Weekly Update on My Wood Frog Vocalization Experiment :)

[Poly]

Guess what !!

The frog that I just finished testing with last week (frog 6....Lil' Porker), croaked this morning 8 times at about 7:49 am!! I didn't even have the Wood frog vocalizations playing and the conditions were normal living conditions, 65-70 F temps about 60% humidity.....nothing that resembled the mating conditions as Test A is meant to mimic.

It had to be the barometric pressure.....it snowed really hard yesturday and there was 25 mph winds. This morning though it was pretty calm outside, but overcast. It was silent and dark in the house when he croaked too. Hmmmmm.......

Autumn, maybe even though they are WC amphibians, they have adjusted to terrarium life, considering that you caught them as juveniles, and that they have grown up in captivity, is it possible that they don't recognize their "mating conditions"?

Glad to hear he finally croaked!

[frogluver]

Fascinating... He's happy

Haha, he croaked again later that day (with some Scottish folk music playing in the background....he was in the mood for singing lol) 6 times too ! He is happy!

Autumn, maybe even though they are WC amphibians, they have adjusted to terrarium life, considering that you caught them as juveniles, and that they have grown up in captivity, is it possible that they don't recognize their "mating conditions"?

Glad to hear he finally croaked!

So I have total of 4 wood frogs....2 adult males and 2 juveniles. During the Wood frog mating season of this year, I captured the adults. I navigated the pond via canoe and located the adults by their calls (it was sooo fun). So the adults I didn’t raise. And then I captured the juveniles during their fall migration to higher grounds, so I’m raising them now ;D.

What you said makes perfect sense though. I had a juvenile WF four years ago that I raised and he called spontaneously once he matured. It was the funniest thing…..the TV was on, he would croak; the heater came on he would croak; the family would laugh, he would croak! It was like you said, he didn’t seem to know the right “mating conditions” .

Haha yup...me too !

[frogluver]

Oh, and the same frog croaked again this morning at 6:58, hehe!! Maybe he can sense the incredibly warm temperatures we are experiencing from a Chinook that's coming through. We are having 45F temps and some rain in the middle of winter! Last week we had -25F weather. That’s about a difference of 70 degrees. And tonight……we are expecting to have 30 to 55 mph winds and 4+ inches of snow, blizzard conditions. So unusual for the interior of Alaska.

And I have some exciting news to shed about Frog 5 (Lil’ Piggy) who is in the middle of the experiment right now. But I think I’ll be a little evil and make you guys wait until Monday when I write my report/conclusion for Frog 5 hehehehe ;P!!

[Badger]

This is so interesting. My frogs call constantly at night, to the point that I wake up a lot. I'll try and get a temp/humidity reading if you would like?

[frogluver]

This is so interesting. My frogs call constantly at night, to the point that I wake up a lot. I'll try and get a temp/humidity reading if you would like?

Really, they do! Did you get your Wood frogs when they were juveniles or nearing adulthood? That would be great if you could do that! If possible, I would also love a record of the weather conditions when they vocalize. Thanks Dalton!!

[frogluver]

+Final Report for Frog 5, Test A

The first four days of this trial in my experiment were dedicated to the acclimation process: Frog 5 (aka Lil’ Piggy) was left to adjust to the new conditions similar to the breeding season (49-54F temperatures and 50-75% humidity). The frog adjusted to the experimental surroundings smoothly and did not seem to display any signs of major stress. However, the frog did not eat consistently as usual. Despite this fact, the frog maintained a good weight. Similar to Frog 6, Frog 5 buried itself into the moss and was sluggish in movements (i.e. slow to react).

*After the acclimation process, the frog was then exposed to a series of Wood frog vocalizations for three days. These calls were played during 11:00am to 1:00pm and during 10:00pm to 12:00am. These are the times in which Wood frog vocalization is most active during the mating season, in late April and early May here in Fairbanks, AK. During this time the following observations were noted:*

•Day 5 12/02/11: Frog remained hidden in moss. Given 2 dusted crickets; 1 seen eaten. 11a-1p report: No phonotaxis was observed; the frog remained hidden throughout the test. No vocalization observed or recorded. 10p-12a report: Before the test began, I located frog in the moss (was found on the left side of tank) and he was disturbed from hiding. At 11:28p, the frog changed location but not in direction of sound source. No vocalization was recorded.

