Rescue Mission

A couple of nights ago, I discovered that a Gray Tree Frog (either the one I had photographed before or a different one) had gotten into our screened-in porch. Now, how she managed to do that I don't know. To my knowledge there aren't any large holes in the screen. Nevertheless, there she was, sitting in front of the door. I didn't know what course of action to take at first. Remembering how the other frog had hated the Styrofoam cup, I didn't really want to examine this one. Yet I'd have to put her in there at least for a few moments in order to take her outside. As it turns out, I would capture her and take her inside again, but not to examine her--to rescue her! I mentioned earlier that we have a Sheltie puppy. Well, we also have an adult Sheltie, and the breed is known for copious shedding. The poor frog had gotten tangled in a clump of fur! I couldn't leave her outside like that; there was no guarantee that she could free herself. So, after putting the frog in a Styrofoam cup with some clear plastic over the top, I carried her into the bathroom (away from the dogs) and got out a pair of tweezers.

Strand by strand, clump by clump, I pulled off the fur from the frog's body. You may laugh, but I talked to the frog the whole time, telling her that she would be ok, though I knew she couldn't understand me. Some of the fur had adhered to one of her back feet (there was a black sticky substance that I couldn't identify), and every time I pulled on it with the tweezers, it would straighten her leg out and she really disliked that. As I had to reach in under the plastic with the tweezers, creating an opening, I almost lost her more than once. One time I actually did: she hopped out of the cup onto my wrist and onto the mirror; the pads of her toes actually enabled her to adhere to the mirror! I marveled at this feat only later; at the time I was concerned with recapturing her and finishing the cleanup.

Finally, I was able to remove the majority of the fur and lint, though that sticky substance remained on her foot. As it wasn't disabling, I figured it would come off eventually. By that time she was probably tired of being prodded and pulled. My dad wondered why I didn't wash the stuff off her, but I doubt the prudence of sticking a frog under a faucet or even wiping its body with a wet cloth. You might be able to hold onto a bullfrog while doing that, but a 2-in-long tree frog? Anyway, the job being done, I took her back outside to the arbor on which I had let off the first frog (which could be one and the same for all I know). She crept out of the cup by degrees. I'm not sure whether it's better that this is the same or a different frog. Either way the poor animal was traumatized. Hopefully she won't tell her fellow frogs about the mean human with the Styrofoam cup and the tweezers!

There still remains the question of whether this is the same frog. What makes me think that this could be a different frog than last time is the fact that this one was much more aggressive in the cup. Whereas the first one made few attempts to escape, hopping around in the bottom of the cup but for the most part staying put unless I actually opened the cup, this frog was constantly jumping towards the plastic, even sticking her fingers in between the plastic and the rim. Also, this frog was not gray with a black pattern but green and gray. Moreover, this frog had more orange coloring on the underside of her hind legs. At the same time, Gray Tree Frogs can change their color. Therefore this could be the same one, but with a different coloring than the previous day. And if it's the same, she might have remembered the cup and have acted more aggressively to escape it.

Here are some pictures of a Gray Tree Frog on the wall of our shed. I took these maybe less than an hour before finding a frog of the same species and gender in the porch. Compare these images to those in my earlier posts: http://slugginalong.blogspot.com/2012/09/a-tiny-visitor.html and http://slugginalong.blogspot.com/2012/09/return-of-tiny-visitor.html.

I suppose I won't ever know for sure if it's the same frog, but it felt so good to be of assistance. It was warm, satisfied feeling that you only feel after you've completed a job and done it for the good of a being other than yourself.