MOTW - Aug 25 - Sep 3 2013 - Gail (Kueluck)

[Mentat]

Thanks for sharing your story and having served in the USN Gail ! Got couple laughs reading about the rat, parking tickets, and certifiable neighbor !

[Jenste]

Tuesday, tell us about your amphibians. How you came to keep them, mistakes/learning curves, species kept, breedings, how you found Frog Forum etc....we heard enough about you on Monday, let us hear about them frogs!

[kueluck]

I have loved frogs, toads & salamanders for as long as I can remember. Also love the lizards, turtles, snakes & most fuzzies but those are other forums. Here's a few short moments of childhood memories.

First trip to the swamp, got out of the car and the ground moved. It was covered in tiny toads and wood frogs. Mom - “don't touch them, they'll give you warts. Daddy - “it's OK, you can pick them up”, this went back and forth for several minutes. I think they did this so I wouldn't try to bring home a car full of frogs & toads. It didn't work.

As a young kid I remember finding two toads in amplexus, and I asked my Daddy what was going on, he said they were giving a piggy back rides.

I went down to the stream and caught about 25 bull frogs, put them in an old aquarium for the day, watched them for a while then let them go. When my Daddy got home and heard about this he said, “show me where”. So we headed back down to the stream to catch some, but didn't find a single one. Good thing we didn't, he planned on eating them. I was a very disappointed little girl.

When married in WI I would take a bucket and collect the toads in the yard as I mowed, the X would not allow me to have them in the house, so they were my outside buddies.

No amphibians on Adak AK. Sad years of my life.

In NC there is an abundance of amphibians here, and I love it. How did I get to where I am now with them you ask? Well back in early summer 2011 my neighbor was on vacation and I was watching her cats and home. I looked into the rain barrel and there were tons, and I mean tons of tadpoles. She thought they were mosquito larva. So I gathered up a few a tads (50) and talked TJ into getting a set up. $60.00 later we have a 10 gallon set up for 50 tads. Long story short. Cope's Gray Tree Frog (Hyla chrysoscelis), 3 tads didn't make it, and once fully morphed all but 3 were released. Now we hear them calling all summer long. The 3 I had kept were also released the next year. They were always looking of a way out. As for my toads, I would go down to the pond and collect tiny toadlets, raise them up to a good size then release them back into the wild. Figure it might give them a fighting chance to survive. Plus I've kept a few, but then also released some adults. If they come out at night and are constantly looking for a way out I release them back into the wild. To me this says they are not happy with their surroundings. But if they just kinda hang out on the logs and watch the world go by, eat when something crawls by them, or check out the food dish, and don't hunker down when I put my hand in, then they are keepers. I had my original tank set up with just plants growing and thought, this needs something else. I was going to put a praying mantis in it, but then I saw the AGTF and said, perfect. The Whites Tree Frog's came to be because of reading the threads on FF. Hetfield is the one who really peaked my interest in them. He was a loved little frog and I just hope mine are around as long as he was.

Did you know that all toads are frogs, but not all frogs are toads. I read this on the internet when searching frog care so it MUST to true.

In keeping my frogs, I try to keep it as close as possible to their natural environment. I use rainwater only, buy moss from Josh's Frogs and my roaches come from Feeder Source. I also feed moths, wax worms, butter worms & crickets. I'm going to start using fruit flies for the AGTF, Vern seems to love the tiny things on the glass. All of the frogs/toads are good eaters, poopers, shedders and soakers. I'm truly blessed with a pretty healthy group of amphibians.

[kueluck]

Happy you got a few laughs outta this. To much sadness & anger in the world. Make one person laugh a day to make it a successful one.

Thanks for sharing your story and having served in the USN Gail ! Got couple laughs reading about the rat, parking tickets, and certifiable neighbor !

[Mentat]

Thanks for interesting reads Gail! I like your way of deciding between releasers and keepers, very logical . Hum, you did not come across any frogs in Alaska? They do have few of them: http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static/ed..._and_toads.pdf . Wood frogs can actually freeze their body and thaw themselves out as weather conditions change to survive Winter !

[Jenste]

Hi Gail! Very interesting read so far! and I completely agree - any day where I can make someone else laugh or smile is a success to me also!!

I hope you don't mind, I am posting tomorrow's heading a few hours early as I have a hectic morning coming up and I don't want to run out of time! Especially considering this is one of the most favorite parts of MOTW!


Wednesday, show and tell. Wow us with your pictures/videos/sound clips.

[kueluck]

I'm not going to post captions next to the pic, just their living space, then the critter. All critters are now in my care except the Cope's. They were released last fall. The people, well that's just me and TJ. Here ya go.

[kueluck]

Flickr: The Hills of NC's Photostream here's the link to my Flickr site if you want to check out more of our pics

Living room 2013 - YouTube and here's a video of our "living" room.

[Mentat]

Hi Gail; thanks for sharing photos and videos with us . Your Cope's and Morph are very cool and my favorites.

Watched videos too and saw funny one with humans/canoe and scary one using Jeep to pull rock . Chains sometimes break and hurt people and things with brutal recoil. Do you still own it? I got a Toyota FJ Cruiser myself and once owned a 1990 Wrangler and previously couple 4x4 Ford pick-ups. .

[kueluck]

We were stationed on a small island out in the aleutian chain, no reptiles or amphibians.

Thanks for interesting reads Gail! I like your way of deciding between releasers and keepers, very logical . Hum, you did not come across any frogs in Alaska? They do have few of them: http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static/ed..._and_toads.pdf . Wood frogs can actually freeze their body and thaw themselves out as weather conditions change to survive Winter !