it can be put into an extruder for expansion, and the raw materials become expanded feed, cut into pellets by the cutter near the discharge hole. This becomes the finished product for feeding frogs.

③ Feeding frogs: Place the expanded feed in a dry place in the frog pond. After the frogs smell the unique odor of the feed, they crawl over to forage.

2. Manual force-feeding: Mix ground corn, wheat, peanut bran, etc. together, adding water while mixing, and roll the feed into balls the size of broad beans. When force-feeding, first grasp the frog with the left hand, with the ring finger and little finger hooking the frog's hind limbs, the palm against the frog's back, and the middle finger placed on the frog's chest, gently pressing. Pass the thumb and index finger through from under the frog's armpit and grasp the forelimbs. Use the little finger of the right hand to open the frog's mouth, use the left thumb and index finger to hold the oral cavity open, and use the right hand to put the feed into the mouth. Withdraw the left thumb and index finger to let the frog's mouth close, then gently press the frog's throat area with the right fingers to push the feed into the rear pharynx, and the frog will swallow the feed. After repeated force-feeding, the frog will actively cooperate.

3. Earthworms, yellow mealworms, sterile fly maggots, and golden apple snails and other frog baits can be bred separately using soil, wheat bran, manure, and green grass. When the above four kinds of bait grow up, they can be caught and placed at the feeding trough in the frog pond, allowing the frogs to forage on their own.

Taming Methods for Feeding American Frogs

1. Method of using live bait to drive dead bait: Use the movement of live bait to drive dead bait, making the dead bait seem alive. This taming method can use two feeding methods. First, mix live bait and dead bait and place them in a feeding tray, with the tray placed on the land in the pond. The process is: for the first 7 days, feed a mixture of 1/3 dead bait and 2/3 live bait. From the 8th day to the 14th day, feed a mixture of half live bait and half dead bait. For the last 10 days, feed a mixture of 2/3 dead bait and 1/3 live bait. Second, mix live bait with floating dead bait and place them in a feed frame in the water. This method generally takes about 10 days to complete the taming process.

2. Dripping water driving method: Install a bucket above the feed frame, open the water valve installed on the bucket, and let water drip evenly into the feed frame, activating the floating dead bait so that the frogs mistake it for live bait and swallow it.

2. Direct taming method: This is a method of directly feeding floating dry bait to frogs without using any lure. When using this method, the stocking density of frogs should be increased. After the frogs have been hungry for 1-2 days, put suitable dry bait on the water surface. The frogs' activity drives the water to ripple, thereby making the floating bait move so that the frogs swallow it.

Breeding Methods for American Frogs

1. Frog egg hatching: Use cage hatching. Make a boat-shaped cage 2 m long and 1 m wide from nylon cloth and place it in a commercial frog pond. The cage should be submerged 30-40 cm, with bamboo poles around it for fixing. Build a shade awning on top of the cage with bamboo strips or grass curtains to protect against sunlight and rain. Place floating aquatic plants in the cage, and put the collected egg masses into the aquatic plants for hatching. About 6,000 eggs can be placed per sq m, with 1-2 clutches of eggs from the same day per cage. Under suitable temperatures, tadpoles can hatch in 2-3 days, with a hatching rate as high as 80%-90%.

2. Tadpole rearing: Newly hatched tadpoles can be kept and reared in the hatching cage, or moved into tadpole rearing cages (the cage method should be the same as for hatching cages) for rearing. The cage should be submerged more than 50 cm to facilitate tadpole movement. Place 1-2 feeding basins in each cage, and the basins should sink 10 cm below the water surface to make it easier for tadpoles to feed. Newly hatched tadpoles rely on yolk sac nutrition for the first 4-5 days and do not need feeding. After that, feed cooked egg yolk. For every 10,000 tadpoles, use 1/3 of an egg yolk mixed into a slurry and sprinkle it into the feeding basin in the cage, letting them feed freely, twice a day. At 10 days old, tadpoles can be fed raw soybean milk, soybean residue, pig blood, and other foods, and can also be fed artificial compound feed. As the tadpoles grow, they should gradually be divided into different cages to reduce stocking density. After tadpoles grow for 1-2 months, they can be put into commercial frog ponds for rearing. Each 700 sq m of water surface can stock 15,000 tadpoles until they are raised into commercial frogs.