BLOG 11: Toxic Frog!

OK, I have about 20 minutes to write this blog because my cat and I have been arguing all day and it’s really put me in a bad sort of way. He keeps asking me for things!  After running around for 15 minutes doing his bidding I’m now trying to ignore his willful gaze but it’s searing a whole through my brain! (WOW! Wasn’t that dramatic!?)

Mutant Kitty

I mean, he just stares at me but I know exactly what each and every stare means. One stare means, “I want food.” The next stare means, “No, I want to eat it upstairs not in the basement!” The next stare means, “I want to go outside!” The next stare means, “Naa…I don’t want to go outside anymore…” And so on and so on! In 15 years I haven’t trained this cat to do a $#%&*@! thing but he’s taught me to execute a whole host of duties! And I CAN’T ignore him or the meowing starts! Meow, Meow, Meow, Meow, Meow . . .  This is why I like turtles and lizards but I can only tolerate cats! I don’t like nags whether they walk on two legs or four! But that’s enough of my grumpy diatribe for now; let’s discuss another fascinating critter that I also enjoy more than kitties!

Here’s a quiet little gentleman that doesn’t insist on staring at you plaintively until you perform an endless litany of tasks for him. A matter of fact this peaceful amphibian doesn’t mind if you stop by now and again to stare at him but for the most part he just wants to be left the heck alone.

As you can see he's one of our handsomest native frogs here in the Poconos and, by the way, one of the most impossible to get a decent photograph of!

Without a top of the line zoom lens the only way I can get a decent snap shot of these little hoppers is to squat down very close to them, hold my breath and try to click a picture or two before they dart off. I’ve often wondered what people think when they see some skinny guy all in black on his hands and knees in the muck and mire of their community pond or stream holding a clunky camera the size of coffee mug and focusing on something so tiny they probably can’t even see from where they are! Mothers with their little kids make a wide berth around the strange, long-haired, guy in the slimy water. This is why I try to explore nature areas way off the beaten path.

Anyway this is the Pickerel Frog (Rana palustris) and it’s one of my favorites!

Size reports vary slightly depending on where you read but in general these frogs are 1.75 to 3.5 inches. Most of the ones I find are teeny but I came across this sizable individual, probably a female because they grow larger, hopping across the road one night this spring. I almost got squashed by oncoming traffic as I jumped out to photograph her so I hope you like it!

R. palustris lives throughout the eastern states except the extreme southeast and their northern range extends into southern Canada. They are typically found at the edges of ponds, lakes, marshes, bogs, and particularly streams. I have also found them inhabiting water filled potholes or grooves left in earthen trails by recreational sports vehicles or natural erosion.

Here is a small Pickerel that was submerged in the middle of a ditch that couldn’t have been more than 2 feet across.   

He actually thought this was a good hiding job! Um…sure! These depression in the ground are scooped out by the tires of ATVs as they tear through the woodlands in certain parts of the Pocono plateau where it’s, regrettably, legal. This upsets me so damn much because these puddles are small oases teaming with gentle amphibians and their eggs! I know I’m in the vast minority to be concerned about it but concerned I am and if I can’t vent my frustrations here where can I?

Just look at these minute amphibian embryos!

Are they the budding forms of Pickerel Frogs or Wood Frogs or Toads (all to be covered in future blogs) or some type of salamander? Who knows but these were  germinating in a rain filled depression along a pathway that’s frequented by these ATVs or Quads or whatever the heck they are! How many boys do you think stop their vehicles short and decide to turn back so as not to harm any delicate creatures in the water before them?  Yeah, ZERO would be the correct answer. Anyway . . . sorry about that little rant. Back to the frogs!

On moist days they sometimes can wonder pretty far from water and into neighboring meadows or woodlands. Most recently I found 2 small Pickerels under a piece of damp bark along the Appalachian Trail near Pahaquarry New Jersey. 

