So, you want a pet frog...

Before you run out to the nearest pet store or pond there are
several things you should consider.

Getting a frog shouldn't be considered all that different from
getting a cat or dog. It can be a lot of work, and you need to
think about what you're going to do when you skip town for a week,
and so forth.

Also, frogs aren't like goldfish in that they can live for a very
very long time! Don't believe me? check out some of these

statistics
of longevity of frogs in captivity

You may need a special license to keep frogs in some countries. I
hear that in Australia it is actually very difficult to obtain an
amphibian license, and people who keep frogs without such a license
can get fined heavily for it. You should definitely check to see if
there are any special laws pertaining to keeping frogs in your area
before you get one as a pet!

Here's a few things to consider when making choices:

 
So, the moral of this story is, find out about the frog you want to
get BEFORE you get it! 

For the first frog encounter, I strongly
recommend the African Dwarf

Frog. These guys are small,
active, cute, and about as difficult to maintain as a tank
of goldfish. You also don't have to deal with live
bugs and they can be kept in the same conditions as
goldfish for extended periods of time...(as long as there is a
cover!) Dwarf frogs are very easy to take care of once they've
become used to their new home. As with all fish, expect the first
couple of weeks for adaptation time (many times pet stores will
sell frogs that are already sick, or that are very very small and
which may be a bit fragile in the first couple of weeks.) My sister
had terrible luck with the baby frogs until she learned to wait for
2 weeks before she names her new pet (Usually, by then you can tell
if the frogs will make the long haul) The best recommendation here
is to get them at a decent size. Avoid really skinny ones or ones
that are as small as your pinky-nail. In addition, if the frog
doesn't give the pet shop owner a really hard time when the net
goes into the tank, it may indicate some initial signs of being in
less than perfect condition.

Don't confuse these with

African Clawed
frogs

, which look very similar when small. The clawed frogs get
quite large and actually are illegal in some states (Like in Oregon
and California!)

For a beginning frog owner who wants
to get the full terrestrial frog experience,

Oriental
Firebellied Toads

are an excellent choice. These guys are
fairly simple to care for, in so far as they can survive fairly
well off crickets with vitamin supplements, and they are incredibly
active critters. They also don't get too large. Finally, there are
no hibernation requirements for this species and they do well in
temperatures that people generally are happy to have in their
homes. Unless you live in an icebox or in extremely hot climates,
this species of frog won't need special climatization for it's
terrarium. You'll need to find someone who can handle crickets when
you go away on vacation for a week or more to take care of them
though, but keep in mind crickets are much easier than frozen mice!
(Finding a frog sitter for my Firebellies proved to be fairly
difficult for me, until I found a friend who actually works
at the pet store where I buy the crickets and he was nice enough to
take care of them for me while I was out of town!)

A good Tree Frog for beginners is the

White's Tree Frog

. This frog has a funny personality and seems to be
quite a popular pick. It should be warned however, that some
children bore of the whites tree frog despite its funny
personality, simply because they tend to just sit around a lot.
(Once I even got a letter that said "Whites Tree Frog-What a blob
of nothing!") Much of the behavior of the frogs however, can be
traced to how much they eat (and how fat they get!). In addition,
the Whites Tree frog is one of the few frogs that is fit to
occasionally be handled, and it certainly has warmed the heart of
many frog enthusiasts!

In addition to dealing with crickets, the Whites tree frogs need a
little more care than the Firebellies need, simply because they
live best with humidity and are happiest when the tank is sprayed
with water once or twice every day. However, as far as Tree-Frogs
go, they are by far one of the easiest to deal with and hardiest
species available to be kept as pets!

Expensive frogs in general should not
be a frog considered by the beginner because a frog that costs over
50 bucks is a high investment to make when you are still learning
about frog care. Even if you've read all there is to read about
frog care, you really ought to start with an easier breed before
taking on the more expensive breeds like Red-Eyed TreeFrogs and
such.

Frogs captured in the wild should be
a frog that you KNOW, otherwise you take the risk of not knowing
the proper temperatures, diet, etc. I often am asked about frogs
that naturally appeared in an outdoor pond where weather patterns
lead to pond ice-overs. I don't think it's a good idea to "save"
frogs from an environment where they naturally occurred in the
first place. I suspect that the types of frogs that appear in such
climates probably hibernate in the colder months.

Frogs that get FAT, like

Horned (Pacman)
frogs

, Budgettes Toads, and Bullfrogs can get to be pretty
boring as pets for the beginner.

The Budgettes toad can also pack a
good wallop of a bite when it's full grown, so watch those fingers!
This doesn't mean you absolutely should not get some of these for
pets, (Pac Man Frogs, for example, while somewhat "boring" to some,
are also very hearty and not as prone to the usual frailties of
other types of frogs) but I'd really think carefully about how long
you're going to retain interest in this type of frog before
you've made any sort of commitment by going out and getting such a
pet....

Frog tadpoles have gotta be the favorite pet of all time! I know more people who have dealt with tadpoles than goldfish... but then, maybe that sais more about the people I know than it does about pet owners in general. But I CAN tell you that raising tadpoles can be much more than just fun- it is easy and educational too!

Here's what you need to know for dealing with tadpoles yourself.

How to tell what kind of frog you have from a tadpole:

related pages:

Where to get Tadpoles:

EEEWW!! Frogs eat *what*??

I love my sweet, darling little froggies, but I have to confess that I still have a hard time dealing with their diet. While I can deal with slimy little amphibians, the bug scene never really appealed to me. There are, however, ways to deal with crickets even for bug-sissies like myself. Here are a few tips for those out there who would prefer to make a few extra trips to the store rather than dealing with raising hoards of bugs in their garage!

