\ 


MOL NAILED OMB O° nhs te 
> e 
a 
\ 
. PAGE 3 
THE FISH-CULTURIST N NEWS 

FEBRUARY, 1944 © 

Frogs Multiply Rapidly, Says Arkansas Raiser 
~ Nowls Time to — 
Start Preparations 
Want a good hobby that will 
bring your friends and neighbors 
from miles around to see what’s. 
going on? Or do you want a good 
sideline, or full-time business? Or, 
would you like to stock a stream 
with Jiant Jumbo Bullfrogs. If 
you do, here’s something that will 
certainly prove fascinating and re- 
munerative if you like the out- 
doors and have “that something”’ 
which makes you love wildlite. 
Jiant Jumbo Frogs, the kind 
that catch every sportsman’s eye, 
and bring fancy prices on the 
menus in restaurants, can be rais- 
_ ed a lot easier than rabbits or 
- chickens, and multiply a thousand 
times to their one. Ail you've got 
‘to do to raise them is to have a 
permanent pool of water large 
enough for the tadpoles-to live in 
until they grow thr ough the stages 
which eventually turn them ; into 
- frogs. Here’s how it’s done: 
' Any Size Pool ' 
A pool of water any size about 
- 20x50 feet is large enough to af- 
ford the necessary space to raise 
a spawn or two of tads. A board 
fence about five feet high is placed 
around the pool, and any number 
of adult frogs are placed in the 
pen. Have plenty of shady room be- 
tween your pool and fence. 
_When the temperature in the 
spring has reached a point of 65 or 
70 degrees the frogs spawn their 
eggs. The eggs hatch in’a length) 
of time in proportion to the tem-_ 
_ spawned the adults can be remov- 
ed, if desired, to keep them from 
eating the eggs. It won’t be long | 
after. the eggs have been laid un- 
til you ‘will have tadpoles by the 
thousands. A full grown adult 
_ Jumbo Frog will lay an enormous 
“number of eggs..If protected they 
will hatch nearly a hundred per- 
cent, and one spawn from such 
\ 
raise frogs depends largely 
an adult will stock a creek for a 
long distance. 
he longer the temperature re- 
mains above 65 degrees, the larger 
"your tadpoles will be. About 50 or 
75 percent of them will turn into 
» frogs the first season in the south- 
ern part of the U. S. However, the 
25 percent which do not change 
into frogs, grow considerably larg- 
er while in the polywog stage. 
The cost of fixing up a place to 
on 
whether you have access to scrap 
lumber. You can do everything 
there is to do in your spare time, 
after you have the pond fenced 
there, is very little left for you to 
-do. By using cottonseed meal as a 
fertilizer, you can really make 
_ those tads grow. Experiments have 
revealed that ‘upwards | of 600 

hg a fc ape 
} 



The foregoing pictures were made on the frog 
biggest raiser and shipper of frogs in America, Mr. 
the Union and has customers all over the country. 
any other one man. 
IN THE PICTURES: Top left shows an employe oi « boardwalk out over a pond. Note the dense 
vegetation in the background around the pond. BraShear’s idea is to emulate nature as much as possible 
in providing surroundings for his frogs, thus, when restocking frogs are shipped to different sections they 
are wild and know how to take care of themselves, TOP CENTER, Brashears proves that fish can 
also be raised in frog ponds. He’s shown holding a stTing of brook trout taken from his lake. A fish-fry 
followed. TOP RIGHT: Vol shown crating up Jumbos for shipment. LOWER LEFT, a January scene of 
the frog-raiser’s stream running through his frog fat™. “Everything’s asleep at the bottom at this time 
of the year,” says Vol. LOWER RIGHT, Mr BraShears pouring out a sack of frogs gathered up 
around the pond. The Brashears frog farm covers an 2Fea of six acres. A five-foot board fence encloses the 
six-acre plot and within this fénce there are cross- _fences which provide a means of keeping different 
sized frogs separated. Some fellows wonder if frogs ©t fish. Yes, they do—but remember this: Big frogs 
eat little fish, and big fish eat little frogs; and, just 48 big fish eat little fish, so do big ‘frogs eat little 
' frogs. It seems. to be pretty much a 50-50 proposition —if you eat me, Pil eat you, so to speak. If you are 
ever in northwest Arkansas it. will be worth your, time to go see Vol’s frog farm, Saas extends you a 
personal invitation. : } 
farm of Vol Brashears, Berryville, Ark., who is the 
Brashears has shipped frogs to nearly every state in 
He has sold more frogs for restocking purposes than 
i ce 
pet bs 


