Common Name: Cranwell’s Horned Frog or Chacoan Horned Frog
Scientific Name: Ceratophrys cranwelli
Family: Ceratophryidae – Horned Frog family
Location: Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Brazil
Size: 3.1–5.1 inches (8–13 cm) with females being larger than males
The Cranwell’s Horned Frog is a common frog in the pet trade, they can often be found at Petsmarts. They have been bred to be a variety of colors but are naturally dark green and brown. The frogs are relatively easy to breed so luckily most of the ones found are captive bred. They are often referred to as a Pacman Frog because of its resemblance to the video game character or called the Chacoan Horned Frog, after the region that they are found in.
Horned Frogs are highly terrestrial animals, only going into shallow water to breed and re-hydrate. They are sit and wait predators, where they will sit in one spot for hours until something moves in front of them and they snap up and eat it. They eat pretty much any animal that they can fit in their mouths. If you are feeding one, make sure to watch your fingers so you don’t get bit, it kinda hurts. Horned Frogs should be housed alone so that they don’t eat each other.
The frogs breed during the wet season, following heavy rains. Males will call from the shallow parts of ponds. The females will approach and select a mate. The male will embrace the female in an axillary amplexus position.
