NO...a Spring Peeper is not a law breaker or anything else insidious in nature. What is a Spring Peeper? A Spring Peeper is a very small frog that's common in our area. It's a tree frog kind of critter that lives near water, but not really in the water.
Yesterday, when we were transferring the larger tadpoles and frogs to their new river tank, we were initially a little saddened. We'd originally brought home 3 medium-sized tadpoles and in the transfer we were only able to find two. We just assumed that one had died or had been eaten. We left that tank alone for a while, hoping that maybe we'd just overlooked the third tadpole. Later in the evening, Erik noticed something smaller than we would have expected clinging to the glass on the side of the tank. The third tadpole had turned into a Spring Peeper!
We went out today and got a small betta tank, something the right size for this little guy and for his friends when they turn to frogs. To get a better sense of just small he is, even though this picture below is blurry, it's got a ruler in it to give you an idea of the frog's size.
To give you another idea of his size, he eats fruit flies, which are very small. We put some wingless fruit flies into his new little home and he hopped all over the place hunting them. He uses the round pads at the end of each finger, toe or whatever you call them to cling to smooth surfaces. When full grown, these frogs only reach about an inch to an inch and a half in length, so they'll never be that big, but on pleasant spring and summer evenings, you can hear them singing their songs along with the crickets.
Here's Rebecca (second from right). She assured us that contrary to what this picture may look like, she didn't inhale.
We went out today and got a small betta tank, something the right size for this little guy and for his friends when they turn to frogs. To get a better sense of just small he is, even though this picture below is blurry, it's got a ruler in it to give you an idea of the frog's size.
To give you another idea of his size, he eats fruit flies, which are very small. We put some wingless fruit flies into his new little home and he hopped all over the place hunting them. He uses the round pads at the end of each finger, toe or whatever you call them to cling to smooth surfaces. When full grown, these frogs only reach about an inch to an inch and a half in length, so they'll never be that big, but on pleasant spring and summer evenings, you can hear them singing their songs along with the crickets.
Here are some of the more developed ones. The guy on the left has no tail at all and the one on the right has just the smallest point of a tail remaining.
Yet among the bunch that we caught, there are still a couple with a little ways to go in their development. This one has just the beginnings of only its rear legs.
These two in the water are a mixed bag. The one facing away only has a small stump of tail left while the one looking at you, even though it has four legs, also still has most of its tail.
We're enjoying this process and can hardly wait to see what happens next!
Here Erik shows off some of his Frisbee skills.
I'm pretty sure he's faking it here!
He had a good time this year during a season that just ended. It was more skills learning than actual playing, but Erik expects there to be more playing when he's in 8th grade next year.
Steve warned Erik that it wouldn't work, but Erik was going to try anyway. Sadly, no matter how many times he kissed it, it didn't turn into a Princess.
So we showed off the frog to Anne and Rebecca and then took it down to the local park to let it go. It was fun to watch it hop and then swim away.
Here's Chris getting his boutonniere.
This is Rebecca and her friend Haley, who she's known since Haley was 6 months old and Rebecca was 3 months old. (They were in the same daycare center.)
Here's the group that shared a large limo to the prom.
Here's that same group, looking slightly more suspicious than before.
This is Rebecca just hanging out while other pictures were being taken.
Here's the three of us in what's becoming a traditional parent/child prom picture. (Everyone was taking these pictures with their kids.)
Here are Chris and Rebecca getting ready to take off in the limo.
Here are Rebecca and Chris again, this time at the Grand March, which took place at the local Ipswich River Park. All of the couples parade through the crowd in an organized fashion so that you can see them all. After doing it once, they switch sides and then do it again. It's fun to see all of the kids so dressed up!
