March MOTM - Lisa (irThumper)

[irThumper]

Amphibians are like pretzels, you can't have just one...

When mom perfected her frog feeding technique we decided to upgrade Junior and Sissy to a bigger home and get them a few friends. We added PCFs Green Girl, Gwendolyn, Cousin, Baby, and Rupert 1, 2 and 3... The Ruperts looked like triplets and were all brownish with bold black markings. Most of these guys were various rescues from cats, or children who brought them to us because their mothers wouldn't let them keep them, or our most interesting find-- the baby tree frog hopping down the produce aisle floor in the grocery store!

Interesting facts:

--Junior and Sissy lived to appx 6+ years.

--Other than our PCFs we eventually also had six Pacific Red-Legged frogs (Rana aurora) named Swampy, Rosy, Cedrina, Jerome, Shadrach and Mescach; a Western toad(Bufo boreas) named Wart; three Rough skinned newts (Taricha granulosa) named Sally, Nikki, and Newtly; a Northern alligator lizard (Elagaria coerulea) named "Skink"; and three garden snails named Lady, Blondie, and Indigo.

--We took our first PCFs on a road trip through Oregon/Washington once because we couldn't find anyone knowledgeable to care for them while we were on vacation. I sat in the back seat of the car next to the tank, which was wrapped in towels to protect it. It was my job to mist the frogs through the screen lid to help keep them cool. We carried frozen frog food with us in a little cooler. I remember mom and dad sneaking the tank into the Motel 6... lol! On the way home from that trip we had to stop for a swarm of little red newts that were crossing the road at a bridge... I was threatened with permanent grounding if I tried to get out of the car and collect any!

--The frogs are the reason my folks finally got air conditioning... to heck with the people, couldn't let the frogs get too hot, lol!

--While waiting their turn at feeding time I let our frogs play on my Fisher Price Castle set; Junior used to climb to the very top of the flag then swat toward the overhead room light with his little hand.

(it was one like this)

--After graduation I had a pair of Firebelly toads (Bombina orientalis) named Yin and Yang

Next time: Froggy summers and a vacation blunder!

[Frogger00]

Wow you've owned a lot of frogs in your lifetime!


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[irThumper]

Wow you've owned a lot of frogs in your lifetime!


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Not nearly as many as some folks though, I know, lol Most of my experience as been with the native species. Back then no one cared if you kept a few as pets, nowadays in this state you're not supposed to keep any of them They don't even allow people to have Firebellied toads here anymore, which really SUCKS because those guys are awesome! We aren't allowed to have other species from across the U.S., like American Greens, Barking tree frogs, or Grays (etc.) either *sniffs!* and yet we are allowed to have Cane toads and Cuban tree frogs! Makes no sense to me at all, *shakes head*.

[Frogger00]

I feel your pain about not being able to have certain species! A lot of toads are illegal here. Cane toads for one, and also bullfrogs! Rats are also illegal to own as well, and basically anything larger than a common boa is also illegal. Most of the animals are illegal because they are invasive. Big snakes, well that's just the government being dumb lol. I absolutely love cane toads, so it's really unfortunate that I can't have one!


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[Frogman1031]

Congrats on MOTM, Lisa! It's great to get to know you better

[irThumper]

Thanks, Eli

Speaking of pain... it's going to take me a bit to write up the frog stuff this week, I've messed up my knee and my lower back, and walking on crutches is freaking my carpal out, so I'm pretty much a physical wreck right now I have a doc appt to get to today (wish I could say it was for me!) so will be making a big froggy post tomorrow to make up for it.

[irThumper]

Almost forgot to post! Let's see, what was I going to put next... ah, I remember, summer vacation at Fort Stevens National Park Fort Stevens (Oregon) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The thing I remember most about Fort Stevens, other than the cool (and kind of spooky) concrete bunkers, was... the frogs! While on a walking tour of the bunkers we discovered some water sitting in the depression of a gun turret. In that water were metamorphosing tadpoles, likely Pacific tree frogs. I remember how fascinated all us kids were by this, so much so that the park ranger couldn't continue the tour until we had satisfied our curiosity about these new little life forms; the tour had turned from a history lesson to a biology class!

