Sunday, July 31, 2011

Ulysses - Quite a Proper Name For My Toad Buddy

The toad formerly known as "Toad" is quite a character.  As you see from his pictures, he is quite portly and clearly has some age on him.  Last evening.  He appeared in the pond with his front feet on the side of the pond, looking up at me, with a snake swimming around him.  He was completely unfazed.  I grabbed said snake with my kitchen tongs and stuck him in a bucket.  I recognized him as a prior offender from his stubby tail, clearly the victim of some bigger snake or the wrong end of someone's shovel.  Snake won a car ride a few miles down the road, where he was released, safe and sound, in a thicket of trees.

Toad, I mean, Ulysses, stayed underwater for awhile, but when I came back, he popped out, faced me again and we hung out for awhile.  This elder toad needed a name that would evidence his years on this planet, his ability to survive in this harsh, sun-drenched landscape of Texas with so many predators around him and his current status as the big toad that no one messes with.  What kind of tales of adventure could this brave toad tell? The tales of brave Ulysses and his battles and victories in ancient Greece came to mind.  What also came to mind was General U.S. Grant, scourge of the South, that portly gentleman famous for finishing off the South during the Civil War, being a great supporter of civil rights (for the time), and leaving office is somewhat of a scandal because of corruption.  So, I don't mind whether you think of grand Ulysses fighting the Trojans or the Ulysses who sent Sherman off to march when you see Toad, I mean Ulysses.  Just know that he really liked it when I sang to him "The Tales of Brave Ulysses" last night.  He was very attentive, let me take pictures, and then serenaded me with his own song outside my window later that night. I am hoping that he found his Aphrodite and tadpoles will again grace the pond.

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Tales of Brave Ulysses


 
Well You thought the leaden winter would bring you down forever,
But you rode upon a steamer to the violence of the sun.
And the colours of the sea bind your eyes with trembling mermaids,
And you touch the distant beaches with tales of brave Ulysses,
How his naked ears were tortured by the sirens sweetly singin',
sparkling waves are calling you to touch a white laced lip.
You see your girl's brown body dancing through the turquoise,
And her footprints make you follow where the sky loves the sea.
And when your fingers find her, she drowns you in her body,
Carving deep blue ripples in the tissues of your mind.
Tiny purple fishes run laughing to your finger,
You want to take her with you to the hard land of the winter.
Her name is Aphrodite and she rides a crimson shell,
You know you cannot leave her for you touched the distant sands
With tales of brave Ulysses, how his naked ears were tortured
By the sirens sweetly singing.
Tiny purple fishes run lauging through your fingers,
You want to take her with you to the hard land of the winter.

These are lyrics from a song by Cream.  Another one of Cream's notable songs was a song called "Toad".  It is simply a 5 minute drum solo by Ginger Baker.   : )


Thursday, July 28, 2011

Rest In Peace, Dear Pippen

I thought you were doing better.  I loved that you swam over to your other beach last night to check things out and I thought that you had finally been eating. 

When I saw your lifeless body this morning, my heart broke.  May your tiny spirit come back some day as a stronger little frog.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Good Morning, Pippen!

After a few days of trying out names, "Pippen", seems to fit this little creature.  He has now been with us for just over a week, but I truthfully see no growth whatsoever.  This has worried me and sent me to the amphibian section of the local Petsmart to ask lots of questions about feeding a wee froglet.  I had been feeding him "Leptotreat" which is a packaged mixture of bloodworm goo (yum!) that you see here, as I feed it on some wet paper towel.  He only jumped on it in this picture because I was trying to get him to come out of cage for some pictures and harassed him out of his little hidey hole cave in his pile of moss.



Since I never actually saw him eating it, I asked what other types of food might be appropriate and was given a vial of fruitflies.  I let some out in his habitat and he has been pretty transfixed by them, although I have not yet seen one go into his mouth.  He crawled right up this rock after one, though.  I am hoping he is maybe eating at night.  The nice lady at the Petsmart asked if I could see his ribs, suggesting I flip him over and look.  (Like flipping an ant over to look - impossible without crushing him, so that won't work.) Now I am furtively looking to see if I can see his ribs, which would indicate that he isn't eating properly. 

I also did some redecorating. We now have beaches, landscaping and a pool.  Such an upscale froglet!  They also recommended some tiny crickets.  When I noted that even the tiniest crickets were the same size as him, they said that I could pull off their legs before putting them in the enclosure.  Yeah, no.  I can't go there.  Until it's a fair fight, no crickets are living in the cage.


Also looks like one of 
the tadpoles may soon join Pippen in froglet land.









