Saved a frog... Odd as that sounds...

[bakerjw]

I love critters and for the record, spiders are not critters. We regularly catch and admire many reptiles and amphibians in our yard, take a picture or two and release the victim of our fascination back into the wild or an area more habitable to them.

We have a small water garden pond between our house and our garage. In our pond, we have our 15 cent goldfish that grow quite large and a handful of frogs. Some of the frogs were transplants from the culverts in our ditch and one particularly large leopard frog that has been in the area for the last handful of years. It is neat to go out and see the frogs sitting on lilly pads or the edge of the pond.

So, yesterday I was out going from the top of the garage back down to the bottom past the pond and I spotted a rather large garter snake trying to hide under one of the pots beside the pond. I picked it up and took it to show my wife through the kitchen window. She was amazed at how big it was for a garter snake. I also noticed quite a bulge in where it had eaten something recently. As I held it, it started wiggling and the former meal came spewing out of it's mouth and onto the ground where it hopped quickly away. The darn snake had eaten on of OUR frogs...

The snake was relocated with a stern warning and the frog, with no obvious ill effects rather than being majorly traumatized was returned to the pond.

I know... Circle of Life and all that... But it was OUR frog...

Just a simple story for the day.

[Ozark mike]

I throw spiders out all the time. Good for keeping other insects in there place.

[brass410]

I ( the snake) went to my favorite diner "the lily pad" got my usual order of frog and legs all was well (very fresh) anyways as I headed home (down the garden path) the local fish and game jumped me, paraded me around like some kinda freak, then proceded to do an illegal body cavity search and confiscated my dinner !!!! Right out of my belly, unbelievable what is this country coming to???? Moral of the story ------ theres always two sides. LOL

[bakerjw]

I ( the snake) went to my favorite diner "the lily pad" got my usual order of frog and legs all was well (very fresh) anyways as I headed home (down the garden path) the local fish and game jumped me, paraded me around like some kinda freak, then proceded to do an illegal body cavity search and confiscated my dinner !!!! Right out of my belly, unbelievable what is this country coming to???? Moral of the story ------ theres always two sides. LOL

OK... That made me laugh aloud which I can do as I am one of like 4 people in our building.

[CastingFool]

I once found a snake that had caught a toad so big, it was having a difficult time getting down its throat.

[dangitgriff]

Pythons eat alligators here in Florida.

[bikerbeans]

Over weight people eat buffets where I live.

BB

[oldred]

We too have a bunch of "pet" frogs, large Bullfrogs that gather around the edge of our smaller pond near the house on warm (and especially rainy) evenings and seemingly try to out-croak each other, this is summer music at it's finest. We like our frogs a lot but one of our cats, "Scruff" a large white flame point Himalayan just lives to terrorize these frogs! Due to the pond plants and edge growth the frogs are pretty much safe but occasionally he gets one, he then proudly struts over to my shop and deposits the dead frog on, of all places, my tool box. Naturally I don't appreciate the "gift" but Scruff seems to be proud of his accomplishment and since it happens only occasionally and we have no shortage of frogs we just let him enjoy his hunts, occasionally however I can even save the frog. This happened a couple of weeks ago, I saw him coming toward the shop looking as if he was slobbering and I thought what has he gotten into, but as he got closer I saw it was a pair of frog legs hanging out of his mouth! It was so comical I just about "busted a gut" as the old saying goes laughing at him, Scruff has a normal face and nose unlike the flat face version of Himalayan that look as if they have run into a wall and this rather small frog was completely in his mouth except for the legs hanging out. He came up to me and stopped and stood in front of me looking up with those two frog legs kicking like crazy, one on each side of his mouth, it was just hilarious! I then coaxed him into giving up his frog that I returned, unharmed, to the pond.

[richhodg66]

For several years here, the toads which used to be common have been rare. I'd heard there was a world wide fungal skin disease that was killing off amphibian populations everywhere.

This year, I've been seeing a lot of them and tree frogs too. I will stop the lawn mower and hustle one of those little guys to a safe place if I see one. I like them and they consume a large amount of insects every day.