Sometimes, you can find such spiffy containers pre-made on the market,
I used to be able to find little plastic containers that amounted to about the same thing. I haven't seen those in ages though.
One visitor writes: "Have you ever heard of the Cricket Corral? It is a small cricket keeper that has a wand that allows you to put crickets in with your frogs, and not have to touch them. It also has a place for water and gut load. It is sold by Pet Tech. If you do a hotbot search on "pet tech" and "cricket corral" you can probably find a place on the web that sells them. I think they are around $20. I don't personally have one, but my younger brother has an Anole (he saw them and loved them, wanted one and got one before he found out what they ate), and he hates bugs too. So I got him one of these, and he just pulls the wand out and shakes a couple of crickets into the cage."
Another visitor wrote: "The cricket corral falls apart very quickly and the crickets chew through the cardboard tube."
So...there's what I know about it. You'll want to clean the container every time you go to get more bugs. Just feed the last of the crickets to the frogs right before you go to the bug-store, and then run really, really hot water through the container to wash it off before you leave. Crickets stink and it gets pretty gross if you don't. If you have a few dead bugs left over, just set the few crickets left free in your back yard and consider them spared. It's better to let a few go free then be scooping gross dead floating bugs out of your lovely frog terrarium.

• Temperature requirement for crickets
  I keep mine in a cabinet at room temperature, so they may at times get a little colder at times and probably last longer when it's warmer in my home. The recommended temperature for keeping live crickets is between 75 and 85 degrees (Faranheit). However, crickets stink so I would rather not have them living too long in my cabinet anyway. As long as it doesn't get too cold, or too hot, room temperature seems fine. I wouldn't recommend keeping them outside or in a garage if it gets really chilly there though (or if you live someplace where the temperatures reach the high 90s!)
• Feeding your bugs before you feed your frogs
  If you're like me, you're not keeping the crickets for longer than a week, so we don't need to worry about long term feeding here. Generally, crickets need something damp: the sponge provides the moisture, and you want to feed them something extra to keep the frogs healthy. There's a calcium enriching commercial cricket "gut" food ('cause it packs their guts full of Calcium) that you can buy in most pet stores that is really, really good for your froggies. I've heard that people who raise crickets and breed them at home etc. complain that this is a good nutrition source but very very expensive. Hmm. I guess you need to have a lot of crickets to be of that opinion. I bought a bottle of the stuff for about 3 bucks several months ago and I've barely made a dent in it. If you're willing to spend 2 bucks a week on bugs, the calcium food pellets are probably a best bet. Just drop a bunch of these rock like items in through the escape-hatch hole and plug it up. Make sure they get fed these special pellets the day before you feed your frogs.
  If you want to alternate and save some pellets, little pieces of carrot or a potato wedge should do just fine. Another alternative for feeding the crickets (and this one's kinda kooky): rabbit food. Yep, that's what I said, rabbit food. So claims one Frogland visitor who tells me this is what they feed them at their local pet store! Maybe this explains why the crickets that do get loose like to hang out near the cat-food dish at my place. (And here I thought it was just cause they like to play with my kitty!)
  If you're going to feed them some non calcium gut food, your best bet is to sprinkle them with a calcium powder just before you dump them in the tank with your frogs. I said sprinkle, as in lightly dust them, not coat them like a Shake and Bake Chicken!
• How long can crickets last?
  Well, if you raise them in a tank the way the "experts" do, then they probably could last a lot longer. However, I find that for my 2 frogs, I go to the store about once a week and buy about 2 dozen bugs.
  
  If you're lucky, you can find a really cool pet store that doesnt "count" out 24 bugs, but gives you what "looks like" that many (which tends to be a lot more). If you store them in a place that gets really really hot, or you overfeed them with that calcium gut stuff, you may end up with a stinky mess of dead crickets. 

  Raising Your Own Bug Supply
  

  If you live far from a pet store or there isn't a pet store near you that has convenient hours, you should probably look into the larger size project of raising crickets at home.
  I'm afraid I'm a bit too squeamish for this (it requires *eegh* touching bugs!)
  but here's a page with some useful information for those less squeemish than me:
  
  Raising Crickets (for the less Squeamish Pet Owner)
   

  How Many Crickets Should I Feed My Frogs?
  

  This is probably one of the most common questions that I get asked. Your best bet is to experiment and try out how much food seems to be good for your frog. Try dumping in 3 or so crickets per feeding session per frog, and see whether the frogs seem to still be hungry or starts to look underfed. Remember, frogs really do seem to have distinct behaviors, even within a species! Some will gorge themselves on any available tasty morsels regardless of need, while others will only eat once in a while when hungry. Excessive feeding is not healthy for many frogs, though some simply choose to ignore excessive food when not hungry. Determining how much to feed the frog is often a matter of understanding your frog's personality!
  Other types of food can be tried (ex. mealworms, waxworms, grasshoppers,etc.) But crickets seem to be the "food of choice."
  This is only a recommendation, but seems to be a good starting guideline:
  Froglets and smaller than 1/2 inch:
  

   

  Small sized frogs and froglets which can't take in the smallest sized crickets can be fed bloodworms. Generally, bloodworms are best for froglets when served live in an overturned jar lid with some water. For small frogs, flightless fruitflies are also a popular alternative.

  
  

  1/2 to 1 1/2 inch:
  

   

  Offer the little froglets 2-3 week old crickets daily (crickets should be no longer than the width of the froglet's head). A coating of calcium/vitamin supplement is strongly recommended. Young frogs in particular need these additives to grow up healthy. I have firebellies which are about 1 1/2 inches in length, and generally I dump a dozen "small" crickets in the tank for 2 frogs once ever 4-6 days.

