Adult frogs spend much of their time on land, sometimes straying quite a distance from the water if the weather is damp. They will often take shelter under logs or other debris to stay cool and damp. They prefer shallow, slow-moving streams, ponds or marshes for breeding. The call is not at all loud, low-pitched, and is sometimes described as a stuttering noise. Embryos develop and hatch in about four weeks, then spend four to five months in the tadpole stage.
Tadpoles metamorphose into tiny hopping froglets, only a couple of centimetres long, in midsummer.
Red-legged Frogs are thought to take three or four years to become sexually mature. Adult Red-legged Frogs feed happily on insects and other small invertebrates, which they hunt along the edges of streams and ponds. Tadpoles graze on algae. Where and When Red-legged Frogs are often found in damp wooded areas, but are very shy and will leap away swiftly if they feel threatened. This frog has a limited range in B.C., being found only in the southwestern corner of the province, on Vancouver Island, and on some of the smaller coastal islands.