MOTW - frogluver- Monday

Howdy fellow froggers!

I guess I'm starting off with myself this week for MOTW, the first for 2012 ! Thanks for all your votes everyone, I appreciate them !!

So tell you about myself Monday......

I was born on October 14 in Wichita, Kansas. In being born in the fall and because my mom loved the season, I was named Autumn. I am 18 years old and I have a younger brother and sister, 2 dogs, and 5 frogs (4 Wood frogs and 1 Whites).

Among the many wondrous things in life, I have many likes and few dislikes. I LOVE being outdoors and especially enjoy fishing, hiking, camping, biking, photographing nature, and observing animals in their natural habitats. I really enjoy doing science experiments, reading, art (drawing, painting, photography, and jewelry design), learning, and spending time with my family. On my spare time, I like to listen to music (Fire Flight and Group 1 Crew, you guys rock lol) and browse the Frog Forum. And of course I love frogs.....don’t we all lol . And as for my dislikes……Justin Bieber, knuckle cracking, long distance running, and cursing!

I have been homeschooled since the 5th grade and I’m getting ready to graduate this spring (May 24) from high school and am really looking forward to going to college. I am interested in pursuing a career in amphibian pathology/biology and art. As a recent UA scholar, I’ve decided to attain my undergraduate degree at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. As far as my graduate degree…..well, I’m not sure yet lol! I’ve looked at schools in Australia, Scotland, and Canada and they seem to offer some of the best options for my field of interest. Who knows where I’ll end up ;P lol!

I have been taking care of frogs for 7 years and love the hobby! I wasn’t always interested in frogs however. When we moved to Ketchikan, Alaska in 1997, I was into fish and birds, haha! My passion for these animals (which still lingers in my heart) probably derived from living by the ocean in Ketchikan. Every day we would go on a walk down to the rocky shores. We saw lots of sea critters and we even went sail boating a couple a times. We lived there for 3 years and would have lived there longer, until we had to move to Fairbanks in 1999 when my dad got a job at the virology lab at UAF. Fairbanks was/is nothing like Ketchikan. For one it’s a lot colder and there are definitely no oceans. I was a bit disappointed. But when our first summer living in Fairbanks rolled around, I wasn’t so upset anymore: I saw my first frog and instantly fell in love lol !! In seeing a wild frog for the first time, which happened to be the Wood frog, the only frog in Alaska’s interior, I was fascinated by its beauty and elegance; I stood there and stared at it for the longest time. And when it hopped away into the tall grass and broke the spell of captivation, I started a hobby that is still with me now…..herping!!

I didn’t actually own any frogs until 2006, when my parents finially let in: I enticed them into letting me get some, with a proposal of doing a science experiment involving frogs and feeding habits hehe . But in those 6 years before then, I did tons of research on all kinds of frogs. In school, I was even known as the “Frog brain”! When I finally got my first set of frogs, I got…..can you guess….Wood Frogs!! I found 4—two females, one male, and one juvenile—in our yard and set up a 20gal for the 3 adults and a 10 gal for the juvenile. I documented their behaviors for about a year and half and kept a record on how to care for them, since I couldn't find a decent care sheet anywhere online. My interests soon changed however when my juvenile turned out to be a male and started to vocalize in 2007. I then became interested in vocalization behaviors! Now, I’m doing a science project with 4 new wood frogs (as my original pals are no longer with me *sigh*) in which I induce vocalization in Wood frogs in response to a mating chorus.
In the near future, I see more frogs and lots of research projects too lol!! I hope to one day get a Red-Eyed Leaf Frog or some darts !

I could sit and write a buch more, but this a bit about who I am. Overall and in the famous words of my great uncle (who was the voice of Popeye the Sailorman) I am what I am and that’s all that I am .