   

  1 1/2 to 3 inch:
  

   

  Offer 3-4 week old crickets about every two or three days (coating less frequently- maybe once or twice a week). You can try offering them 1 to 2 day old "pinky" mice once a week (if your frogs will take them).

   

  3 inches and higher:

  
   

  Feed large crickets two to three times weekly. You should reduce calcium/vitamin intake to once a week. An excess of calcium and vitamins may cause a non-reversable kidney disease in some frogs. You can also try "pinky" mice or early stage "fuzzy" mice, if your frog will take them.

Kiss Me! I'm a Prince!

Froggy Valentines   Make your own Valentines Cards!     Learn to make your own Pop-Up Croaking Frog Card Print, Color, and Cut out this card for your friends Print, Color, and Cut out this card for your friends Print, Color, and Cut out this card for your friends   Froggishly cool links to more fun stuff     Valentines Frog Slide-Puzzle Frog Or Prince Test Come Closer! Color these Valentine Frogs! How to make a Valentine Kissing Frog out of sugarpaste or marzepan Adopt a Holiday (Valentines) Frog

Frog Bread

This evening I intended to bake the the bread for Bread Baking Lesson Two for this site. But I forgot to add one of the ingredients that I intended to write about in the lesson. This left me with a perfectly viable dough, just not the dough I wanted to use for my lesson. So I had to come up with another use for all of the dough I had made.

When I was little, we lived in the Mission District in San Francisco. There was a Mexican bakery there that used to bake a beautiful alligator-shaped loaf of bread. My wife and I were recently discussing this and came up with the idea of trying some animal shaped loaves ourselves. Since she runs a popular Frog Website, the first animal that came to mind was a frog.

Click the "Read More" link below for the dough recipe and information on shaping and baking Frog Bread.

The Dough

Below if the dough I used, but there is nothing special about it. If you have a bread recipe your prefer that produces a sturdy dough, by all means, use it.

6 cups unbleached flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons yeast
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups lukewarm milk
1/4 - 1/2 cup water

Mix together all of the dry ingredients. Mix in the milk and enough water to make everything form a doughy ball. Turn the ball out onto a flat surface and knead for approximately 10 minutes. Return it into a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise for approximately 90 minutes until the dough has doubled in size.

Shaping the Frog

I first took a large chunk of the dough and formed it into a ball. I then squished one end of it to make it a bit oblong. This formed the body of the frog.

Next we added the legs. I made a smaller ball of dough, cut it in half, and set each half behind the toad to form the rear legs. I made a small disc of dough and cut it in half and cut out some toe wedges to form the rear feet. Front feet, as you can see, were just little tubes of dough that we slit to create toes.

Eyes are just two small balls of dough. We pushed a couple of raisins into them to make them "googly eyes" at our son's request.

A slit across the front makes the mouth.

All set. I covered it loosely with a towel and let it rise for an hour.

Baking

After an hour I preheated the oven to 350. Right before throwing the frog in the oven I coated it with an egg wash. This was just a raw egg I scrambled up and then brushed over the dough. Doing this gives the finished bread a beautiful, shiny coating.

I baked it at 350 for 45 minutes.

Finished Product

It came out looking great I think. Our two year old son loved getting to eat a frog eyeball after dinner, and he is dying to have "frog butt toast" for breakfast.

FROG MUSIC

Frogs David Badger Hallelujah! I've found a great coffee table book about frogs! By this I mean one of those books that has lots of really beautiful photos of frogs as well as some info about them that goes beyond just how to feed them bugs (Like the great articles you run across in National Geographics once every few years.) To my knowledge this is the best available book in print. You can even buy sets of postcards of the photos found in this book..which I always had lining my drab gray cube walls at work.

Reptiles, Amphibians, and Invertebrates An Identification and Care Guide Patricia P. Bartlett, Richard D. Bartlett, Billy Griswold, R.D. Bartlett One of the questions I get all the time is queries from people who want to identify some frog that they bought at a pet store. Often frogs are mislabeled, often pet shop owners are just as baffled by a shipment as the shoppers. This book is a pictorial identification guide and basic husbandry manual covering more than 250 species, subspecies, and color morphs of reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates, all of which are species most commonly found in pet stores.

Frogs Inside Their Remarkable World Ellin Beltz Herpetologist Ellin Beltz offers a compelling picture of the history of the frog, its anatomical makeup, its place in the natural world and the threats that are seriously reducing its numbers around the world. This book is simply *brimming* with gorgeous full-color panels loaded with tons of beautiful photographs and a whole bunch of information to go along with it. Inside there's a comprehensive overview, everything you could want to know about frogs - be it natural history, anatomy and physiology, all the frog families and the various protective strategies that they take on in the wild. There's even a whole section dealing with frogs as they relate to humans, both as they appear in various myths and cultures around the world. Everything from Aztec beliefs to Kermit the frog, it's in there. Bonus: This book is so lovely, it's going right on the coffee table!

Hopping Mad Michael Catchpool, David Roberts Fred lived next door to Finn. Fred had 5 frogs, and so did Finn. But when the frogs hop over to each other's pads for nighttime parties and don't all return the next morning, Fred and Finn set out to build enormous barriers between their houses to keep their frogs from going next door. What follows is a little mathematical journey of counting fun as frogs clamor and climb their ways to night time frolicking. My four year old son absolutely loves this book, and doesn't even realize that he's learning lots of math in the process!

