Meet Linus, the accidental Pacific chorus frog

[Molch]

Also known as 9-lives Linus.

Life 1: got accidentally shipped from Washington State to the Arctic (northern Alaska!) at the onset of winter, hidden in the kale in a box of organic veggies.

Life 2: lucked out to arrive in the house of a biologist, instead of one of the other 99.9% of Alaska residents who would have simply screeched hysterically and squashed him like a bug.

Life 3: almost got guillotined when said kale was chopped.

Life 4: almost embarked on a dark journey to the unknown when he narrowly escaped being flushed down the kitchen sink drain

Life 5: hopped out of the sink and unduly attracted the interest of 2 large dogs. Luckily, said dogs had never seen a frog before (this is northern Alaska...) and puzzled momentarily as to whether this starnge new insect should be consumed or not.

Life 6: arrived in Alaska after freeze-up when no more flying insects could be found. Refused earthworms and was starting to look very, very skinny when Mama's order of drosophila and crickets arrived.

Lives 7-9: well, I'd like to think he has a few of them left.

Below some pics of Linus (now 7/8th inch long, after voraciously taking on the crickets and fruit flies!) in his new home.

Of course, judging by his throat he is probably a girl, eh? But then, he's only 7/8th inch long. Would he be this year's hatchling?

[JeffX]

Lucky frog. It's a good thing you found him.

[Jace]

Beautiful frog and setup. Still a little small to sex as of yet, but looking very healthy. He or she might have lost a few lives, but now living with you, a few might be gained back!

[Molch]

do you think he would have hatched out in spring 2010? He arrived in early September at about 3/4 inches long...

[Jace]

I collected my froglets in August, and they were under 1", so I figure that your little one was born either late August or even early September. These frogs are cold tolerant, and from what I understand, can reproduce in cooler conditions like Fall. If yours was born in the spring, he would be full size by now, as they grow very fast on a good diet. My female, Taiki, was given to me in July of this year and reached almost full size in 8-10 weeks.

May I ask how big his setup is? I love how you've done it-it really shows him off nicely!

[JimO]

Linus. I like it. That is a fabulous vivarium. Great work!

[Molch]

thanks all - the setup is an old 5-gallon aquarium that I put on its side. I moved one side panel to the new side and took that black plastic frame off the aquarium and made a lid and side vent out of it. And glued in a land/water divider.
It's small, but then, there's only one of him and he's little. He loves the big leaves of that plant (not sure what's that called).

Then again, it was his fondness for big leaves that got him in trouble in the first place...as he was hiding in the kale

On his size/age question...he got to Alaska in early Sept at 3/4 inches long - so he wouldn't have metamorphosed just a month before, or would he?

[Jace]

These guys, at most, can take 2-2 1/2 months to morph. My guess is he became a froglet at the beginning of August, end of July, placing his birth no earlier than May. But these frogs grow fast, so I would say that he was born in June, morphed in August, and had a healthy growth spurt for him to be the size he was when you got him. I think my math makes sense...it was not my strongest subject in school though.

[Molch]

amazing how fast they grow then...of course, this puts the performance pressure on Mama in terms of hauling in crickets and fruit flies....

[Jace]

Lol-yes, they can be extreme eaters. All of mine are on a three day a week feeding schedule now. But when they were younger, it was every day. I like to have chubby frogs, and once they reach that point, it's easy to maintain. I am not sure if this is true of all of them, but now that Yoki is older-and wider-he is not as active and no longer begs for more frequent feedings (and yes, contrary to belief, frogs can beg!! ). He sits on his "throne" and watches-and usual ends up a perch himself for one of the spoiled froglets!

[Molch]

now that Yoki is older-and wider-he is not as active

well, yes - that happens to all of us

[charlamanda]

That's one very lucky froglet you have, Linus will be in good hands. I have 13 Gray Tree froglets that finished their morph in Mid-July when they left my pool. Some of them are slightly under 2" and a few are only 1/2" still, but all morphed at the same time. Just depends on the froglet and it's circumstances, I guess.

[Molch]

an update: he's now a tad over an inch long but has about doubled his mass since I got him in September. I'm providing him with an ad-lib supply of fruit flies in his tank. He'll take crickets too but prefers his flies. I haven't been able to convince him to eat earthworms.

talking of fruitflies...I started w. 2 colonies and oh my bananas, before I could stop myself I had 47 fruit fly colonies - yea, 47! All that for one 1-inch frog. HelP! What to do ? I'm gonna need a bigger frog , or maybe more of them

I'm thinking of getting one of those exo-terra 12x12x18 terrariums - has anybody seen these? Are they any good?

[dachshundsr4me]

They are good terrariums but be for warned that you may need to seal the bottom area a little better. Some are not as water tight as they should be. Once a little more sealer on it is all done they are super nice to gain access to your frog. BTW your frog is lovely. I was reading his/her story and found it fascinating. Good thing he/she came upon you.

[bshmerlie]

I have the Exo Terra 18x18x24 and the larger one and both have never leaked and are great tanks. However Dachshunds4me is not the first to mention the leaking issue with them but hopefully you wont have the problem. You made a fabulous five gallon I can't wait to see what you'll do with a larger tank. You will have to figure a way to keep the fruit flies in though.

[Molch]

thanks all - I ordered the exo terra and now am waiting to hear whether they even ship to Alaska, hehe.

[dachshundsr4me]

I look forward to seeing the exo terra setup as well. I use tanks similar...mine are Zoo Meds Naturalistic Terrarium and love them. Instead of having a double swing door these have a single swing door. Which to me i love. To keep the humidity in you will need to tape on top halfway across a ziploc bag to cover some of the screen opening. Or you will be spraying yourself to death to keep it at 70-80% humidity. After I did I didn't have the evaporation problem that I had before.

[Molch]

an update: Linus is doing great! He has doubled his length and probably tripled his mass since he arrived. Here he is this morning, after 2 crickets and an exhausting fruit fly hunt:

He is now 1 3/8" long. Should he be sexable? If so, he's probably a girl as I don't see any vocal sac yet.

In the last 2 pix, note the size comparison from just about 8 weeks ago. The last pic is Linus when I started this thread - you can use the leaf as size comparison

This lil' fella is just so much fun. He has tons of personality and I love watching him hunt flies

oh, and I got him an exo-terra 12 x 12 x 18 for Xmas. It's twice the size of his tank now and I'll set it up as a vivarium with a water part and emergent plants and all.

[dachshundsr4me]

What a cute little fatty he is. =)