Surrogate 'Frog Mom' New to Forum

[hydra311]

I SO wish I had found this site 3 yrs. ago! It would have saved me countless hours of worry and probably saved a couple thousand 'frog babies'. If anyone had told me 4-5 yrs. ago that I would be THIS involved with frogs (green anoles too, but they're a good bit more self sufficient) I would have said they were past crazy. It started so innocently. A metal tub and some water plants in 2012. I was not recording the day-to-day wildlife activities at this point but going by the last 2 yrs. it was probably mid-May. We started hearing frogs croaking periodically on our patio. We didn't really think that much about it until one night in late June and there seemed to be quite a gathering (which shall now be referred to as a 'party on the Fiesta Deck') So we go outside with a flashlight and one by one start finding these little frogs with REALLY loud voices! It was somewhere in this investigation that I look in the metal tub with the water plants and while glancing around notice the water is really dark. I grab another flashlight, take a GOOD look in the tub and about died! It was just full of eggs! Do the math here, Atlanta, summer, temps in the 90's, metal tub, water, eggs....this does NOT a good combination make! The next day I trundle down to Lowe's and buy a clamshell kiddie pool, stuff it in my Hyundai Elantra (You can fit ALOT of stuff in one of those!) bring it home and proceed to set it up. The whole time there is one of these little frogs stuck on the side of the house watching me! Well...in short, despite my best efforts we did not add to the frog population that summer. But I researched and discovered that these were Cope's Grey Tree Frogs and resolved I would be ready for them the following spring. Fast forward to April 9, 2113 I've been in and out of the house near the glass patio table. About the 3rd trip I look over at the table and there he sits! Now affectionately known as 'Homie'. The frog sat there for close to 8 hrs. pollen is settling all around him, never moves a frog hair...until about 8:30 pm. This is when his buddy 'Earnest T' calls to him. One call, no response, second call it's like someone just lit a fire under his little frog butt! Within less than a minute and about 4 good hops he goes from the table over to their pool (which I had already set up for them) a distance of about 10-12 ft! A few minutes later Earnest T came to join him and the party started. I guess they figured out that they were safe here (we have no kids, dogs, cats, etc.) and we started finding them in some VERY unusual places during the day. We just started referring to them as 'Watch Frogs'. If I ever figure out how to post pics on here I will do so! Anywho....despite my best efforts as far as we know we only raised ONE little froglet last year. We named him Fivel since after he hopped off all we knew was he was 'out there somewhere'. The problem seemed to be we got a handful of them to froglet stage and then they died. I combed internet, e-mailed supposed 'frog experts', no help. I even went so far as to consult with the guy who runs the 'Frogpod' program at Atlanta Botanical Gardens. But I persevered. I was determined that 2014 was going to be the Year of the Frogs. What was I doing or not doing. I raised a human child but was failing miserably at frog rearing (which was making the grown human child question how she made it as far as she did) It is now Aug. 25, 2014. All my frog mom's & dads have gone back to their homes in the woods and (remember the Air Trans commercial from a few years back...) left us with the babies. BUT...to date we have released about 15 babies with MANY, MANY more soon to follow. I'll share what I did different and also ask for ANY additional info/help from all the frog experts here. Right now, gotta make a fruit fly run.

[Mentat]

Hello and welcome to FF !

[Fbt123]

Welcome to frog forum . Thats a very nice story, glad to hear you helped those frogs , cant wait to hear more about the baby frogs soon

[Lija]

Welcome to the forum!

[hydra311]

Thanks! Don't know if you saw it (I'm not used to the formatting in here) but a few days ago I posted an update but it came out as a 'comment' under the original post. I've got baby frogs popping out like zits on a 13 yr. old!! I'm so happy I can't stand it!!