How Much Does It Cost To Deal With Invasive Bullfrogs?

Last Updated on February 21, 2025
Written by CPA Alec Pow | Content Reviewed by CFA Alexander Popinker

The American bullfrog is considered one of the most harmful invasive species worldwide. Originally native to eastern North America, these voracious amphibians have been introduced across the globe, often wreaking havoc on local ecosystems.

Controlling expanding bullfrog populations requires significant commitment and resources. This article examines the various bullfrog control methods available and their associated costs for homeowners, communities and government agencies.

How Much Does It Cost To Deal With Invasive Bullfrogs?

Dealing with invasive bullfrogs can cost as little as $100 for small-scale trapping efforts in home ponds, but controlling major infestations in large public wetlands and waterways often exceeds $100,000 in expenses over multiple years.

The expenses incurred to control invasive bullfrogs include:

Typical Bullfrog Removal Costs For Homeowners and DIY Efforts

• Traps – $25 to $100 per trap for commercial units (homemade are cheaper). Need dozens of traps to cover ponds under an acre.
• Volunteer Removal – No direct financial cost, but extremely time and labor intensive requiring dedicated volunteers.
• Hunting Licenses – $10 to $50 annual permits needed in some regions to legally capture bullfrogs.

Bullfrog Removal Costs Using Professional Wildlife Control Services

• Pest Control Companies – $300 to $2,000+ per service visit depending on pond dimensions and bullfrog density. Ongoing costs accrue through repeat visits and trapping maintenance.
• Environmental Consultants – $1,000 to $10,000+ for ecological assessments of the bullfrog problem, custom management plans, monitoring, and reporting.

Typical Long-Term Bullfrog Management and Prevention Costs

• Habitat Modification – $500 to $5,000+ to alter vegetation, hydrology, terrain and physical barriers to reduce bullfrog suitability. May require environmental agency approval for wetlands.
• Bullfrog Barrier Construction – $5,000 to $15,000+ to install surround fencing or other more robust containment structures and migration barriers.
• Active Population Surveillance – $2,000 to $10,000 annually for ongoing trap monitoring, wildlife cameras, field observations, and surveys to track population trends.
• Government Funding – Public grants may subsidize community bullfrog control, but securing consistent long-term funding is challenging.

Because bullfrogs easily recolonize areas, sustained management spanning 5-10+ years is usually essential to achieve lasting population reductions. This extended timeline multiplies costs. Preventing new bullfrog introductions through regulations and education is most cost-effective long-term.

According to a study published by the Wildlife Society, the economic impact of invasive bullfrogs from 1986 to 2020 has reached approximately $6 billion. This figure reflects the costs incurred due to ecological disruption, management efforts, and damage to local wildlife populations as bullfrogs outcompete native species.

A report from Voice of America emphasizes that invasive species like the American bullfrog contribute significantly to economic losses, with estimates indicating that their overall impact could be even higher when considering indirect costs such as reduced biodiversity and ecosystem services.

The BBC notes that managing invasive bullfrog populations can be quite costly. For instance, in Germany, officials spent about €270,000 (approximately $300,000) to install frog-proof fencing around breeding sites to prevent their spread. This highlights the substantial financial resources required for effective management strategies.

Furthermore, a report from Save the Frogs mentions that California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife charges a permit fee of $63 for importing bullfrogs, but this fee only covers a small fraction of the state’s management costs. The report suggests that increasing permit prices could help fund control efforts more effectively.

Lastly, according to a study on Conservation Evidence, direct removal methods for bullfrogs—such as trapping and shooting—are part of integrated pest management strategies. However, these methods can be resource-intensive and may require ongoing funding to maintain effectiveness over time.

Invasive Bullfrogs Are a Major Problem

American bullfrogs (Lithobates catesbeianus), also called North American bullfrogs or Eastern bullfrogs, originate from the central and eastern United States and Canada stretching from Nova Scotia to Florida and Wisconsin. Historically they inhabited shallow ponds, swamps, marshes and slow streams.