The pond seems pretty healthy, too. Although I have found a couple of baby snakes in the past two days, I sprayed liberally with my clove/peppermint oil around the pond and one baby snake just took off across the garden, so the snake threat has remained low. The frogs have also started singing a little more at night. I love their calls; their "ponds songs of love."

Here is a little leopard frog I managed to see this morning before she scampered away from my intrusion.
And of course, one more picture of Pippen.
Pippen makes me smile.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Red-Sided Garter Snake And My Growing Family...

I saw one of these in the pond yesterday.  He was just a tiny baby, not more than a few months old and no threat to Marge or George.  This is an absolutely gorgeous snake and I think it is unusual to find a red-sided garter snake in central Texas. Ribbon snakes would be more common, but the checkerboard pattern was unmistakable, to me at least, to identify it as a garter snake. 
As pretty as it was, it needed to go, so I tried to catch him by removing every rock and plant in the pond and using a net to fish my heart out.  This was a very messy enterprise and I never did find him.  I did, however, find 2 more tadpoles and a soon-to-be frog= (who unfortunately, did not make it through the night ) who became the newest members of the indoor family.   I also made a trip to the pet store to buy supplies to make the emergency shelter a better home.  This included some gravel to make some beachfront property, a couple of plants, a bowl with a climbing ramp and some nice healthy fruit flies.  One of the tadpoles is definitely bigger and lighter in color that the others. It looks like a gulf coast toad tadpole.  I guess the other two are Leopard Frog tadpoles.  With all the new hiding places I created, I could not see anyone this morning to say hello, which is a bummer.  I expected to see little frog, just like I always do, but he was hiding.


Little frog needs a name.  So far, the following have been suggested: Frodo, Frodi, and Pippen.  I have to say, he looks like a Pippin, although I do like Frodo and Frodi, too.  I cannot decide.  Wish he could tell me what he would like his name to be. He has also been quiet today. I hope he is ok.  Seeing the little tweener who didn't make it made me very sad this morning. I was really hoping I could raise some healthy frogs or toads.



Friday, July 22, 2011

Second Snake-Free Morning

This guy is about an inch and a half long and is just a baby.  I used to see him every morning, but hadn't for a few days and had been sure that he had been eaten by snakes.  Today, he appeared when I walked out and he let me take his picture.  



It may be my imagination, but a few of the pond critters went out of their way to say "hi" to me yesterday.  They seem pretty happy to have their home back. In particular, the big toad, the one I call "Toad", came out of the pond, faced me, looked directly at me and smiled, blinking.  I spoke to him for awhile and he seemed to like that.

Here is a new toad.  She is small and appears to have a somewhat injured leg. I thought she might be a different species as she seems to be slightly yellow in appearance and has bigger spots on her legs. 













Meanwhile, baby frog inside seems to be doing well.  He is often quite still, but does go from rock to rock and does a bit of swimming.  I put out a little pile of bloodworm goo on a rock for him twice a day. I saw him eating some yesterday, so that's good.  Stay strong, baby frog!  I may move his house to the guest room so I can close it off when we are gone.  I don't quite trust my hound dog, Gilbert, not to investigate the aquarium (knock it over and spill contents everywhere).

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

The sweet sweet sound of toads in the summertime.

What is that noise?  It is filling the kitchen.  I can hear the loud warbling call in the living room, too. Wow, that is loud.  I take my flashlight and take a furtive look into the pond.  Two very happy toads.  Sing your hearts out, kids.  I am glad your world is maybe a little safer, at least for now. The war isn't over, but at least we won one battle.   

Oh look, another one!  Wait, is this going to be another full-fledged toad party?  Yahooo!

Dare I hope that more tadpoles are on the way?

war




It has been a very hard few days.  My heart is very heavy as I report that the snakes here have eaten virtually every frog, tadpole, and froglet in the pond.  I thought it was just one juvenile snake, but, no, I looked out the window one day and saw no less than four snakes, maybe five....and....nothing else but the goldfish, Large Marge and George.  Three of the snakes were large, very large.  These were frog-eating snakes, not tadpole-eating snakes.  The baby snakes were eating the tadpoles and froglets.  The bigger snakes have been eating the frogs.  I have basically created a frog smorgasbord for a very large family of garter snakes.  Large Marge and George have weathered the storm, but the loss of all those tadpoles and froglets and small frogs is simply devastating.  Nature is very cruel.  I had taken pictures of froglets, but since they are gone, I cannot bear to share them right now. There was also a baby lizard who liked to hang out but he is gone, too. 


