South Hadley Wildlife Refuge

Apparently our yard is a well known safe haven for amphibians. A couple weeks ago, Minh happened upon a toad living in the giant pile of mulch that had been sitting in our driveway for weeks. His first instinct, of course, was to run and get the camera. So we have a nice photo of the rare species....Toadius Mulchius.

Although Toadius Mulchius really enjoyed living deep inside the pile of mulch, he was easily relocated. He happily jumped out of the wheelbarrow and hopped off into our woods, never to be seen again.

The next little visitor, however, was not so keen on being evicted. Just a few days after our encounter with TM, we met our next little friend (pictured below).












Don't be fooled, he looks somewhat like a Gray Tree Frog, but this one is actually a Gray Hot Tub Frog. I found him just as I was about to climb into the tub. He had crawled up between the tub and the cover and was just hanging out on the edge of the tub--I nearly put my hand right on him as I prepared to climb in. Minh's first instinct? Get the camera. His second instinct? Use a yard stick to shoo the frog away so we could use the hot tub without fear of him hopping in to join us.

After shooing the frog away and using the tub, Minh diligently looked this little guy up on line and discovered that it's pretty common for hot tub owners to have "problems" with gray tree frogs. Apparently, they are drawn to the warmth. But if they actually hop into the water they die. Yuck.

The next day.....he was back. Minh shooed him off the tub and then the little guy jumped off the deck and down to the lawn again. The next day....he was back. We decided to try to catch him and then relocate him to the woods. Minh donned gardening gloves and grabbed his trusty yard stick. I was tasked with holding the tupperwear container while Minh encouraged the frog to jump in. No such luck....he was off the deck and in the lawn again.

The next day....he was back AGAIN. This time I was busy with the baby, but Minh managed to catch the frog all by himself. Determined to keep him away from our tub, Minh called the Neighborhood Biologist on the next street over and asked if she or her young kids would be interested is seeing the frog and then releasing him into their woods, far away from our hot tub. She was indeed interested.

Minh arrived at her house, gloves still on and tupperware lid firmly in place. He cautiously lifted the corner of the lid as he said to her, "Be careful, I hope he doesn't jump at you" just as she reached in bare-handed and scooped the little guy up. Like I said, she's a Biologist.

Hot Tub Frog is now living happily (we think) somewhere in the woods one block over from our house. If he manages to make it all the way back to our tub, we may just keep him.