•Day 6 12/03/11: Frog was visible but partially hidden. 11a-1p report: Frog did not display signs of phonotaxis. One call (vocalization) was recorded on video camera and recorder. Call was given in between 12:20p and 1:00p during the first tracks of the CD (2nd play). Temp was 52F and hum was 50%. 10p-12a report: No phonotaxis observed and no vocalizations observed either.

•Day 7 12/04/11: Frog is same location as yesterday. Not much movement observed. 11a-1p report: Frog did not display signs of phonotaxis. No calls were given either. However, frog vomited or did something similar to the gesture in between 11 and 12p. 10p-12a report: No phonotaxis was observed/recorded and no vocalizations were observed either.

What are my thoughts: This frog showed more results than Frog 5; however, the barometric pressure probably had an effect on the results. During the three days in which the frog was exposed to the recordings, it snowed heavily, rained, outside temperatures increased to 30-45F due to a Chinook, and winds were up to 55-60mph (quite a contrast to the calm weather conditions experienced during the test with Frog 6). I would also like to note that—based on the observations thus far—that the frog(s) may think it’s time to hibernate, based on the fact that they are brought into colder conditions then they are used to. This could be an explanation as to why they do not vocalize or display signs of phonotaxis.

[Poly]

+Final Report for Frog 5, Test A

The first four days of this trial in my experiment were dedicated to the acclimation process: Frog 5 (aka Lil’ Piggy) was left to adjust to the new conditions similar to the breeding season (49-54F temperatures and 50-75% humidity). The frog adjusted to the experimental surroundings smoothly and did not seem to display any signs of major stress. However, the frog did not eat consistently as usual. Despite this fact, the frog maintained a good weight. Similar to Frog 6, Frog 5 buried itself into the moss and was sluggish in movements (i.e. slow to react).

*After the acclimation process, the frog was then exposed to a series of Wood frog vocalizations for three days. These calls were played during 11:00am to 1:00pm and during 10:00pm to 12:00am. These are the times in which Wood frog vocalization is most active during the mating season, in late April and early May here in Fairbanks, AK. During this time the following observations were noted:*

•Day 5 12/02/11: Frog remained hidden in moss. Given 2 dusted crickets; 1 seen eaten. 11a-1p report: No phonotaxis was observed; the frog remained hidden throughout the test. No vocalization observed or recorded. 10p-12a report: Before the test began, I located frog in the moss (was found on the left side of tank) and he was disturbed from hiding. At 11:28p, the frog changed location but not in direction of sound source. No vocalization was recorded.

•Day 6 12/03/11: Frog was visible but partially hidden. 11a-1p report: Frog did not display signs of phonotaxis. One call (vocalization) was recorded on video camera and recorder. Call was given in between 12:20p and 1:00p during the first tracks of the CD (2nd play). Temp was 52F and hum was 50%. 10p-12a report: No phonotaxis observed and no vocalizations observed either.

•Day 7 12/04/11: Frog is same location as yesterday. Not much movement observed. 11a-1p report: Frog did not display signs of phonotaxis. No calls were given either. However, frog vomited or did something similar to the gesture in between 11 and 12p. 10p-12a report: No phonotaxis was observed/recorded and no vocalizations were observed either.

What are my thoughts: This frog showed more results than Frog 5; however, the barometric pressure probably had an effect on the results. During the three days in which the frog was exposed to the recordings, it snowed heavily, rained, outside temperatures increased to 30-45F due to a Chinook, and winds were up to 55-60mph (quite a contrast to the calm weather conditions experienced during the test with Frog 6). I would also like to note that—based on the observations thus far—that the frog(s) may think it’s time to hibernate, based on the fact that they are brought into colder conditions then they are used to. This could be an explanation as to why they do not vocalize or display signs of phonotaxis.

Sorry for missing your replies Autumn! I definitely think the colder temperatures is the reason you have not observed much vocalization, and barometric pressure must have a large influence. Maybe you should try to bring the temperatures up a bit?