[bakerjw]

Earlier this year, when it was very wet., I went out at night and recorded a video. Audio, more like. The red toads here were at their peak. Hundreds shrieking into the night. It was soo cool.
It is the little things.

When I moved to Tennessee, we live with my wife's sister. She had a dry erase board and I kept a tally of all of the critters that her cats brought in to the trailer. But... They were not our pond toads.

[Thundarstick]

We have frogs and toads hopping everywhere! I've been noticing crows working the back yard about 100 yards behind the house, and wondering what in the world are they hunting? I finally figured it out, we have had an explosion of little green frogs about an inch long that the crows must find tasty!

[oldred]

For several years here, the toads which used to be common have been rare. I'd heard there was a world wide fungal skin disease that was killing off amphibian populations everywhere.

Hadn't heard about that fungal disease but that explains a lot. I had mentioned to my wife some time back that there seemed to not be as many toads as in the past, in years past they would gather on the concrete under a night light over my garage and feast on the many bugs and moths attracted to the light. Back then there were lots of them hopping around catching these bugs but we never thought much about it, they were just toads doing what toads do for a living, but about two years ago they seemingly vanished. I never thought anything about them one way or the other until they were gone but that first summer with no toads under that light was noticeable and I wondered what became of them. We now have a large toad that apparently lives under our back porch steps that my 5 year old grand daughter has named "Mr Toady" and that thing has been there all summer attracted to the bugs drawn in by the lights I suppose. I had to promise Hazel, my little grand daughter, that I would leave the back porch light on for "Mr Toady" so as to attract bugs after I explained to her what frogs and toads eat and why it was attracted to the lighted area.

About CATS and toads, cats will catch some types of frogs (although I have yet to see a cat actually eat one) and they will also catch toads BUT they will only catch ONE! :mrgreen:

A cat/kitten is destined to catch ONE toad in it's lifetime, that one toad will be it's first and last as once the cat gets a taste of "Mr Toady" they will never forget the experience and will never touch a toad again!

[Finster101]

For several years here, the toads which used to be common have been rare. I'd heard there was a world wide fungal skin disease that was killing off amphibian populations everywhere.

This year, I've been seeing a lot of them and tree frogs too. I will stop the lawn mower and hustle one of those little guys to a safe place if I see one. I like them and they consume a large amount of insects every day.


I try to avoid running over anything while mowing if I see it in time, with one exception. It can get pretty wet in the back of my yard and I came across a water moccasin traveling through. I was content to let it go....until it struck at the mower. Then it was game over for mr. snake.

[smoked turkey]

We also enjoy watching the various outdoor creatures here in the country where we live. We are having numerous deer and turkey passing through and we certainly enjoy them. On occasion I see a bobcat on the hunt for probably young turkey poults. I can't say I like that too much, but I just let it be. In the evenings we have been having a tree frog or two stuck onto the kitchen window where the bugs congregate due to the light we leave on for him over the kitchen sink. The tree frogs are cute little creatures and oddly enough I have seen at least a couple of people who have tree frogs tattooed on their shoulders or ankles. I guess other folks like them too!

[richhodg66]

Some info here; https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01002-2#:~:text=Deadly%20fungus,disease%20called%20chytr idiomycosis%20in%20amphibians.

[GregLaROCHE]

My wife once startled a snake swallowing a large toad in our yard. The snake spit out the still live toad and they each went in different directions.

[lightman]

I'm the kind of guy that will stop and pick a Turtle up thats upside down in the road and carry him to the side of the road. I've often wondered if m putting them on the side that he was attempting to reach of if I caused him to cross the road again! I guess the thought counts?

[elmacgyver0]

Stern warning to a snake?
I bet if he could of, he would have flipped you off when you released him.
Probably what he was thinking anyway.

[Texas by God]

We are fond of these little window stickers here. They have big voices for their tiny bodies. I love to eat mature bullfrogs but all the other toads and frogs are left be.
I always liked the old saying- "If you eat a toad frog first thing in the morning- nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day."https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200921/50264f7c99a0713bb95778a4f0edb596.jpg

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk