Currently Florida is experiencing the longest stretch of freezing temperatures we have seen in many years, today being one of the coldest days yet. It has a lot of animals in desperate need of help- many manatees have perished because of the colder water temperatures, pelicans are starving as the fish have dove deeper into the ocean to keep warm and many others are not able to withstand this many cold days in succession.
We had a tree frog that lived on a gutter in our backyard for about the past year or so - sadly this weather took him and he will be missed. I did spot his younger brother in the backyard yesterday. When I noticed him I thought he was dead - so I went inside to get a paper towel to dispose of the body. As soon as I touched him with the towel his one little suction toe pad moved, he was alive but he did not look too well. I brought him into the house and asked my husband what did he think I should do for the little guy. Under his advisement I washed him off in lukewarm water to get rid of the dirt and called the vet. We nursed him in a tupperware of lukewarm water and a heat lamp for the next few hours. Amazingly enough he pulled through and looks like a different frog!
Which led me to a unique experience today with our dog Baxter. We braved the cold weather this afternoon to visit a petstore to find food for our little guy since it will be a few more days before the temperatures outside will be warm enough for him to go back outside. I asked one of the pet store employees and he told me I would have to feed the little guy crickets. So I left the store with 15 live mini crickets to feed to the frog!
I have never had to feed a living thing to another living thing so this will be a first. I made a dinner box for the frog with a lid with many little holes for him and the crickets, papertowels, a few rocks and twigs. I put 3 of them in there for tonight when we put the frog in before we go to bed. Hopefully by tomorrow morning the crickets will be gone.
The frog stays in an open shoebox during the day that has towels, a light, a small bowl of water with rocks and a few rocks in the box. He doesn't try to jump out even when I go over to check on him- I find this very strange. Are frogs intelligent? Does he know I saved his little life and that is why he is not jumping? Does he know it is too cold to go outside? I don't know but this has been an interesting experience.
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