Care and Breeding of Popular Tree Frogs A Practical Manual for the Serious Hobbyist (General Care and Maintenance of Series) Philippe de Vosjoli, Robert Mailloux, Drew Ready I got this one at a Reptile and Amphibian show...it looks like a good resource for anyone planning on owning any tree frogs. The descriptions of care are very clear, and it even deals with diseases and disorders that your frog may encounter. Written by experienced and recognized frog herpetoculturists, this book covers the most necessary basics - everything from how to select a healthy animal, how to diagnose and treat an ill one, how to set up a frog's vivarium, what to feed, and how to breed the frogs. It is written for a beginner frog keeper and focuses on species specifically recommended to beginners - green tree frogs, White's tree frogs, white-lipped tree frogs, and red-eyed tree frogs. I don't have one of the popular tree-frogs at home, but this book has been highly recommended from others who do and it has a lot of pictures and information that looks like it's a great resource for the new tree-frog pet owner.

Amphibian Eyewitness Books A Dorling Kindersley Book Great reference book! I hadn't realized that I should not be searching the nature and animal sections of bookstores, but rather the Children's sections, where I found a whole lot of great general frog info books! What a gold-mine! This book has a plethora of fun frog facts and neat pictures too!

Amphibian Eyewitness Books A Dorling Kindersley Book Great reference book! I hadn't realized that I should not be searching the nature and animal sections of bookstores, but rather the Children's sections, where I found a whole lot of great general frog info books! What a gold-mine! This book has a plethora of fun frog facts and neat pictures too!

Amphibians The World of Frogs, Toads, Salamanders and Newts Robert Hofrichter Yay! Another pretty picture book! This one is both an introductory textbook to the biology of the amphibians, and on the other, it is a coffee-table book of beautiful photographs of frogs.

Days with Frog and Toad Arnold Lobel These Frog and Toad stories are wonderfully written tales about the rewards of good friendship. Our son really loves this series, and we don't grow tired of rereading this one to him on a nightly basis.

Frog and Toad Are Friends Arnold Lobel This one is currently my 3 year old son's favorite book. I don't think we've gone by a single night in the past 6 weeks where a story hasn't been read from our copy. Frog and Toad are best friends and this series is about their time together. There are 4 cute little stories to be enjoyed in this book.

Breeding and Keeping Frogs and Toads (Completely Illustrated with Color Photos Showing Breeding and Keeping) W.P. Mara This one is probably my favorite general pet care book. It's full of really great pictures and has glossy pages (presumably because your handling wet frogs?) and has some very clear basic descriptions of frog care. Probably the most exhaustive section on Frog Illness that I've been able to find yet. This one ends up being the book I refer to most. It seems to be a pretty comprehensive resource for the basic pet-care needs.

A Boy, a Dog, and a Frog Mercer Mayer This is the first book in a series of wordless picture books following the tale of a boy and his dog who go out exploring and find a frog. It's a very sweet tale, with really cute and expressive drawings. We loved reading this book with our 3 year old as much as he did, so it's not just for kids too.

One Frog Too Many Mercer Mayer and Marianna Mayer Oh my goodness what a cute book series this is! This falls under the wordless picture book genre - a story about a boy, his dog, turtle and frog, and a case of envy when a new frog joins the little group. The illustrations are priceless, with expressions so clear even our young 3 year old has no troubles figuring out what emotions each character is expressing. This one is just as delightful the 100th time as the first time, for the young and old alike.

Frog Heaven Nature's Song This is one of my favorites. It's just a steady recording of various frog calls: makes you feel like you're in a lush forest, (even if you live in the middle of the city, like me) It's great background noise and nice to fall asleep to! This is still one of my all-time favorite nature-recording CDs, of any genre, and not just because of the froggies!

Poison Dart Frogs (Success With An Amphibian Pet) William Samples For the hardcore herp fans, this book appears to be one of the best ones out there when it comes to reference books for poison dart frog owners. It includes step by step instructions for breeding, raising eggs, care of tadpoles, food, terrarium, and so on. The intended audience clearly includes breeders, not just the casual pet owner, so it may be too technical for beginners. (That said, I really don't recommend poison dart frogs for "beginners" anyway.)

Sounds of North American Frogs Smithsonian Folkways The folks out at Smithsonian Folkways have a CD released with some frog sounds on it. This is a delightful recording, digitally remastered and narrated by herpetologist Charles M. Bogert, which is great as a teaching tool for the many many different kinds of sounds that frogs make! Great way to learn how to frog hunting with your ears!

Tuesday David Wiesner Looking for a great children's book with frogs? Check this one out! It's by far my favorite and you don't have to be a kid to truly appreciate it! Minimal text, beautiful drawings. This book even won the Caldecott Medal and is practically guaranteed to charm even those who don't think they really like frogs. Its a story about a Tuesday evening when Frogs begin a magical journey of flight. The images here are absolutely priceless and hysterical!

Amphibian Medicine and Captive Husbandry Kevin M. Wright, Brent R. Whitaker, Kevin N. Wright If you're even considering this one, chances are there's really absolutely nothing that *I* can teach you, but I'm going to list this one in the recommended reading list anyway since this is, after all, a frog site! This book comes with high recommendations from aspiring veterinarians, but any serious herpetologist or serious breeder of captive amphibians would find information in this book useful. It covers all sorts of detailed bits about care, feeding and breeding of amphibians, as well as diagnosis of all sorts of diseases that they can get as well as methods of treatment.

Amphibians of Washington and Oregon William P. Leonard, Herbert A. Brown, Lawrence L.C. Jones, Kelly Rorc Allister, and Robert M. Storm (Seattle Audubon Society) If you live in the Northwest, this is a pretty good field guide for local "frog watchers." It even has information on how to identify different kinds of tadpoles.

Frogs, Toads, and Treefrogs Everything About Selection, Care, Nutrition, Breeding, and Behavior R. D. Bartlett, Patricia P. Bartlett A popular soft-cover book that's easy enough for kids to understand as well. Lots of pictures and a good basic introduction to pet care information.

