Frogs House

Habitat

The Tailed Frog inhabits clear, rocky, swift, cool streams in forested habitats. In the West this frogs is found primarily in older forest of Douglas Fir, Pine, and Spruce. In the Intermountain Region, the species is found only in Idaho, as far south as Boise, Idaho and as far east as the Salmon National Forest.

While the Tailed Frog never ventures far from water, it can venture into the forest after rains. During dry spells, it can be found on moist stream banks or under rocks in the stream bed. Activities that increase sedimentation and water temperature have an adverse affect on Tailed Frogs. Low dispersal rates limit population recoveries.

Diet

They eat insects and other invertebrates they catch in the water or on land nearby. They look for food at night. Tadpoles are vegetarians and use their small teeth to scrape algae (AL-jee), or microscopic plantlike organisms, off underwater rocks.

Ecology

Low repro potential: repro maturity age 7-8; 2 yr cycle w/ 1st clutch at age 9 (Daugherty 1982). Extremely philopatric; pro- bably very little gene flow between populations (Daugherty 1982).

Description

This is a small frogs (5 cm total length) that lives in clear, cold mountain streams. It is light to dark brown on the back and usually has slightly granular skin. Adult males are unique among frogs in having a tail-like reproductive organ; females have very small, somewhat tubular cloacal projections.

Appearance

A flat, toadlike frogs with fairly rough skin. Coloring matches the colors of rocks around the stream inhabited - usually olive, brown, gray, or reddish above with yellow and gray mottling, a pale yellow or greenish triangle on the snout and a dark eye stripe. The pupil is vertical. The fingertips are hardened like claws to help the frogs crawl among rocks on stream bottoms. Lungs are reduced to decrease buoyancy, and respiration takes place through the skin.

Description

American Toads have short legs, stout bodies, and thick skins with noticeable warts. These warts can be colored red and yellow. The warty skin contains many glands that produce a poisonous milky fluid, providing these Toads with excellent protection from many of their predators. This poison is only harmful if it is swallowed or if it gets in the eyes, but it can make many animals very sick.

Anatomy

Toads have poison glands (called parotids) behind their eyes, a chubby body, and shorter legs than frogs. Toads have no teeth, and most Toads have warty skin. The largest Toads are over 8 inches (20 cm) long. Females are larger than males.

Life cycle

Like all amphibians, Toads must return to the water to lay their eggs. Toads eggs are laid in the water. When they hatch into tadpoles, they breathe with gills and swim using a tail. As they mature, they lose their tail, and they develop lungs for breathing air.

Habitat

Common Toads inhabit damp areas of deciduous woodland, scrub, gardens, parks and fields. In the breeding season, they live in ponds, lakes, ditches and slow-moving rivers.

Diet

Common Toads are opportunistic feeders, catching invertebrates such as insects, larvae, spiders, slugs and worms, on their sticky tongues. Larger Toads also prey on slow worms, small grass snakes and harvest mice, which are swallowed alive. Toads can sometimes be seen in the daytime following rainfall, but they are generally nocturnal, being most active on rainy nights.

Size

A male Toads is around 65 mm in length. The females are around 25mm longer. Sometimes larger Toads can be found, and these are usually females.

Toxicity

All stages of the Cane Toads’s life-cycle are poisonous. The venom produced by the parotoid glands acts principally on the heart. No humans have died in Australia from Cane Toads poison but overseas, people have died after eating Toads and even soup made from boiled Toads eggs. Cane Toads are also poisonous to pets and in Hawaii up to 50 dogs a year have died after mouthing Cane Toads. Signs of poisoning through ingestion include profuse salivation, twitching, vomiting, shallow breathing, and collapse of the hind limbs. Death may occur by cardiac arrest within 15 minutes.

Australian native fauna that have been killed by eating or mouthing Cane Toads include goannas, Freshwater Crocodile, Tiger Snake, Red-bellied Black Snake, Death Adder, Dingo and Western Quoll.

