The frog who moved into my toilet this summer was always an interesting surprise for guests who visited the downstairs bathroom. My little house has 2 1/2 bathrooms, so the half bath in the laundry room was only used on rare occasions…. a hurried trip back from the beach or a morning walk after coffee.
Hyla cinerea in his winter home
He was usually discovered when the lid was lifted, but occasionally he was under the seat and not found by my visiting friends until they were comfortably seated and he jumped for safety.
It was a symbiotic relationship. I think he spent the summer crouched above the toilet bowl, zapping the mosquitoes headed for a pool to lay eggs. So we lived in harmony, I never used caustic cleaners and he continued to keep the toilet bowl mosquito free.
But we had a cold snap in November and when it warmed I took the opportunity to relocate him to the garden so he could hibernate in the mud with his kin. He wasn’t happy. He peed copious amounts of toilet water on my hand and reappeared on the toilet the very next day. This happened again on another warm day in December, and again this week.
He’s back today and the forecast is frigid with 33 mph wind gusts, so I researched the care and feeding of this stubborn little Hyla Cinerea. He can be kept as a pet, but requires crickets and moths for food if he doesn’t hibernate.
http://allaboutfrogs.org/info/species/grntree.html
So, I have inadvertently adopted another pet. I already have an antique English Setter who requires a diet of chicken & rice after her years in a puppy mill, an ancient cat rescued from a culvert who binges & purges on a weekly basis, and a $2 WalMart fish who turned out to be an Asian brackish Green Spotted Puffer requiring a $40 bag of Instant Ocean and a $22 Hygrometer.
I guess I am now relegated to weekly trips to the pet store in Foley for crickets for my faithful frog. If y’all have an idea for a name, please let me know!