Amphibians and Reptiles in 3-D Mark Blum What a fun book! This one comes with special glasses embedded in the front. Using these glasses, you can check out really cool photographs of frogs and other reptiles in 3-D!

The Frog Prince (We Both Read) Brothers Grimm, Sindy McKay, George Ulrich Here is the classic tale of the Frog Prince, a princess makes a promise to a frog to be his friend, in exchange for his help in retrieving her golden ball, but it's also a perfect introduction for young readers. This book has been designed for kids just starting to learn to read to share the book with a better reader, by using different levels of vocabulary. Everytime you turn a page, there's a section on the left page for the better reader to read aloud, and on the right there's a bit for the young learner to try out which uses simpler language. It's also a nice adaptation of the classic tale. Our son is just starting to get interested in reading, and though this is a bit advanced for him, he loved the story here. We'll definitely be returning to it when he's getting closer to this reading level - probably 1st grade. Plus it's just lots of fun to read together at bedtime!

It's a Frog's Life! Densey Clyne Great photos and a really great intro to frogs for the beginner.

The Book of the Toad A Natural and Magical History of Toad - Human Relations Robert M. Degraaf An awesome historical look at the perception of Toads throughout history! I learned all kinds of neat stuff about toad myths and medicine. There's even a section dealing with famous artworks, from ancient Chinese sculptures, to eerie paintings of Bosch!

The Wide-Mouthed Frog A Pop-up Book Keith Faulkner Another favorite book around here. It's especially fun when you making all the funny voices when reading this one aloud!

Froggy Gets Dressed Jonathan London This was one of my sons absolute favorite books when he was 2-3 years old. I read it to him countless times and yet it's always a pleasure to read. Froggy wakes up in the middle of winter and insists he wants to go out to play, but he keeps forgetting to finish getting dressed before flopping out into the snow (flop flop flop). They have this one in board-book too!

Frog Pond Recordings and Sounds of Frogs CD Natures Music Three recordings on this album: Frogs and Stream, Frogs in Summer, and Frogs and Rain. It's an hour or so of audio recordings of ambient frog pond sounds.

The Nature of Frogs Amphibians with Attitude Harry Parsons Lots of great frog images, and there's a lot of "dinner conversation" style information about frogs in here too - things like the myths about frogs in history and so on. A nice addition to a frog enthusiast's book collection.

Poison Frogs of the Family Dendrobatidae Jewels of the Rainfores Jerry J. Walls The pictures in this book are fabulous. This oversized book is rich with color glossy photographs of the most amazing amphibians on earth. As a pet care book, I understand the book is lacking in some technical detail that will have serious herp-breeders frustrated, but as a coffee table book full of glorious images this book really fits the bill. As a pet care manual, skip this one and save your money.

Frogs & Toads As A New Pet A Complete Introduction John Coborn Good basic introduction for the beginner frog owner. This has most of what you need to know, including some good photos, a section on setting up housing, some basic health care...that sort of thing.

The Proper Care of Amphibians John Coborn Another slightly heftier book compared to his other title, it also has some info on salamanders and newts. Thick pocket book with lots-o-info and pictures.

Amazing Frogs and Toads Eyewitness Juniors A Dorling Kindersley Book Basically full of the same info as the bigger Eyewitness book, but less photography and more drawings. Though it's a smaller book it's still a great resource!

Echoes of Nature Frog Chorus Echoes Of Nature (Laserlight Series) A bunch of frog recordings taken from various places in the field. One complaint I have heard about this one is that it sounds like it's a bit uneven - so if you're looking for purely atmospheric it might not fit the bill, and yet there's not accompanying narration so it's not instructional either. However, it's definitely got some variety of frog calls here.

The Strange Story of the Frog Who Became a Prince Elinor Landor Horwitz (Illustrations by John Heinly) I loved this book when I was probably about 8 or so. The very idea is fabulous...a witch comes along and turns a frog into a prince, who wants nothing more than to go back to being a frog.

Keeping and Breeding Amphibians Chris Mattison Bigger sized more general info, this deals more with different species of frogs rather than health guides. The illness section is only about two pages, but it offers a lot in the way of good information on each species of frog. It also deals with both frogs and other amphibians such as salamanders and newts.

Frogs and Toads A Sierra Club Book for children Steve Parker Great artwork and descriptions. Lots of weird frog fact info here for all ages.

A Froggy Christmas Froggus This one falls under "really strange": a CD collection of Christmas songs, sung by REAL frogs! There are some samples you can listen to at both the amazon weblink on the left, and at the record label's website, here: A Froggy Christmas

The Frogs of Summer Froggus Another one of these frog sung music collections, this one is a summer song theme. There are some samples you can listen to at both the amazon weblink on the left, and at the record label's website, here: The Frogs of Summer

Frogs & Toads A Complete Introduction Jay Pyrom Thin, but for the beginner its a pretty good resource for basic pet care. Has a lot of photos too and I've seen it in several bookstores..

Once, there was a frog who lived in the middle of a swamp. His entire family had lived in that swamp for generations, but this particular frog decided that he had had quite enough wetness to last him a lifetime. He decided that he was going to find a dry place to live instead.

The only thing that separated him from dry land was a swampy, muddy, swiftly flowing river. But the river was home to all sorts of slippery, slittering snakes that loved nothing better than a good, plump frog for dinner, so Frog didn't dare try to swim across.

So for many days, the frog stayed put, hopping along the bank, trying to think of a way to get across.

The snakes hissed and jeered at him, daring him to come closer, but he refused. Occasionally they would slither closer, jaws open to attack, but the frog always leaped out of the way. But no matter how far upstream he searched or how far downstream, the frog wasn't able to find a way across the water.