The park and campgrounds at Fort Stevens was a veritable Herper Heaven. There were trails along wooded streams, open meadows, ponds... all fully accessible to the snooping of frog loving camp kids. One time my friend, Freddy, and I went with some other kids and went looking for "Swamp frogs" (Pacific Red-legs). There had been one spotted near a bridge in a slow section of the creek near the camp ground, but the water was full of some kind of sludgy stuff that looked like sewage (but didn't smell like it), so none of the other kids wanted to try to catch him... but they knew I would I went down to the water, and this tannish looking stuff was thick and gross ( I still to this day wonder what it was!) but there was a big Swamp frog floating right in the middle of it-- I wanted that frog! I tried to get him to swim toward shore by tossing pebbles behind him, but he kept popping under then coming up in a different spot. Finally he came up close to the bank... I crouched over preparing to make a grab at him-- and slipped and fell into the creek! When I came up I was covered head to toe in mystery muck... but I also had my frog! I proudly toted him back to camp but I didn't get to keep him for long, unfortunately. My mother let out a shriek that would have woken the dead when she caught sight of me... lol. She made Freddy take my frog back where we got him and I had to be washed off with a garden hose (that water was COLD!) and then had no less than two baths in the camp showers, one in my clothes and one without... I swear mom almost scrubbed the skin off of me! I was given a good chewing out and threatened NEVER to do anything like that again... it didn't keep me from becoming mired up to my knees in green slimy mud during another frog adventure later on, though, lol!

[elly]

Hope you feel better soon.

it's weird because I also used to collect toads and let them loose in that Fisher-Price castle set.

[irThumper]

Hope you feel better soon.

it's weird because I also used to collect toads and let them loose in that Fisher-Price castle set.

Birds of a feather! Or should that be froggers of a feather... lol

[Cliygh and Mia 2]

Almost forgot to post! Let's see, what was I going to put next... ah, I remember, summer vacation at Fort Stevens National Park Fort Stevens (Oregon) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The thing I remember most about Fort Stevens, other than the cool (and kind of spooky) concrete bunkers, was... the frogs! While on a walking tour of the bunkers we discovered some water sitting in the depression of a gun turret. In that water were metamorphosing tadpoles, likely Pacific tree frogs. I remember how fascinated all us kids were by this, so much so that the park ranger couldn't continue the tour until we had satisfied our curiosity about these new little life forms; the tour had turned from a history lesson to a biology class!

The park and campgrounds at Fort Stevens was a veritable Herper Heaven. There were trails along wooded streams, open meadows, ponds... all fully accessible to the snooping of frog loving camp kids. One time my friend, Freddy, and I went with some other kids and went looking for "Swamp frogs" (Pacific Red-legs). There had been one spotted near a bridge in a slow section of the creek near the camp ground, but the water was full of some kind of sludgy stuff that looked like sewage (but didn't smell like it), so none of the other kids wanted to try to catch him... but they knew I would I went down to the water, and this tannish looking stuff was thick and gross ( I still to this day wonder what it was!) but there was a big Swamp frog floating right in the middle of it-- I wanted that frog! I tried to get him to swim toward shore by tossing pebbles behind him, but he kept popping under then coming up in a different spot. Finally he came up close to the bank... I crouched over preparing to make a grab at him-- and slipped and fell into the creek! When I came up I was covered head to toe in mystery muck... but I also had my frog! I proudly toted him back to camp but I didn't get to keep him for long, unfortunately. My mother let out a shriek that would have woken the dead when she caught sight of me... lol. She made Freddy take my frog back where we got him and I had to be washed off with a garden hose (that water was COLD!) and then had no less than two baths in the camp showers, one in my clothes and one without... I swear mom almost scrubbed the skin off of me! I was given a good chewing out and threatened NEVER to do anything like that again... it didn't keep me from becoming mired up to my knees in green slimy mud during another frog adventure later on, though, lol!

I used to try to catch this green anole that lived on/by our house for like 5 years, and it's funny is because we had caught him while he was a baby and got stuck on our front door during a cold night during fall. We named him lucky, and every spring/summer he comes to greet/taunt us with his dewlap,(there are no females around him when he does that) and every time we go to catch him, he teleports to the bush it seems like! He probably learned our tactics of two is better than one, and avoided us that way. If your wondering how an anole can remember, check out this page from Frank Indiviglio! Green Anole Intelligence - Researchers Shocked by Lizard Brainpower

[Cliygh and Mia 2]

Also I just realized... Gravity Falls is set in Oregon... Are you holding out on us...

