Spring peepers?

[UncleChester]

Starting around dusk you should be able to hear them calling if it's warm and humid enough for them to start breeding, and apparently you've been lucky enough to have a few nights like this so far. The sound of the call should be enough for an ID for a Peeper and you can quite often get very close to them. My usual approach at night:

1) walk towards calling peepers and stop moving when they stop calling
2) stand still and wait for calling to resume, then go back to step 1) until you are close enough to see one (a flashlight is handy)

This usually works and if you ever have the notion to try to keep a Peeper permanently you should do this so you can witness first hand just how loud a male can be before bringing it into your home. They are shockingly loud for their size. Not a problem if you're just raising and releasing though.

The puddle drying up before they make it to land is kinda sad (as is the snow after eggs have been laid!), but all part of their early breeding gamble and one of the reasons they lay so many eggs in one go. It's nice of you to want to try to save some though.

[MantisMan]

spring peepers make TERRIBLE pets
i've had several, all wild caught
they r EXTREMELY shy, dont seem to eat in captivity, they move around a lot, and r escape artists
i lost one october 2011 and didnt find it until april when my sis found its skeleton in her room (which she first thought was a toadlet but it was too big to be one)
i still havent found the other
i'd go for something like a whites treefrog or a barking treefrog but if u want to try and work with these guys go right ahead, maybe u can make something better out of that then i could

[LunaDay]

I don't plan on keeping them...just keeping them from dying. I just want to raise the tads that get left behind and then release them, hoping to give them a fighting chance.

Thank you Brian! I will stalk them tonight

[exasperatus2002]

Starting around dusk you should be able to hear them calling if it's warm and humid enough for them to start breeding, and apparently you've been lucky enough to have a few nights like this so far. The sound of the call should be enough for an ID for a Peeper and you can quite often get very close to them. My usual approach at night:

1) walk towards calling peepers and stop moving when they stop calling
2) stand still and wait for calling to resume, then go back to step 1) until you are close enough to see one (a flashlight is handy)

This usually works and if you ever have the notion to try to keep a Peeper permanently you should do this so you can witness first hand just how loud a male can be before bringing it into your home. They are shockingly loud for their size. Not a problem if you're just raising and releasing though.

The puddle drying up before they make it to land is kinda sad (as is the snow after eggs have been laid!), but all part of their early breeding gamble and one of the reasons they lay so many eggs in one go. It's nice of you to want to try to save some though.

I've caught them at vernal pools before. They are very well camoflaged & they seem like vantriliquists. I never keep them though.

[Herpguy]

I can say from experience that every time I've kept spring peepers they were delightful pets. They are voracious feeders, and I've never since seen a frog jump so far and so accurately to get food. They could catch crickets from ten inches away, pretty good accounting for their size.

[LunaDay]

I can say from experience that every time I've kept spring peepers they were delightful pets. They are voracious feeders, and I've never since seen a frog jump so far and so accurately to get food. They could catch crickets from ten inches away, pretty good accounting for their size.

Thanks guys! I really appreciate all of the advice...I have an old 10 gallon someone gave me that has horrible stains on the glass I can't get off. I think it will be perfect for saving taddies!

[Psychotic]

I save frog eggs all the time. Hatching out the tadpoles and releasing them is fun. However I wouldn't keep peepers unless I had a sound proof room to keep them in. They are very very loud. I would only keep a female. They are shy and very hard to get accustomed to captive life though.

[graphicgirl]

We used to have tons of tadpoles in our pool cover (before we got a new one that stretches taut and drains so we don't get the tadpoles anymore)... and I used to feel so guilty pumping them into the grass where the birds would go nuts eating them... so one year I rescued them... they already had legs starting... and got them to froghood... my Mom took them from Illinois to Minnesota and let them go... and now she sees them or their offspring all the time... I forget what breed we decided they were... they were a tree frog... with a bandit mask... and my Mom thinks they are NOT indigenous to Minnesota... so I hope she didn't goof up the ecosystem by transplanting them there... I do love the sound of frogs at night... very soothing...

[LunaDay]

Well, these guys finally came out. They are not spring peppers as I thought. I was actually way off I think. It is a "wood frog". I finally got a look at one today, and found a site where they have a recording of the call/croak/whatever it is called. I do still plan on saving the tads though if they get stuck in the puddles