He had felt certain that there would be a bridge, or a place where the banks came together, yet all he found was more reeds and water. After a while, even the snakes stopped teasing him and went off in search of easier prey.

The frog sighed in frustration and sat to sulk in the rushes. Suddenly, he spotted two big eyes staring at him from the water. The giant log-shaped animal opened its mouth and asked him, "What are you doing, Frog? Surely there are enough flies right there for a meal."

The frog croaked in surprise and leaped away from the crocodile. That creature could swallow him whole in a moment without thinking about it! Once he was a satisfied that he was a safe distance away, he answered. "I'm tired of living in swampy waters, and I want to travel to the other side of the river. But if I swim across, the snakes will eat me."

The crocodile harrumphed in agreement and sat, thinking, for a while. "Well, if you're afraid of the snakes, I could give you a ride across," he suggested.

"Oh no, I don't think so," Frog answered quickly. "You'd eat me on the way over, or go underwater so the snakes could get me!"

"Now why would I let the snakes get you? I think they're a terrible nuisance with all their hissing and slithering! The river would be much better off without them altogether! Anyway, if you're so worried that I might eat you, you can ride on my tail."

The frog considered his offer. He did want to get to dry ground very badly, and there didn't seem to be any other way across the river. He looked at the crocodile from his short, squat buggy eyes and wondered about the crocodile's motives. But if he rode on the tail, the croc couldn't eat him anyway. And he was right about the snakes--no self-respecting crocodile would give a meal to the snakes.

"Okay, it sounds like a good plan to me. Turn around so I can hop on your tail."

The crocodile flopped his tail into the marshy mud and let the frog climb on, then he waddled out to the river. But he couldn't stick his tail into the water as a rudder because the frog was on it -- and if he put his tail in the water, the snakes would eat the frog. They clumsily floated downstream for a ways, until the crocodile said, "Hop onto my back so I can steer straight with my tail." The frog moved, and the journey smoothed out.

From where he was sitting, the frog couldn't see much except the back of Crocodile's head. "Why don't you hop up on my head so you can see everything around us?" Crocodile invited.

"But I don't want to see anything else," the frog answered, suddenly feeling nervous.

"Oh, come now. It's a beautiful view! Surely you don't think that I'm going to eat you after we're halfway across. My home is in the marsh-- what would be the point of swimming across the river full of snakes if I didn't leave you on the other bank?"

Frog was curious about what the river looked like, so he climbed on top of Crocodile's head. The river looked almost pretty from this view. He watched dragonflies darting over the water and smiled in anticipation as he saw firm ground beyond the cattails. When the crocodile got close enough, the frog would leap off his head towards freedom. He wouldn't give the croc a chance to eat him.

"My nose tickles," the crocodile complained suddenly, breaking into the frog's train of thought. "I think there might be a fly buzzing around it somewhere, or a piece of cattail fluff swept into it while I was taking you across the river."

"I don't see a fly," the frog said, peering at the crocodile's green snout. It seemed odd that anything could tickle a crocodile through it's thick skin.

"Would you go check my nose for a piece of cattail fluff, then?" the crocodile begged, twitching his nose. "I'm afraid I'll sneeze and send you flying. I don't want to feed you to the snakes." A tear seeped out of his eye, as if he was holding back a mighty sneeze.

The bank isn't too far, the frog thought. And it's the least he could do to repay him for bringing him over. So he hopped onto the crocodile's snout and checked the nostrils. Just a little closer, and he could jump... "I don't see--" he began.

Just then, with a terrific CHOMP! the frog disappeared. The crocodile licked his lips in satisfaction and gave a tiny half-sneeze. "Good, I feel much better already," he smiled, and turned around to go back home.

Frogspawn, tadpoles and frogs
(Frequently asked questions)

When do frogs lay frogspawn?

Frogs return to ponds each February or March to lay their frogspawn and then most of them disappear, just as quickly as they arrive! The timing depends on the weather and your actual location. Where we live 'Up North' it will be later than for those who live in warmer climes!

Do frogs live in a pond?

Frogs spend the majority of their time on dry land, under stones or in a damp cool spot in your garden. They use ponds at spawning time to lay their frogspawn, but need to be on land to feed. If the frogs cannot escape because your pond has steep sides and a low water level, or pavings that overhang into the pond then they will die. You must make provision for them to escape. How? See the next question!

How do I make a 'ladder' for my frogs and other wildlife to get out of the pond?

Sometimes there may be natural plants at the pond edge that frogs can use to gain a foothold. Floating a piece of wood on the pond surface and securing the outer end is another option. If this isn't possible, consider making a ‘ladder’, from plastic mesh, such as clematis mesh. Make sure the mesh extends below the water line. The top end can then be easily pinned to the surrounding soil or grass that’s round your pond. If your pond is edged with stone then the mesh could be held in place with a flat stone placed on top of the original. This technique also helps hedgehogs to escape. Hedgehogs are particularly 'accident prone' and often drown in garden ponds.

I have been given some frogspawn. How do I ensure its development?

Frogs lay frogspawn at an optimum depth, which is always in the shallow sections of a pond. Try to emulate this, and put stones in some sections if necessary to reduce the depth of water, thus enabling the frogspawn to either float on, or just below the surface. Wildlife ponds should always be built with ledges and varying depths to allow for this. See the Get Digging page. If the water is too deep, or the frogspawn is not lowered carefully into the pond, it may well sink to the bottom of the pond where it will die. Try to avoid having large areas of paving round the pond as these are not ‘frog friendly’ and can cause frogs to stick to them in hot weather. The frogs then dehydrate and die. Frogs prefer cool and damp surroundings. If you let grass and plants extend to the edge of the pond this would give tiny froglets a ‘half way’ house when they exit the pond. Tall plants round your pond edges will also discourage herons from wading into your pond to catch your frogs.

