Now onto froggy. Despite my wishes and efforts to the contrary, the frog has decided to continue living. I really thought he would die, seeing him so black and not eating, so I shoved him behind the blinds until I was ready to deal with him. I still sprayed him down regularly (I didn't want Jaime's crusty frog disaster), but I let all the extra crickets go because I felt sorry for them all cooped up like that, with no one to eat them. About a week passed and I finally decided I better do something about him (like take him to the duck poo swamp (aka Paul's Swimming Hole) so I wouldn't have to witness his actual death). Mom wanted me to bury him alive! aaaggh That would haunt me forever. Then I noticed that although he was still scrunched in the corner, it was a different corner and the cricket was gone! Hmmm....the life/death debate deepened. Zak and Tiffany came over on Lost finale night, and they gave their input. Tiffany wanted us to run over it with the van, and Zak (the Joseph Mengele of the new millenium) wanted to do crazy experiments on it. Sickoooos. (They're obviously meant for one another.) I'm not cruel! I just wanted him out of his misery and out of my life - in a nonpainful, nonsplattering way.
Days passed and I figured I would get some crickets as sort of a death-row last-wish dinner, as I didn't want to set him free on an empty stomach. I sent Maddie into Petco and she got the tiny crickets accidentally. So I put 4 of them in. They were crawling on his mouth and he wasn't even reacting. Not a great sign. But in the morning they were all gone. I put 4 more in the next night and the same thing happened. So I sadly decided this frog needed a chance at life. Off to Petco we went. I figured we'd save money by using Maddie's old fish tank, but I had to buy a climbing branch, foilage, a screen for the top, soil stuff, a water dish, vitamin dust, cricket gut load, big crickets, and a basking lamp. I got the cheapest of each thing I could find. As the cashier was ringing me up she asked about the frog. I told her it had been a gift and we were pretty clueless how to take care of it. I guess she was a tree frog nut, because she then proceeded to tell me everything there is to know about owning a tree frog - all from personal experience. She told me to get purified water for him and I said - oh, I have that dechlorinating stuff. She was suddenly horrified, "Oh no! Don't use that! That is totally wrong. It must be purified bottled water!!" Yes, yes, of course, I say, thinking to myself that I've been spraying this frog down for 2 weeks with dechlorinater stuff. Then came the grand total of my purchase - 70 DOLLARS. Crap. Paul was NOT happy. The salesgirl was like, "Oh - you didn't get a humidity gauge? You're really going to need one." I said, "uhhh....I think I'll get that next time." As we
walked to the car, I told Paul that I was going to take all the stuff back the next day and let the frog go. I couldn't bring myself to tell tree frog nut that the seventy dollar price tag had just signed froggy's death certificate. On our way home Paul was saying - while we're at it, let's go get his hair styled at Suggestions, get him a bikini wax and maybe some teeth whitening. Then we started thinking of names for him, like "Bargain" and "Prince Value." Isabel has already decided on "Leaf" though, so too bad.When we got home, Isabel kept thanking us for spending SO much money on her frog, and sorry it was so much, but THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. Dang. Guilt trip. So of course I got the tank all set up and put my latex gloves on and mentally prepared myself for prying the frog off his permanent spot in the corner of the tank. That was the part I had been dreading the most and the reason why I never let him go. I didn't want to touch him. He was seriously stiff and I had to take the top of the tank off so I could get him out. I plopped him in his water dish and he just sat there for awhile. I thought maybe he had dried out too much and couldn't move. It was freaky. Then suddenly he hopped into the dirt and it got all over his face. He took his little tree frog hand and wiped it off his face and it was the CUTEST thing ever. He lifted his face up to the warmth of the light and closed his eyes - he was the definition of "basking" in his basking lamp. His color changed almost immediately - he was a light green again and he was doing those freaky bendy tree frog moves around his branch and hiding in the leaves and hopping to the top. I seriously fell in love with him at that moment. I was so happy I had saved his life and in that moment the money was all worth it. I wanted to buy him the moon. Even the crickets seemed cute, going nuts for their gut load and licking it off each others' faces.
Cricket molting....eww.