Meanwhile, I was able to scoop one tiny froglet out of the pond.  Just one.  I put him in a 20 gallon aquarium with some rocks, pond water, some lily pads and some moss.  Poor baby.  All alone in the world.

Later, I found a solitary tadpole.  I scooped him up, too.  They are safe inside, with a lamp above them, keeping them warm. 
















Make no mistake, this is war. I had thought that perhaps I could catch that little snake (when I thought it was just one.) On Saturday, I had a pair of kitchen tongs, some rubber gloves and a bucket and tried to catch it, but it was too fast. I then called the local snake expert, Tim Cole, who has a snake relocation and education service and he suggested minnow traps, which are basically a jar that minnows swim into and then get caught in because they can't figure out the exit hole.  So, Monday, I bought a couple of minnow traps and baited them with night crawlers.

Unfortunately, that's when I saw that I had a whole nest of snakes, probably living underneath the pond liner where it is cool and damp.  These snakes are too big for kitchen tongs, rubber gloves or even minnow traps.  I spoke to my neighbor, who kindly lent me his .38 revolver, loaded with snake shot and told me he liked to have it ready when he was at his ranch.  I was ready to use it, but my husband asked me to stop in at the gun store and at least learn how to shoot a gun, as my only experience with firearms has been with a 12 gauge shotgun.  When I stopped by the gun store, I went ahead and bought some snake shot for the 12 gauge.  I also put a nice sharp shovel next to the pond.

War. It isn't pretty.  I tried diplomacy.  I really did, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. 

Oh -- and one other thing, on Sunday, I put a little statue of St. Martin de Porres next to the pond.  He is the patron saint of veterinarians as he had the first pet clinic in the 16th century and is pictured with animals all around him. He was also the first Black saint and the patron saint of interracial couples. I asked him for special help to save the frogs and fish.

Retaliation Begins
This is the little snake. Not angry, just upset.  The bigger snake wanted to kill me.
This morning, I stepped out onto the porch to leave an overripe peach to attract some fruitflies for our little froglet.  I saw the baby snake's tail on the rocks as he was slithering into the pond.  Slowly, I put on a rubber glove and I GRABBED HIM BY THE TAIL!! EEEEEEEKKKKKK!   He swung around and I dropped him into a bucket.  YES!  I started making preparations to take him to the herpe store.  I hoped that I could donate him and he would live his life in a little glass house where some little Alfred E. Neuman kid would stare at him and poke at him.  As I was set to leave, I saw another, larger snake in the pond. Emboldened, I realized that that his head was hidden by a rock and he could not see me, so I grabbed at him, and he swam away, but I was persistant and I GOT HIM.  He was quite a bit bigger though and swung up and tried to strike at me.  I found another bucket and threw him in. This snake was angry. He hissed and struck.

I didn't have a lid for the second bucket, which housed the angry, larger snake, so I taped some plastic over the top.  I admit it, I was a little terrified. Snakes are scary, even little ones.  I thought about putting them in the trunk, but if the buckets fell over, well, can you imagine two loose snakes in your car? As I was leaving, I saw another snake in the rocks, but I was out of buckets and had reached my "totally skeeved out" limit.

At Herpeton, the local store that deals with snakes, the nice guy there there said that they could not sell native snakes, but that they usually released them into the wild or called State Wildlife to take them to release them into a park.  Darn.  I had sort of hoped they would have to live as pets.   Revenge.

This is the larger snake, safely placed into a container for relocation.  He was striking and swinging around and whipping around this enclosure.   They put the smaller snake in a separate container because they were afraid this guy would bite him or eat him.  I am glad he doesn't live at my house any more. He looks innocent here, but I caught him as he was momentarily still, as I thought I was just taking a picture.




So, now I am ready.  I have fought back and this is no longer a one-sided war.   I have my weapons.  I have resolve.  At this point, I saved two of the snakes. If I have to do something more drastic to the others, so be it.   Baby frog and tadpole will receive special care and hopefully, they will survive and be members of our family.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Froglet!

Look at this little guy!  He was out of the water, crawling around. Adorable. He is about the size of half of the nail on my little finger. 




 Unfortunately, I am having a snake problem. I caught little garter snake trying to get into the pond three times this morning.  So now I am armed with a bucket and a set of tongs with rubber gloves over them.  This snake needs to live somewhere else!

This toad must have read the forecast. 30% chance of rain today!

Good Morning!  I was greeted this morning with this lovely smiling face.  I haven't seen a toad in a long time here at the pond.  Texas is going through a historic drought and heat wave.  The frogs and toads are absent. They must be going through estivation.  
 