Will my goldfish eat my frogspawn and tadpoles?

In a word - Yes! Goldfish are carnivorous and will also eat newts eggs, dragonfly larvae and anything else that moves!

One site visitor reported - 'Several years ago I put all the spawn in a tank and it all hatched.... when I thought they were large enough I put them in the pond and the fish ate the lot!' but another found that ' ... the fish live very well alongside the frogs and we found numerous little frogs under stones we have aside a 'stream'. Last year the tadpoles hid from the fish in the pebbles we have in the pond.' So ... providing hiding places for the tadpoles might well be an acceptable compromise.

Why is my frogspawn a milky colour?

It's most probable that cold weather has caused this effect, and the frogspawn will probably not develop into tadpoles. Other hatched tadpoles will eat the jelly though, so nothing is wasted! See also the RAUK e-forum for 'white frogspawn'

What do tadpoles eat?

Tadpoles will live on the jelly that provided protection before they hatched, and will survive on algae, other microscopic particles and vegetation in the pond. Once they start to develop legs, tadpoles change from being vegetarian creatures to a carnivorous stage. Most established ponds will have enough food for the tadpoles to develop to maturity, but if the tadpoles or developing froglets are in a tank they may well start eating each other if food is scarce. Not a pretty sight! Our mature tadpoles were given a treat of small quantities of cat food and the small cat biscuits that floated on the water. They relished both. Remember to keep the quantities small though to avoid polluting the pond water.

I have found dead frogs in my garden. What would cause this?

(1) The frogs might have been attacked by neighbouring cats. (2) Some frogs die at spawning time after becoming entangled with other enthusiastic frogs. (3) Your frogs could be suffering from a frog virus. Scientists think that the virus might have been imported by exotic pets and have investigated 62,000 frog deaths, but believe the actual toll runs into millions. 'It's worse than myxomatosis, the plague that devastated rabbit populations,' said Tom Langton, director of research group Froglife. 'It is a living death. The frogs take a considerable time to die and there are some indications that their numbers are permanently depressed in some areas.' The disease was first reported in southern England in 1992. Since then, increasing numbers of frogs suffering from the disease have been found further north, in Cheshire and Scotland. Anyone who finds dead or dying frogs should contact Froglife on 01733 558960.

Where do the frogs go in winter?

After spawning, most frogs will return to dry land and return to your pond later in the summer, to either bask in the shade around the pond, or cool off in the water. By late summer they'll have gone again. Some will hibernate in dry stone walls, under stones etc. whilst others will stay at the bottom of a pond in an attempt to be the first to attract females the following spring. When I had to make urgent repairs to our pond in January (the liner had been punctured by herons) I discovered 55 frogs hibernating in the mud. These were temporarily transferred to our other pond and came to no harm. Both ponds are very small but support a diverse range of wildlife, so don't be deterred if your garden and the pond you build are only small.

How do I get rid of all the extra frogspawn in my pond?

Frogs lay so much frogspawn because only a small percentage of it will ever develop into tiny froglets. Fish will eat frogspawn and tadpoles, and so will birds and many other pond predators. Once the frogspawn has developed into tadpoles, it will not look anywhere near as much, so I would leave it where it is. Frogs are the gardener's friend and, for many children, watching tadpoles is a fascinating experience. Many natural ponds have been destroyed to make way for new housing and businesses, so anything you can do to encourage frogs to your garden will be beneficial to the development of the species. Also, see the question below.

How can I stop frogs laying frogspawn in my pond?

This is a wildlife preservation web site! Frogs are to ponds what plants are to gardens or birds are to trees. It's natural that frogs will lay frogspawn in your garden pond. Frogs are such placid creatures. In summer they will sit either in or around your pond and will create a soothing ambience as they nonchalantly watch the world go by! Frogs cause no harm to anyone or anything, (apart from garden pests). If you have a real aversion to frogs, either fill in the pond, or permanently cover it with a fine netting for the entire year. Be aware that you will also then restrict all other wildlife from visiting your pond. Also remember that birds and other animals can become entangled in pond netting, causing them severe injuries, or even death.

Frogspawn and tadpoles

in our wildlife garden pond 

Three weeks after being laid the frogspawn is starting to develop into tadpoles. Although it may not be obvious in this small picture, the black dot inside the frogspawn jelly is now elongating into a tadpole shape. The weather in this part of Lancashire is often cold, and some mornings recently the pond has been frozen. Cold weather can cause the frogspawn to go milky white and kill it. See the FAQ page.

At four weeks there is a definite tadpole shape now, but the cold spring is hampering development. Some web sites claim that frogspawn takes only 10 days to develop into tadpoles. Not in the North West of England, it doesn't, and particularly if your garden is like ours and is more than 800 feet above sea level.

Now five weeks old and much of the frogspawn now looks like miniature eels, clearly visible on top of the jelly. This the next development stage, the change into true tadpoles, complete with wiggling tail, and yes, it's still cold! Update - The following year the warm weather meant that the tadpoles reached this stage a full two weeks earlier than in the previous year.