perature, usually from a week to 
21 days. After the eggs have been 
’ 
a 
pounds of tads per acre of water 
can be grown. The cottonseed 
meal is thrown into the water at 
two-week intervals, and to Such a 
degree that the water takes on a 
brownish cast after a few days. 
This is minute or organic life in 
the water, known to fish-culturists 
as plankton, and this is what the 
tads feed on. However, barnyard 
manure also can be used, if you 
can’t get the cottonseed meal. Al- 
most any kind of fertilizer will 
work. Not many people know. to 
fertilize their fish or frog ponds 
in the same manner as they do 
their gardens. Simply walk around 
the pond and broadcast the fer- 
tilizer into the water. 
Vol Brashears, Berryville, Ark., 
has had more experience in rais- 
ing frogs than any one man in the 
country, and he has sent a lot of 
HEY, MISTER, CAN 

YOU SEE THIS ! :- 

S 
For your convenience, here’s our— 
‘Subscription Blank = 
\ 
PUBLISHER, The Fish-Culturist News 
Box 455, Durant, Oklahoma 
Fniclosed find $1.00 for which you are to enter my 
name on your mailing list for one year. 
aeeeseneeeeereseee 
NAME ersreerseerssserees 
Pee ee ener reserreneerenasesenns saa see esses ease ee 
Route o7 Bow Nwmder .resecsecsesssssscsecsesoseesscsecssesecssenesenecnss 
Town 
~ 
‘J 
= 
@O 
fi 
oO 
+ 
ZA 
eb) 
3 
O 
° 
ha) 
< 
3 
8 
Ae | 
— 
= 
ae 
Sst 
mee =| 
g 

the information for this story, 
which should make you decide to 
try your hand at raising frogs, if 
you have the place. He has done 
more for the frogs in the country 
than anybody else, and if the coun- 
habit, the frogs will hop into it to 
catch insects, bugs, grasshoppers, 
millers, or whatever they can find. 
The principal food of the Giant 
Jumbo Bullfrog is crayfish (or 
‘crawdads, if you prefer). They 
try had a few more men like him, ; also eat small minnows if they can 
the frog population would be up-to 
par; but unfortunately, there are 
not many such men, and conse- 
quently the sd are on the exit 
list. 
Every sportsman with room to 
spare should raise a few spawns 
and release them for restocking 
purposes. Frog hunting is one of 
the bet sports there is, and there 
is a great need for a restocking 
program. If you want to really 
stock a stream for better frog 
hunting, the best way is to raise a 
few spawns to the frog stage and 
then take them in grass sacks to 
your stream and release them. A 
great proportion of them will reach 
eating size, whereas only a few 
|reach that stage when left to re- 
| produce and mature themselves. 
No doubt after the war there 
' will be a great demand for the 
frogs for restocking, so if you have 
a suitable place to raise them, now 
would be a good time to begin. 
You can ‘make a business of it, or 
; you can have a dandy sideline or a 
fascinating hobby. 
(Do you know that the female 
‘never makes a sound, and only the 
males make the .resounding bel- 
lows from which the bullfrog gets 
his name?) 
Easy, if You Know How 
In fact, raising frogs is easy, 
profitable and interesting, says 
Brashears, if you know how. Any- 
thing is easy if you just know 
how. All you must have is a pond, 
lake or stream, spring or basin 
| that will hold water and not go 
‘ary. Not much depth or water is 
needed as the frogs spend most of 
their time on the bank hidden in 
the weeds, grass or under tree 
roo's, or just anywhere they can 
find .a safe, quiet place in the 
shade. If there is plenty of vege- 
tation, around the water they in- 
i 
‘ 
a 
eee 