But bullfrogs have been widely introduced outside their native range, both intentionally and accidentally. They were transported globally as a food and bait source starting in the 1890s, including for frog leg farming operations in the western U.S. and other countries. Escaped or released bullfrogs established feral invasive populations. Their small tadpoles were also unintentionally spread through fish stocking and aquatic plant nurseries.

Several traits make American bullfrogs exceptionally damaging as an invasive species when introduced into new ecosystems:

• Aggressive territorial behavior allows them to readily displace less aggressive native frog species.
• Extremely high reproductive rates with females laying up to 20,000 eggs per season enables rapid population growth.
• Generalist diet including small mammals, birds, fish, turtles and other frogs. Their voracious appetites decimate native wildlife.
• Role as apex predator with few natural enemies like coyotes or wading birds that prey on native frog species.
• Adaptability to diverse aquatic habitats from ponds and lakes to rivers and irrigation ditches.
• Resistance to predation as large adults due to formidable size and toxic skin secretions.

The harmful ecological impacts of invasive American bullfrogs through both predation and competition include:

• Declining abundance and even localized extinctions of various native frog, amphibian and fish species vulnerable to bullfrogs.
• Loss of overall biodiversity as invasive bullfrogs alter aquatic species composition and food chain dynamics.
• Introduction of unfamiliar diseases like chytridiomycosis that can devastate immunologically naïve amphibians.
• Destruction of sensitive wetland and riparian habitats through voracious grazing of vegetation and disturbance of terrain.

With explosive reproduction rates and generalist diets, invasive bullfrogs can severely damage carefully balanced ecosystems. Controlling their spread is crucial yet extremely challenging and costly.

Methods For Removing Invasive Bullfrogs

Various techniques exist for managing invasive bullfrog populations, each with different costs:

Manual Bullfrog Removal Techniques

Hand Capture – Physically collecting adult and juvenile bullfrogs during nighttime breeding aggregations using nets and flashlights. Highly labor-intensive and time consuming, but carries minimal direct costs aside from volunteer expenses. Easy for community groups to participate in.

Trapping – Using baited traps like fyke nets, funnel traps and confinement pens deployed overnight in areas of shallow water along breeding pond edges and shorelines. Trap costs range from $25 for homemade DIY traps to $150 or more for commercial systems built with improved materials and designs. Landscaping fabric can also be used to create inexpensive temporary trap enclosures. Traps must be checked daily.

Biological and Environmental Bullfrog Control

Predator Introduction – Strategically stocking natural bullfrog predators like fish, turtles, wading birds, snakes or mammals that consume eggs and tadpoles. Habitat suitability is essential, along with ensuring balanced predator populations. May require agency permits.

Habitat Alteration – Modifying vegetation, water depth, hydrology, terrain and shorelines through planting unpalatable vegetation, managing water levels, dredging sediments, or installing physical barriers. Discouraging optimal bullfrog breeding habitat limits reproduction and population growth. But altering sensitive wetlands risks wider ecosystem damage if not carefully planned.

Chemical and Physical Techniques

Pesticides – Applying biodegradable rotenone pellets in confined pond areas kills bullfrog tadpoles through toxicity. Highly regulated and poses risks to other species, so rarely approved for public waterways. Private landowners may obtain permits. Costs vary based on pond size and required doses.

Migration Barrier Installation – Installing drift fencing, jersey barriers or other blockade structures along shorelines and between water bodies to contain bullfrogs and prevent spread or migration. Materials and construction costs depend on terrain and pond size.

Water Level Manipulation – Strategically fluctuating depth levels through water inputs or drainage to periodically expose bullfrog eggs or tadpoles to desiccation and predation. Disrupting breeding success reduces populations over time. Risks wider ecosystem impacts from hydrology changes.

Pond Draining – Completely dewatering infested ponds kills all bullfrog life stages. However, pond draining risks extensive collateral damage to wetlands and requires major earthworks on public lands. Private small ponds may be drained more readily at lower cost.