Pickerel Frogs hibernate from October until March or April often overwintering in caves.* Stimulated by heavy spring rains they breed and large globular masses of about 2000-3000 eggs are attached to underwater vegetation.  Once they have hatched and developed into olive green tadpoles with fine black and yellow spots they fully metamorphosis into adult frogs in about 70-80 days. I don’t know who sits around and times these things but I can personally think of  better things to do with my time…but that’s just me! 

In two years these young Pickerels are sexually mature and ready to start the life cycle all over again.  Adult frogs eat a balanced diet of ants, spiders, bugs, beetles, sawfly larvae, and other invertebrates. Yeah, that’s what my source said a “balanced” diet. In my opinion any diet with bugs in it, especially spiders is in no way balanced. In fact, It’s completely off balance--YECH! Again, just one guy’s point of view here in PA.

Pocono naturalist, John Serrao reports that their voice  is a “harsh, steady, low “snore” lasting 1 or 2 seconds, with very poor carrying power (often produced underwater).”

Here’s a pickerel that was in mid-underwater snore! (or maybe he was just hiding)

Laura Smolowe of Yale University (whoever she is) also reported that, "Pickerel Frogs have a distinct aggressive call as well. This chuckling noise, also produced by the male, serves as a warning to another male that he may be infringing upon the first male's territory.”

Hey, wouldn’t it be great if people just chuckled at each other when they felt threatened!? What a different world this would be!

One of my earliest memories of Rana palustris was when I was about 6 or 7 years old. I had set up and semi-aquatic, 20 gallon, terrarium and filled it with several species of small native frogs. I had a green frog, a few wood frogs, a spring peeper, and a very tiny bullfrog.  These were animals that would never be encountered living side-by-side in the wild but hey, I was a dumb kid, and what did I know!?

 Surprisingly, however, my community of amphibious tank mates was thriving despite their drastically different areas of origin until I introduced a pair of pickerel frogs. Four or five days later I awoke to find every single animal in the tank had perished, many of them with pink ulcers on their legs and sides. It was not a good day to say the least.

After a few trips to the library (this was way before the Internet folks! Yes there was a before the Internet!) Anyway, after some trips to the library I learned about a critical detail I had overlooked. Pickerel Frogs are the only poisonous frog native to the United States! They secrete strong toxins through their skins that make them extremely unappetizing to predators. Enclosed in a small space these chemicals can build up to levels lethal enough to destroy themselveves and anyone with them.

Robert Sneidigar mentions in his book, Our Small Native Animals: Their Habit and Care, that “This [skin] secretion is poisonous, and many a collector has found his catch of mixed frogs killed by the presence of a few pickerel frogs unwisely tossed into the general bag.”

There it was! My “general bag” was my terrarium!  Darn!

And I need to emphasize, by the way, that Snedigar’s book was published in 1963 when we were less environmentally sophisticated. I don’t recommend anyone going out to “collect” any native wildlife.  It’s just a bad idea all around.  OK, have I settled down the conservationists in the audience?  OK, good!

Now, even  more specifically to the point of the skin toxins is this bit from National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians  by John L. Behler and F. Wayne King (why can’t nature books  have  short titles?),

“The secretions will kill other frogs kept in the same collecting container or terrarium.” 

Another reference I discovered way too late! 

Incidentally not all predators are deterred by their noxious defenses! Certain other frogs can gobble them up with no ill effects and our frog originally earned its name because it was a favorite food of pickerel fish and therefore a favorite bait for anglers.  How could they stick one of these friendly creatures onto a hook?? Sickening!

Well, dear friends, we’ve come to the end of yet another chapter of “Kieran’s Critters.” I hope you found at least something in here fun or informative or intriguing and as always I welcome any feedback you may have! Have your own photograph of a pickerel frog? Feel free to share it here! I’d love to see it.

In the meantime pick a peck of pickled peppers before a pickerel promptly picks your peck and I’ll depart now in peace!  (Pardon my prattling!) I have no idea what that meant!

MEOW! MEOW! MEOW! This cat is making my nutty!!

 

* Interesting claim made by naturalist John Serrao in his book about reptiles and amphibians.