According to How Stuff Works (Thank you, Discovery Channel!):  "Estivation is like hibernation in hot weather. Animals that live in deserts or tropical climates practice estivation. It may not occur solely because of  food supply issues, as with hibernation, but because the conditions become too hot and dry for the animal to survive. The process typically involves burrowing into the ground, where the temperature stays cool, and reducing metabolic activity in a similar manner to hibernation."

Wonder why the damn snakes aren't estivating.  I just chased the juvenile garter snake out of the pond again. I think it is amazing how they can disappear instantly into the rocks.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Snake Was Swimming in the Pond Yesterday.

Normally, I love garter snakes in the garden.  They eat bugs, they keep rattlesnakes away and they are just cute.  I have a resident snake however that I found swimming in the pond yesterday who has apparently decided that tadpoles are tasty snacks.  I think the goldfish are a little big for him, because Marge just swam right by him and didn't even flinch.  She is a tough cookie, though.

I chased this one into a corner (ok, this isn't the actual snake, but he looked just like this one, which is a Texas checkered garter snake) where he hid from me, occasionally peering out, frightened.  I yelled at him and told him I did not appreciate him eating tadpoles.  He slithered out of the pond as I told him off and poked at him and told him not to come back.   I kind of felt bad.   Such a conflict. He was beautiful when he swam, too.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Slow Days At The Pond

We are having a heat wave and drought that should last another couple of months.   Oddly, the insect populations is close to nil, even when I leave the porch light on at night. I wonder if that is why I've seen no frogs for over a week in the pond until last night, when I peeked out the window and saw a nice adult Leopard frog perched on a rock.  I wanted to take a picture, but I didn't want to scare him or her. It really is oddly critter free around here.  I have to wonder if the heat has anything to do with that.


I still see tadpoles.  I cannot WAIT to see them turn into froglets.

Also adding fresh RO water little by little into the pond.  The ph is better.  I have no saline counter, but that should be better as well. 

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Water Quality, Salinity and Panty Hose

I've been watching the tadpoles.  There aren't many of them and they seem to be two distinct sizes, so I probably have two families growing up here.  Not a single frog sighting in about a week!  I also noticed that the plants aren't doing all that well.   So, I gathered some water samples for the nice folks at the pond store, Hill Country Water Gardens, to test for me. What did I find out?  First, I found out that my well water has way too much salt in it, which sometimes happens to well water in times of drought.  Normally, I replenish the pond with a combo of well water and bottled water.  Since the well water put salt in the pond, when the  the water evaporates,it leaves the salt and the poor pond has been getting saltier and saltier every time I add water.  This is really bad for everyone involved who wants to swim and live there. I found out that I also have dangerously alkaline water - to the point where it can kill fish.  The good news, however, is that the water samples revealed  that the water that comes from my water purifier in the house (a reverse osmosis system - "RO") is awesome, super, salt-free, perfect 7 alkalinity and clear as a bell.  The expert pond dudes simply thrilled with my RO water!   Pond dudes were worried, however, about me changing out the water too fast because any sudden change in alkalinity can kill my little fishies.  So, they advised me to scoop out water a couple of gallons at a time and replace with my nice clear purified house water.  I was worried I would be scooping out tadpoles, so they advised putting some pantyhose over a bucket when I scoop.  Wow, that works great!  I have replaced about 4 gallons so far (about 10% of the pond right now, at its low point) and will wait a day or so to replace another 10%. Gradually, the pond will be less salty and alkaline and hopefully, my froggy friends will come back.  (Although the pond dudes said that the frogs really don't care all that much about salinity).  Goldfish actually like a little bit of salt.  It helps them form a little mucous layer that repels bacteria and helps them fight disease. Too much is bad though and the salt is terrible for the plants.

I've also noticed that the garden and around the house is oddly bug-free.  Weird.  Normally summertime is a wonderland of creepy crawlers here in Texas.  Hmmmm, I'm having Silent Spring thoughts. I might have to pick up that wonderful book by Rachel Carson that I never did actually read.  I'm told it helped launch the environmental movement and is a "must read".

Friday, July 8, 2011

Tadpole Update...

Tadpoles seem to be doing well.  Found out that tadpoles from Leopard Frogs spend between 3 - 6 months in tadpole stage before they turn into a froglet.  Yes, that really is a word, "froglet".   The tail forms into hind legs and you should be able to see front legs appearing when they start to change.  Tadpoles are algae eaters, which explains why they are mainly attached to the sides of the pond (which is black), thus they are largely invisible, unless they are sunning over that rock in the picture below. Heat helps them develop faster.  