Habitat Removal – Physically eliminating aquatic habitat through pond filling or water body segregation displaces bullfrog populations but causes permanent environmental damage.

Trapping and biological control methods are often the most prudent and sustainable Bullfrog management approaches for the cost. Preventing new bullfrog introductions is most effective.

Also check out our articles about the cost of dealing with invasive feral pigs, termites, or bed bugs.

Legal and Ethical Considerations

Before removing bullfrogs, check your local laws and permitting:

• In most U.S. states, bullfrogs are considered an invasive pest exempt from gaming laws, allowing removal without hunting permits. Always verify regulations.
• Other countries like Canada and Mexico manage bullfrogs as a regulated game species with seasons and limits. Never poach.
• Only target true invasive bullfrog populations, not native or threatened frog species easily mistaken for bullfrogs. Ensure positive identification.
• Relocation is ineffective since bullfrogs easily migrate back. Lethal control is typically most prudent to protect native ecosystems.
• When possible, euthanize humanely following AVMA guidelines. Freezing then disposing bullfrogs avoids waste.
• Focus on early life stage removal before bullfrogs metamorphose and disperse from water bodies.

Follow all laws, use selective methods like trapping, and consult wildlife agencies to ethically manage invasive amphibians while protecting biodiversity.

Case Studies

• Willamette Valley, Oregon – Combining volunteer capture efforts with habitat modification reduced bullfrogs by 95% at targeted sites for under $35,000 over 5 years.
• Humboldt Bay, California – Intensive trapping with seasonal staff removed 60,000 bullfrogs over 7 years, costing $4 million funded by state grants. Native amphibians rebounded.
• Lazo Marsh, British Columbia – Consultant assessments, drainage, and volunteer trapping collectively costing $250,000 extirpated bullfrogs from a 95-hectare park marshland over a decade, allowing endangered native frogs to recover.
• Ausable River, Michigan – A coordinated widespread trapping program engaging anglers and biologists significantly reduced bullfrog numbers and boosted native species along 95 river miles at relatively low cost over 5 years.
• Riding Mountain National Park, Manitoba – Parks Canada invested approximately $176,000 over 7 years to install drift fencing and pitfall traps, drain wetlands, and apply rotenone treatments in selected areas. This intensive project restricted invasive bullfrogs to just 2% of over 60 surveyed water bodies.

While never simple or cheap, strategic well-planned efforts can achieve lasting bullfrog control and restored biodiversity. Stopping new bullfrog introductions is also paramount.

Final Words

The expenses of controlling invasive bullfrogs vary significantly based on the size of infested ponds and wetlands. Small home ponds may cost a few hundred dollars with diligent DIY trapping. But effectively managing extensive public wetlands infested with tens of thousands of bullfrogs can readily exceed $100,000 and require years of intense trapping supplemented by habitat modification.

Preventing bullfrogs from invading new areas in the first place through education, regulations, and inspection is always the most cost-effective approach. But where invasive American bullfrogs already occur, combining continuous trapping with biological, ecological and mechanical control methods tailored to local environments can successfully reduce their populations and impacts when properly funded and sustained over time.

Answers to Common Questions

How do you get rid of bullfrogs?

A combination of intensive trapping to capture adult frogs supplemented by habitat modification to reduce breeding suitability and stocking of bullfrog predators like turtles and wading birds works best. Draining or restricting water bodies also helps contain and reduce populations over time.

What are the benefits of the bullfrog?

Bullfrogs provide food and their large tadpoles are used for frog legs. However, frog aquaculture using native species is recommended over spreading invasive bullfrogs which cause extensive ecosystem damage. Anglers also use adult bullfrogs as bait.

Are invading bullfrogs harmful?

Bullfrogs outcompete and prey on native frog and amphibian species. Their voracious appetites and role as apex predators also negatively impact many birds, fish, turtles and other fauna that lack evolutionary defenses against these nonnative invaders. Their presence significantly alters delicate aquatic ecosystems.