[irThumper]

I used to try to catch this green anole that lived on/by our house for like 5 years, and it's funny is because we had caught him while he was a baby and got stuck on our front door during a cold night during fall. We named him lucky, and every spring/summer he comes to greet/taunt us with his dewlap,(there are no females around him when he does that) and every time we go to catch him, he teleports to the bush it seems like! He probably learned our tactics of two is better than one, and avoided us that way. If your wondering how an anole can remember, check out this page from Frank Indiviglio! Green Anole Intelligence - Researchers Shocked by Lizard Brainpower

That is AWESOME!

[Frogman1031]

Did you seriously stay up till 2 a.m to post that?! Lol!

[irThumper]

Did you seriously stay up till 2 a.m to post that?! Lol!

Actually it was closer to 2:30 The video editor was working, YouTube was cooperating, I could breathe for a change (not so much right now) so I went for it

[Frogger00]

I have a question for you. When all your frogs are able to be together, what are your caging plans?


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[irThumper]

I have a question for you. When all your frogs are able to be together, what are your caging plans?


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Well, Martha and Lucy all ready have a medium-tall Exo-Terra that they will be going into, once I get their strongloide worms under control. I'll be dosing them with ivermectin (as soon as I'm feeling well enough to tackle the job without poking anyone's eye out!) and then again in two weeks. I've collected various decor, a big roll of repticarpet, and a few different dishes so I can decide what I want to use for soaking/feeding, etc. I also have a waterfall filter thingy, but not sure if I will be using that in this particular enclosure or not. I have fake plants galore and some live pothos and sanseveria I can use. My idea is to use the "KISS" method (Keep it Simple Silly!) in setting up my guys permanent enclosures; I want it to look nice, and I want it to make them comfortable, but I also want to be able to clean things easily and help keep bad organisms at bay or at least under control. I'm very tempted to do a natural living vivarium, but it's not something I want to try while we are living in this dinkwad apartment. Once we are able to get a house, and a "frog cave", I'll be able to set up more permanent planted setups without worry of having to dig up and break everything down in able to move. I was going to put Shirley, Honey and Jelly Bean in a 40 gallon bow front I have in storage, but with my back issues I think I would much rather get them an Exo-Terra as well, and take advantage of those front opening doors!

We have the one in the center

Some of the plants I have to use (gave away the dieffenbachias) Planning on using the dracaenas and the sanseverias, and the Golden pothos




Lucy and Martha's Exo-Terra is sitting up on a chest of drawers, but the other guys enclosure is going on this (we still have it in the box)


Will be using these freshwater grow lights from AquaTraders (6500K T5s) for lighting for the plants and then my double deep mini domes for the day and night heat bulbs like I do now.



All of my "wood" decor is aquarium grade imitation, any stones (too large to digest) are tumbled and polished.


I don't have this rock cave looking one yet but want it bad!

[Frogger00]

Very cool! Be careful with those caves, you will never get your frogs out! Lol once I had a cave placed on top of their soaking dish, they loved that thing so much they never came out!


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[irThumper]

Very cool! Be careful with those caves, you will never get your frogs out! Lol once I had a cave placed on top of their soaking dish, they loved that thing so much they never came out!


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Heh, no worries on this one, it's more like a big scoop out of the "rock" instead of a full cave. I know what you mean though! If I didn't take Martha's cocohut out at night she'd never come out! :P

[Frogger00]

Heh, no worries on this one, it's more like a big scoop out of the "rock" instead of a full cave. I know what you mean though! If I didn't take Martha's cocohut out at night she'd never come out! :P

Lol that's good. Yes you did what I had! Cave in a water dish!


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[irThumper]

Lol that's good. Yes you did what I had! Cave in a water dish!


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It's actually a glazed ceramic flower pot saucer but yep, same idea! The smaller flower pot saucers actually do make good water dishes for the smaller guys Jelly still uses one.