Frog and Toad Adventures

In June of 2009, we caught a toad while camping. It was the first one I'd ever seen, I thought it was SOOO cute!!!
I just loved holding it for a little while before putting it back by the lake where we found it!
But do you know what's even cuter and funner to hold than a toad? A pond frog! I'd never seen them until this month, when we caught some while we were camping. They were so fun to hold! There's a big size difference between holding a toad and holding a pond frog!

in my hand:
in Kanyon's hand:
in Micah's hand:
We put the frogs that we caught in a plastic cup to help keep them contained.
We took the frogs in the cup with some pond water back to the trailer, and put a little cover on it so they wouldn't escape during the night. The next day, we carried the cup in our hands all the way home!

The boys were so excited to have new pets! I put the frogs in a bigger plastic container after we got home, and put some water and mud and rocks in it. I killed several flies that night and put on the rocks, but the frogs didn't seem interested. After a few days, I was getting worried that they would die of starvation. Thanks to our cousin Jodi's tip, I went to the pet food store and got some little turtle feed pellets. I'm still not sure if they eat them, but we've had them for 3 weeks, and they are still alive!

Unfortunately, we are down to just 4 remaining frogs left of the 9 that we brought home. I didn't snap the lid on tight, because I wanted to make sure they had enough oxygen, and some of them managed to escape. I found two escapees and brought them back, but I have no idea what happened to the remaining five that have disappeared. There is now a screen over the box preventing the last four from leaving!

I'm actually really surprised that they're still around, but I have no idea what to do with them next. Can they survive happily in their box in my home? How long is their life span? Should I keep them? Should I keep feeding them turtle pellets? I change their water each week, is that enough? Would they be better off if I just let them go? If so, should I put them outside in the creek? Will they freeze and die at night because it's so cold? Do you know? What would you do?