A Cane Toads responds to threat by turning side-on so its parotoid glands are directed towards the attacker. The venom usually oozes out of the glands, but Toads can squirt a fine spray for a short distance if they are handled roughly. The venom is absorbed through mucous membranes such as eyes, mouth and nose, and in humans may cause intense pain, temporary blindness and inflammation.

Description

The Spring Peeper Frog is a small frogs, attaining an adult size between 0.75 and 1.5 inches (up to 40mm) long. They have a dark cross on their backs roughly in the shape of an “X”, though sometimes the marking may be indistinct. The color variations of the Spring Peeper Frog are mostly tan, brown, olive green, and gray. Females are lighter-colored, while males are slightly smaller and usually have dark throats.

Diet

Peepers eat small insects, spiders, and worms, catching them with their long, sticky tongue.

Habitat

Found in temporary and permanent ponds, marshes, floodings, and ditches; after the breeding season they move into woodlands, old fields or shrubby areas; common throughout the Great Lakes region, except in the far north along northeastern Lake Superior.

Breeding

Late March into May

Coloring

Brown, tan or gray with dark slanting stripes on the back that usually form an X-shaped mark; the belly is white, yellowish or cream colored; this frogs has some color-changing ability and can darken or lighten, depending on its mood or the surroundings

Description

Red Eyed Tree Frog have bright red eyes and are a really bright color of green with blue and yellow stripped sides. They also have funny looking orange toes. These are definitely one of the more beautiful species of frogs!

Behavior

Bright markings along the sides and on the limbs function to reduce predation. Most of the predators that prey on Agalychnis callidryas often rely on their vision. When the frogs moves to avoid the predator the bright colorations come into view. Because the predator is so locked onto it’s target, when these bright colors flash into view (hence their name, flash colors) they throw off the predator. This is achieved by leaving a ghost image in the visual field of where the frogs was originally. This confuses the predator and gives the frogs time to hide. In other cases, these bright colors often startle the predator and throws them completely off. These flash colors are often well hidden and are only shown when the animal is moving.

Breeding

Like many tropical frogs, A. callidryas enter breeding mode during the rainy season. At this time, the males will croak incessantly to attract females, and will wrestle other males in the near vicinity. Amplexus consists of the male grasping a gravid female around the abdomen, a position they may maintain for several hours, sometimes days, as the photo at left shows. The male will fertilize the eggs as they are deposited by the female onto top or bottom of leaves. The female chooses leaves hanging above a water source so that when the eggs hatch, the larvae fall directly into the water, where they will continue to develop. The female will deposit several “clutches” during a single breeding session. Between each clutch, she must re-fill her bladder with water, otherwise, the following eggs will desiccate. To do this, she must leave the leaf she is holding onto and enter the water, usually with the male still attached to her back, and then re-attach herself to the leaf again. During this time, it is not uncommon for another male to wrestle the current male off of the females back. The whole breeding cycle is very arduous for both males and females.

In addition to croaking, males are known to “quiver” during the breeding season. This occurs at the peak of a croak, while facing another male. During this staring contest, any sign of movement from one frogs prompts a wrestling match between the males.

Habitat

First identified by herpetologist Edward Cope in the 1860s, the Red Eyed Tree Frog is found in the lowlands and on slopes of Central America and as far north as Mexico. As with other amphibians, Red Eyed Tree Frog start life as tadpoles in temporary or permanent ponds. As adult frogs, they remain dependent on water to keep their skin moist, staying close to water sources such as rivers found in humid lowland rainforests. Red Eyed Tree Frogcan be found clinging to branches, tree trunks and even underneath tree leaves. Adults live in the canopy layer of the rainforest, sometimes hiding inside bromeliads.

Diet

Like may amphibians,Red Eyed Tree Frog are insectivorous. Insects such as crickets, flies, fruit flies, and just about anything smaller than their mouth. Crickets are usually the easiest and most readily available food supply. When feed crickets it is important to gut load the crickets with a good diet to provide the best nutrition for your frogs. Fresh water should be provided in a dish for the frogss because they will rehydrate themselves by soaking in the disk. They will often drink from the water accumulated on the plants from misting as well.