Ribbit in Peace

Shem posted on Facebook yesterday about the Ying and Yang of his day. Sitting in a hot tub under the stars with owls and bats flying over head was the plus side, clearing up a mess made by his dog wasn’t so pleasant.

The unseasonably hot weather that we’ve been having seems to have put a smile on everyones face, and with the surf pumping I had a beautiful surf session off Ynyslas. Hot sunshine bearing down on me and wave after wave after wave peeling in perfectly for some lovely rides.

White Tree Frog

Here he is in better days

Unfortunately when I got home though I discovered that the final surviving Whites Tree Frog that we have as a pet had died. He had been fine the night before but seems to have ‘croaked it’ in mid hop. Quite a shame really, but not unexpected.

As far as I can remember I got the frogs from tadpoles in 1988 when I worked at Bristol Zoo so that makes him 23 years old. Not bad going really and although he hasn’t had the most exciting of lives stuck in a tank he has always seemed fairly happy and has certainly lasted well.

According to Wikipedia, “the species has an average life expectancy in captivity of sixteen years”. I’m sure ours isn’t a a record breaking frog but pondturtle.com, a website containing longevity & breeding information from 236 institutions and 425 private collections has the following records for a White Tree Frog:

Litoria caerulea

White’s Tree Frog

LIT.d 20 Years. Gender unknown, acquired date unknown. At ZOOE, in Biegler 1966.
LIT.e 19 Years, 1 Month. Male, acquired date unknown as an adult. Wild bred. Deceased. At DALT in Snider 1992.
CHII 17 Years, 6 Months. Gender unknown, acquired 08/08/73 as an adult. Wild bred. Died 02/17/91.
CHII 12 Years, 4 Months. Gender unknown, acquired 11/20/69 as an adult. Wild bred. Died 03/27/82.
OKLO 11 Years, 5 Months. Male, acquired 07/08/74. Deceased.
LIT.a 8 Years, 6 Months. Gender unknown, acquired date unknown as an adult. Wild bred. At DALT, in Bowler 1977.
RION 7 Years, 2 Months. Male, acquired 07/13/79. Died 09/22/86.
PPRC 3 Years, 1 Month. Gender unknown, acquired 11/02/83 as a juvenile. Captive bred. Last reported 1987.

Guess I’d better see if I can add mine to the list now that he has finally passed away.

2 Responses

  1. Avatar forComment Author Anonymous says:

    My memory is apalling these days, but it was cetainly 88/89 when we had these frogs.

    A very sad day to see the last one go, but it is just amazing that you’ve had him this long! That surely has to be a record?

    They really are the most comical little creatures, just seeing your pic has brought a big smile to my face!

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Alan Cole

Alan is a Freelance Website Designer, Sports & Exercise Science Lab Technician and full time Dad & husband with far too many hobbies: Triathlete, Swimming, Cycling, Running, MTBing, Surfing, Windsurfing, SUPing, Gardening, Photography.... The list goes on.