Unfortunately, it seems that the peppermint oil, clove oil, cinnamon oil combo I used to repel snakes from the pond has also kept away a lot of frogs.  Upside - the tadpoles and fish are safe.  Downside - hardly any frogs to speak of lately.  Nature's web of life is deceptively complicated.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Sunday, July 3, 2011

SNAKE IN THE POND!

At twilight,  I saw a garter snake starting to slide into the pond from the window.  I ran outside and sprayed peppermint and rosemary oil around where he was.  I know what he was up to.  No fishing in this pond, mister!  I hadn't seen any snakes in awhile and hadn't sprayed in awhile. Hope little frog is ok.  He was a perfect morsel for this snake. Garter snakes are very fond of small frogs, fish, salamanders and lizards.  

Sunny Froggie Sunday


I need to stop worrying so much about what these critters do on their off time.  Yesterday, Toad spent the day with me. He hung out in the water, then he hung out in the rocks, waiting for errant bugs. He was fine.  I tried to take pictures of him hiding in the rocks, but the sun did not cooperate.  Also saw an adorable baby salamander in the rocks.  I am a little concerned that our evil cat, Roxanne, got locked out of the house last night. Hopefully, she didn't harass any of our amphibious friends.  Cats need to be indoors at night.

Here is the latest version of the pond. I put netting on top, suspended between the green floaties.  The back is set up so that the tall plants can move and so the critters have free access from the back.  The frogs and such can always enter through the rocks all over, but I wanted to minimize any potential frogs getting caught in the net.  This net is mainly to keep the green herons out of the pond. These  birds are adept at fishing and ate two of the original four goldfish. I actually saw them hunting through the window. I love sitting on my porch steps hanging out with the frogs, toads and fish and watching the world go by.


Today, there is a medium-sized adult Rio Grande Leopard Frog lounging in the pool.  It should be about 103 degrees outside, so he should hang out today. I smashed a scorpion this morning in the guest room and left him as an offering in the garden. This is actually little frog. not the one I saw this morning. Little frog is very photogenic, however.              


 
Marge
I am having a terrible time trying to take pictures of the goldfish, even though they are ridiculously tame. Between pond glare, the plants and inevitable movement, I just can't get those shots.   These goldfish are amazing. Marge actually will eat fish flakes right out of my fingers.  She circles around and begs when I sit by the side of the pond. They seem quite funny and kind of doglike, actually.  They have no fear when I come by, but they hide when unfamiliar people or dogs come close.  I was fascinated to find information on people who train their goldfish to swim through tunnels, under bridges and go through weave poles on command.  They actually use a form of clicker training, but with lights.  These fish can be trained to play soccer and push balls through hoops or over goals and go through moving rings.  Amazing!  Behaviorists used to say that a goldfish's memory was only a few seconds long, which is why they could be happy in a bowl .  The fact that goldfish can be trained to do fairly complex tasks and certainly recognize and distinguish humans, shows this to be false. One report says their memory was more like several months.  I have no idea on what the methodology for testing this was, but it merits more study.  Marge certainly knows the difference between me and my husband at the side of the pool.  I actually measured her the other day.  She is four inches long!   This means she has more than doubled her size in about a year. Best goldfish ever.  She reminds me of our old cat Sid, actually.  I wonder if Sid would ever be reincarnated as a goldfish? After the green heron ate their two companions, they stayed close to the bottom of the pond for some time and were very agitated and upset for a few weeks. I think that goldfish might be much smarter than anyone imagined.                                                                                          


Friday, July 1, 2011

Where Have All The Froglets and Toads Gone?

Three days and no frogs.  No toads.  This is a head-scratcher.    My fear is that a predator of some kind took them out or scared them away.

Another possibility is that I have been a too-nosy neighbor.  Picture Gladys Kravitz, neighbor of lovely peaceful Samantha Stevens and her family.  I guess I'm Glady in this picture:

"Abner, look!  There's a new froggie! We have to go visit!"

Abner (aka my better half):  "No, leave them in peace. They really aren't that interesting."

Gladys (me):  "I'm going over to visit them, anyway"  [I walk over to the pond and sit down next to it with my camera.]


"Oh, HAI! Look at all you you cute little frogs.  I wanna take your picture.  NOW.  Hey, stay still."

Little Frog:  "You?  Again?"

Toad:  "Seriously?  Leave us alone, ok?  I'm busy.  Really busy.  HEY, get outta my cave, stupid ^@#&%$#. I am calling the cops here if you don't leave.  Oh, and I heard you posted a picture of my ass on the internet and called me fat.   Btw, that scorpion was stale.  I really need some peace and quiet.  Grumble, grumble, grumble.  How is anyone supposed to lay eggs in here, anyway, with all this commotion. Go away. "