catch them. The .frogs’ cannot 
catch their food in deep water, so 
you need plenty of shallow water. 
Shoreline is the main idea in frog’ 
raising. If you have a fairly level 
piece of ground dykes. can be 
thrown up to a height of two or 
three feet. Water run into the 
low places between the dykes and 
plenty of shade, makes an ideal 
frog layout. 
If you are cooped up in town, 
but have a goldfish pond in your 
backyard you can still raise a few 
frogs. Just order some tadpoles, 
fence in your pond so the cats 
can’t get the tads, and then—just 
|let nature do her stuff. When the 
tads have turned to frogs you can 
release them on your stream. 
_ We'll be having more articles on 
the frogs, because The Fish-Cul- 
turist News is advocating a re- 
stocking program in general, and 
from here on the frogs will get as 
much publicity as the fish, ducks, 
quail, geese, and what-have-you. 
If you want to know the prices 
of frogs for restocking, write Vol 
Brashears, Berryville, Ark., \ and 
xe will quote prices. 
Wincsnsin Utilizes 
‘Natural Ponds 
Arthur A. Oehmcke, supervisor, 
ortheast Fisheries Area, Wiscon- 
sin Conservation Dept., Woodruff, 
‘isc., shines a new light for us 
unon the utilization of natural 
nonds. Mr. Oehmcke writes that 
his department is using ponds for 
fsh-cultural purposes during the 
summer, and that the plan is work- 
ine successfully. Due to. freeze-out 
| conditions in his section, ponds 
| containing water less than 12 feet 
in depth are of little use in raising 


More Frogs for 
|The Colorado. 
By GENO A. AMUNDSON 
Associate Refuge Manager 
S. Fish and Wildlife Service 
Yuma, Arizona 
HE writer has had many good 
messes of large bullfrog legs 
and not only enjoys eating them 
but has had a lot of sport in catch- 
ing them. Once these frogs have 
become established they will main- 
tain themselves if not too heavly 
pursued. /When they are liberated 
jn areas where there is consider- 
able cover they will multiply and 
incredse very rapidly. 
‘In catching bullfrogs I navel 
used everything from a willow 
{pole and flying rod, to a long cane 
pole. When catching them during 
the daylight one must approach 
them very slowly and cautiously 
and then by dangling the hook in- 
front of them two or three inches — 
they will strike at it. Contrary to 
belief that one must use red flan-" 
nel, I have found that they would 
strike a baré triple hook and I 
have caught them with a sna 
piece of leaf hanging on the hook 
and as a matter of fact with any- 
thing that I baited the hook with, 
just as long as they could see the 
bait move. ‘ 
The bullfrog is not only, color-— 
blind but he is unable to identify 
an object that remains quiet and 
U. 
he can only see an object that is _ 
moving. This characteristic is also- 
the same with the insect eating 
toads. Therefore, they will grab - 
anything you dangle in front of 
their eyes. 
The bullfrogs will eat a large 
variety of foods in addition! to in-— 
sects. He will catch small min- 
nows and when the immature 
frogs leave the polywog stage, the | 
larger members of the family turn, 
cannibals and eat them. 
I believe that the entire icheth # 
lof our Colorado river from Davis at 
dam to the gulf would be suitable 
for bullfrogs and they would not 
only provide a lot of sport in catch- 
ing them but would also provide — 
* 
lots of very good eating, as when ~ 
these frogs attain maturity, one 
person can only eat two to four 
pairs of legs. 
i 
fish through the winter months. 
However, the Wisconsin Conser- 
vation Department is not passing 
up the opportunity to increase the 
production of catchable-size stock- 
ing fish. 
Read Mr. Oehmcke’s letter: 
“« |. .Inote from your first two 
editions that the stress is placed 
on fish ponds. In Wisconsin we 
are utilizing natural ponds for 
production purposes only. Hook 
and line fishing will never be prac- 
tical in our shallow ponds as in 
the South since we have freeze-out 
conditions every winter in ponds 
with a depth of less than 12 feet. 
“We are having a high degree 
of success in raising walleyed pike 
from fry to seven and eight-inch 
fingerling in these ponds through 
the summer. months. We are ex- 
panding our future ms to 
include the rearing orthern 
Pike, Muskellunge, and Large- 
mouth Bass in this type of pond. 
We have already experimented 
with the latter species on a small 
scale and have had some success. 
There is insufficient time to ex- 
pand on this at the present but it 
might give some idea what is be- 
ing done with natural. rearing 
pond sites in this part of the coun- 
try. 
“T am certain that your efforts 
in establishing the Fish-Culturist 
News will be rewarded by thou- 
sands of appreciative conservation 
employes throughout the . United 
Want-ad 
WANTED—At all times, all kinds 
of animals, birds, and reptiles for 
Wildlife Show. Write, stating your 
price to permanent address, Col. 
Frank L. Hiestand, P.O. Box 208, 
Greencastle, Ind. 

iy 
é 
{ 