Hmmm...I think I was tired. That was Saturday night. He is now a dark color again and stays on the top ledge of the tank most of the time. Maybe the color change is normal - I have no idea. He never climbs his branch and no longer basks in his lamp. He has these bright blue streaks and spots on his body which are worrying me. When I was cleaning out the tank this bright blue stuff was flaking off, and I couldn't figure out where it was coming from. I wonder if he ate some and it made him sick. The cricket that's been in there for a couple days molted and its body shell is stuck on a leaf in the front of the tank and it totally creeps me out. My love affair has swiftly come to a end. Anyone want a frog?
10 comments:
Frog wiping dirt off his face=cutest thing ever
What a nightmare. I can't believe you spent $70 on him. You should have called me to come frog-nap him.
I'll call to see how much the trailer sold for! Wow, that's a long time coming.
Gary goes snowboarding a few times during the winter--usually to Brighton--sometimes he takes kiddies, so I'll let you know.
P.S. I love the title
Your frog wipes dirt off it's face . . . our cat lick herself . . . hmmmm . . . animals are sooooo darn cute!
You are an amazing mother! If that were our frog, he would have had an "accident" or "run away" to a "much better place" where he is "much happier with his new little froggy friends".
I am still sticking to our rule - no pets that poop. Oh, I forgot, we do have that still un-named cat in our garage. She is quite the pooper and we get to enjoy looking at it and smelling it every time we leave and arrive as Madisen does SUCH A GOOD JOB of cleaning out the litter box. Anyone want a cat? Just kidding.
That reminds me of a boy we have in our ward, Kelly. He is 19 and the nicest, sweetest kid I know. He has the most tender heart. His family has had a house dog, "Feffer", for about 12 years.
The other day he was talking to Mike and he said, with such sadness, "Feffer ran away." It took everything Mike had not to bust out laughing. "Ran away!?" I think not. I think Feffer took a ride to the farm courtesy of Kelly's Mom and Dad. We haven't had the heart to tell Kelly.
I remember when Tom and I were first married and I cared about making him happy. wait, did I say that out loud? anyhoo, he wanted an aquarium for christmas, so being the dutiful wife, i bought the damn thing. I bought, the aquarium, the gravel, pump, crappity crap crap other stuff I can't recall and four angel fish. The aquarium was filthy with fish poop within a week, even with the beta fish and pump or whatever. Keeping it clean was a friggin nightmare, I don't know how to do it without dumping out all the water and that is a pain. The other things is no one told me that angel fish, despite their sweet name, fight to the death. apparently, the pet store didn't think it was important enough to tell me, so one by one I'd find a floating bloated fish corpse floating on the water. finally, i didn't care how much dang money i'd spent, I was SO glad when the last fish croaked. never ever again. i hate amphibians. are fish amphibians? I failed biology in high school because i sat at a table with boys and i goofed off all year and had to take it again as a senior with all the freshman. off the subject.
Dear Mandoo is Dandoo,
I hope you don't care that Heidi told me about your blog. You are sooo hilarious! I love how you write. One of our frogs escaped and we found it a few days later crusted in the carpet. Good luck with this one!
The Halloween white elephant gift exchange is becoming easier and easier to ditch every year.
Christine! Thanks. It's ok - I love you. I can't believe that happened to your frog! That is gross!! (and very funny)
Lisa - it's totally the pet store's fault! Why do they sell you stuff without telling you about it? They sold this frog in a tiny tank with sharp gravel - the exact opposite of what the frog needs to be happy. DUH! Sorry about your fish disaster...and your marriage? (kidding!)
Heidi - you're awesome - thanks! I'll email you...
Oh I feel so guilty since I was the one who told Jaime to buy the frog for me. Who would have guessed it would be so cute. I definately will help on the expenses. Remember the shower gift $$ you owe me - don't worry about paying me back. (ha ha) No I really will help with the expenses since it was my misguided trick for Halloween.
Dad and I plan to ski at least 3 - 4 times this year and we would love to take Maddie. That would really be fun!
I'm so glad the trailer is sold - wow - I wonder how much it sold for, let us know when you find out.
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