Dec 2013 OHIO East Liberty 2 - Frog Frenzy

Today is our 37th anniversary. Hard to believe. December 7th is also Pearl Harbor Day, the day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in WWII. I was extremely anxious when we got married at City Hall in Las Vegas, and thought it would be the second big bomb of the century. Probably shouldn't compare the occasions, but I was very scared, nervous and pessimistic about our "blessed" event. As it turned out, we're doing fantastic and still madly in love. We appropriately began the day by toasting with Mimosas (champagne and orange juice). Today was not to be the usual romantic anniversary activities, but still a day to remember.

Kathy and Jim are what we call extreme pet adventurists. So I should preface the rest of today's activities with a little intro. Yesterday, I mentioned their exotic birds Spooky and Tim. Spooky (white) is very cool in they he loves to wander on Jim's shoulders and Jim can even cradle Spook on his back like a baby. When Jim gets tired of the attention, he simply puts on his red baseball cap because Spooky hates red. He'll run back to his cage in a split second.

Tim is not so cuddly, but has a large word and song vocabulary, including the theme song to the old Andy of Mayberry Show. He loves to repeat whatever Kathy says and imitates her actual voice, as well as their cat and dog "voices."  Sometimes it is hard to tell if words are the real thing or the bird imitation thing.

Currently K&J have a fresh water tank with colorful neon tetras. In the basement is a compost operation stocked with worms (for kitchen scraps). I'm not sure if K has names for each fish or worm, but probably she has. There are several bee hive honey supers in the back yard by the creek. 

And they have a hermit crab habitat set up in the guest bedroom. At night when we retire for bed we hear little clicking sounds of the crabs walking around in their protective adopted shell houses. It doesn't bother us at all. After a few trips we got used to it and find it comforting. 


Remember yesterday I had mentioned chicken pickin'? Well today activities include frog pickin'. K&J had a 200-gallon salt water fish tank for a few years. It had corals, shrimp, and other colorful reef fish and dwellers. After mastering that "hobby" (and after a few salt water overflow spills in the living room), she decided to give that one up and moved on to terrariums stocked with exotic miniature frogs.

We had a 10 a.m. appointment with an Ohio State biology researcher who raises various species of frogs, fish, and shrimp for a hobby. He lives north of Columbus about 33 miles from K&J's. The roads were clear and we zipped right through to our destination. We were welcomed into Brian's lovely home and headed right down to the huge basement aquarium / terrarium "complex." 

We toured the basement filled with tanks and terrariums. Brian probably has 70 tanks of varying sizes. In these, jungle-like humidity and plants served as a perfect frog habitat environment. The frog tanks are filled with every color species--entirely yellow, black and yellow, blue with black legs, all blue, green and black, endless combos.

He demonstrated with live specimens the various stages of tadpole to frog development and behavior. We discussed disease and worm issues (do you believe frogs get worms!!), healthy diet, ideal temperature, and everything frog. There was also one wall filled with fruit flies bred in Tupperware-like containers. This is ideal frog food.

Oh, did I forget to mention that Kathy has had a huge fear of toads for her whole life. Now she thought raising frogs would help her get over this phobia. Before embarking on this animal adventure, she had done her own research. She loves setting up artificial environments and has learned details about froggy diets, feeding methods, favorite habitat plants, soil, diseases, humidity, hidey spots, etc on her own. Brian confirmed she was on the right track for frog raising success. 

Today Kathy chose four Venezuelan Dendrobates Leucomelas frogs (or Lucs for short), as well as two fruit fly breeder containers for frog food stock. These little froggies are about as big as quarters. In their natural environment their diet makes them poisonous, but with a "domesticated" environment and diet they are not poisonous. That's a plus!!

Back home Kathy had the tanks all dressed out with magnolia leaves, moss, dead branches and lots of hidey holes, ideal materials for a content frog's life. Temp and humidity were also set-up as required.
Upon introduction to their new home, they appeared happy--mostly hiding, but occasionally coming out to explore or quench their thirst at the water bowl. When K gave them a fruit fly treat they gobbled them up. (By the way, these are non-flying fruit flies so they will not spread around the house. Yay! Not one of my fave creatures.)

PS - On day one, as Kathy was rearranging some leaves and branches to get a better view of the froggies, she accidentally touched one. I thought she was going to have a panic attack. Instead, she started laughing and was delighted that she had touched a frog. She said it did not feel creepy at all. A big surprise to her. Maybe this new venture will work out after all and her fear of toads will disappear.

PPS - Since our trip, Kathy has reported no problems and we know those frogs are happy and very well cared for. Not sure if these little guys have names yet. All four look alike to me. But I would bet on it that they do.