Tonight, we went to the pet store after dinner. Ryan looked and looked and looked...
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...and decided on a frog.
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We were told that frogs live well with beta fish, so Kaylin left the store with a fish of her own.
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Please give a warm blogosphere welcome to Kelly the fish and Billy the frog.
The frog grosses me out almost as badly as the dried blood worms we bought to feed it. Blech. I mean...YEA! Pets!!!
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Is it one of those African Dwarf frogs? If so, here's some advice from a lady who's managed to go through 3 of them (and a Betta).
1. You don't need to feed them the worms - you can buy frog pellets and Betta pellets. The Betta pellets float at the top and get gobbled up immediately, the frog pellets sink to the bottom.
2. When you change the water, don't change 100% of it - that's what killed our Betta. Instead, scoop out the frog & betta (we used a ladle) and put them in separate bowls. Then pour out the water into another bowl, clean out the rocks with fresh water, then put 1/2-3/4 of the old water back in the fish bowl and add some fresh. Apparently they like dirty water - who knew!?
3. Resist the urge to put lots of plants or houses in the bowl - they don't like them, apparently.
We actually had no problem with our two frogs in their tiny little bowl until we were told they needed more room, filtered water, etc. When we went out and bought a 2.5 gallon filtered aquarium, moved them, got plants, etc, that's when they all started to die. Great.
I remember well the green lizardy thing I think it was an annole that my son had. We had to feed it live crickets! That meant we had to keep live crickets in a jar with a piece of potatoe for them to feed on. Then we had to catch on and put it in the terrarium with the annole.
Looking back, it was a fun memory! My son is now 27!
I had tons of small frogs in college, and (I hate to tell you) wasn't very successful with them....and bear in mind, I'm the Super Fantastic Animal Carer girl!
First, you absolutely MUST keep a mesh lid on the tank, or they can jump out.
Second, they need varied levels within the tank of rocks so that they can easily swim to the surface to breathe (i.e. not always having to swim all the way from the bottom).
Third, with water changes, you really shouldn't ever change more than 10% of the water at a time, BUT get a suction hose thingy. This will suck all the disgusting stuff from out of the rocks (fish/frog poop sinks) but not change the chemical balance of the water so drastically that it sends the animals into shock. It's also best because you never have to physically touch the animals, something else that is incredibly damaging to them.
I hope you and the kids get enjoyment from this. I always think watching a fish tank is hypnotic...sort of like staring into a fire. It's also a great way to start kids learning about responsibility and giving them loads of self-confidence as a bonus. It will also, at some point, give them a lesson in dealing with loss. It won't be fun, but it will be valuable.
Happy Pet-Owning!
PS - I'm so jealous....I can't WAIT until we finally live somewhere that I can start acquiring my pack of dogs!
Solution to the gross frog thing:
Blow up the picture of Ryan's incredible smiling "You are the best Mom EVER!" face in that picture with his frog, turn it into wall paper, and it'll all be worthwhile.
Look at it this way...at least being grossed out by the frog is better than being grossed out by cleaning poop in the yard. : )
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