It's now seven weeks since the frogspawn was laid and we have thousands of 'proper' tadpoles. If only a small proportion of them develop into adult frogs, the slugs had better watch out! Update - Although the weather is warmer, and the tadpoles hatched earlier, this year's tadpoles are at this stage. Nature seems to have a way of evening things out. 15th June - Disaster strikes! A 'flash flood' (the heaviest sustained spell of rain in the area for 20 years - and it rains a lot in Lancashire!) caused the pond to overflow into the surrounding garden with the loss of many tadpoles who seemed intent on making a bid for freedom instead of staying in the deep water of the pond. I scooped up as many as I could with a tablespoon! I also cleaned the pump filter and found that many had sneaked through the thin plastic grille of the pump housing and died. No wonder frogs lay so much frogspawn. I have replaced the pump's inbuilt sponge filter with a Rotorflush external filter. This has a fine wire mesh to avoid a recurrence and minimizes pump maintenance. I have also installed a controlled overflow pipe to the pond. This is fitted with a fine gauze to prevent siphoning out the tadpoles as well and it should cope with future storms. 14th June (the following year) Ironically, almost a year to the day we had another 'flash flood'. This time there was no scooping up of tadpoles from the garden, so the controlled overflow system was obviously effective. The tadpoles are still small; not even any legs yet. The weather has been terrible for the whole of May and the first half of June. Rain almost every day, overcast skies and consequently no sun to warm the water in the pond. 28th July Tiny froglets were seen in and around the pond. The frogspawn was laid on 4th March, so it has taken a long time to get to this stage, certainly much longer then the text books say!

About Frogs Tongues

Back to front- a frog's tongue is fastened in the front, not the back and is folded backward to the throat. It shoots out with a speed truly beautiful to behold, hits the fly, and zips in. And of course, in the cartoons, they do more than can be done in real life. A frog does not aim well after shooting the tongue out, nor will it change direction midstream. Many need to move their whole heads, not just shoot a tongue behind their heads like a cartoon.

The tongue of a frog is about a third of the frog's length. Sounds impressive, until you realize if a human had a comparable tongue, it would reach a bellybutton. Seems far for a human, but not a frog. The tongue can flip back in 15/100 of a second, though, which is faster than human can follow. Despite this, I swear some humans talk almost as fast as that frog's tongue. Maybe frogs are more like us than we care to admit.

Using a test call synchronized electromyography, experts have recently discovered new ways the frog's tongue works. The muscles start are loose and mushy, and when ready, some become rigid, like a rod down the middle of the tongue, and a second group of muscles, perpendicular to the base of the tongue, stiffen. This shoots the tongue up. Think a wet towel snapping, or a whip.

Other muscles pull the tongue back in. The test basically connected tiny little wires to the frog tongue, and measured current. Using high speed photography also helped to show which muscles did which work. Good jumpers, good aim, the inspiration for Kermit the frog- these amazing creatures have amazing tongues and continue to astound us.

The frog has a sticky tongue that folds backwards, toward its throat. The frog can whip this sticky muscle out of its mouth, snap up a fly and gulp it down before the fly even knows it isn't flying anymore.

How does this amphibian get that tongue out there so fast? The tongue is attached to the front of the mouth, instead of the back. This means the tongue's anchor, and so strength, lies at the front of the frog's mouth, not the back. This allows the frog to catapult his tongue outward, much as a human would use his wrist, not his shoulder, to snap a whip.

The stickiness of the frog's tongue means that fly is stuck on there. Frogs also like worms, and bugs in general. Since the frog doesn't have fingers and so can't pick up his meals, the anatomy of his tongue proves very useful.

Unfortunately, a frog's tongue doesn't do much for him when a snake decides to make a snack of him.

Have you ever seen a frog catch a fly? It flicks its tongue out and at high speed like the crack of a whip, the fly appears to have disappeared and the frog appears to be swallowing. Don't blink or you'll miss it.

So how does its tongue flick out that far? How does the frog keep it in its mouth? What is the anatomy of a frog's tongue?
The frog tucks its tongue down it's throat, where else can he put it; his tongue is so long that its the only logical place it can go, it has evolved this way; evolution is always logical. Its tongue is attached to the front of the mouth for a vital few centimetres of extra length and to increase the speed of deployment.

A tongue of any animal is made of pure muscle; it has unsurpassed strength and solidity which is perfect for the frog that needs a rapid action to catch an elusive fly.

Once he has made contact with the fly, he needs a good grip to hold on and pull it back into his mouth and so the frog has evolved to have extremely sticky mucus on its tongue, which sounds disgusting but is amazingly effective.

However next time you think about kissing a frog, I would avoid using your tongue.

Sometimes humans tongues are long enough to touch the tip of their nose, but most of us only have a couple inches of tongue that can stick out of our mouth. Imagine having a tongue that is so long, it can reach out and catch something several inches away! This would be cool if you were a frog. Frog tongues are attached in the front in stead of the back like ours. They fold back and wait for 'supper' to fly by. Once the frog spots it's dinner, the tongue can flick out rapidly, catch dinner with it's sticky mucus, and reel it back in. Then it has small 'teeth' in it's upper mouth that aren't very good for biting, but they help hold the food and break it up a little big. The frogs mouth is where digestion begins, just like for humans, but that's where the resemblance ends. A frog's tongue is very specialized to help him catch his food. He uses his tongue like you would a fishing pole, casting it out, 'hooking' his prey, then reeling it in. Yum!

The tongue of a frog is slightly forked but not to the same degree as a snake. The tongue is slightly sticky to assist it in the catching of its food, flies, worms and other insects.

When inside its mouth the tongue sits in a partial curl but more of a folded type position, contrary to the popular belief that it is curled like a roll of carpet.

From the folded position the frog throws its sticky tongue at its prey, much in the same way you would cast a fishing line. Its hunting is much like our fishing because like us the frog then has to reel its tongue back, drawing the similarity to fishing.

The frogs tongue is different to ours because of several points:

1 - Proportionally much longer.

2 - Slightly sticky.

3 - Has a slight forking to the end of it.

4 - It sits in a curled position when inside the mouth.

5 - The tongue in attached at the front of the mouth instead of the rear.