How Long Do Frogs Live?

Amazingly, this is the hardest question I've been asked about frogs!

It turns out that very little is known at all about the natural lifespan of frogs. Partially, this is because it's pretty hard to track a frog all its life! (I guess they havent figured out a good way to put little tiny collars around their necks!)

However,some records show that in captivity, many species of frogs and toads can live for surprisingly long times. They seem generally average somewhere between 4 and 15 years!

Recently I ran across a page where people were posting data about how long their species of frogs had lived in captivity.
The longest lifespan entered was a European Common Toad (Bufo bufo ssp.) at 40 years!!!!!

Other species which live to ripe old ages include:

Giant Toad (Bufo marinus): ranging between 7 and 24 years

Green And Black Poison Dart Frog (Dendrobates auratus): ranging between 7 and 17 years

Oriental Fire-bellied Toad (Bombina orientalis): ranging between 11 and 14 years

Ornate Horned Frog (Ceratophrys ornata) ranging from 5 to 12 years

If you want to know how long your favorite type of frog might live in captivity, try looking it up in this database of longevity that includes entries by all sorts of amphibian (and repile) breeders:
REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS IN CAPTIVITY - LONGEVITY HOMEPAGE: FROGS & TOADS

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