Herpetoculture on the web

by Joseph T. Evans

 The hobby of herpetology has evolved into one word, herpetoculture, which means the keeping and propagation of reptiles and amphibians in a domestic setting. Reliable statistics tell us that snakes -- boas and pythons -- and lizards -- iguanas and geckos -- far outnumber frogs, toads, salamanders and other amphibians in terms of what is being kept and bred. It's unfortunate, because amphibians are much more easily kept and bred because they require less specialization; incidentally, Myth are the reasons for why amphibians haven't caught on in the same manner as reptiles. Many people believe the classic claim that touching a toad will give them warts. This is not only untrue but has given these charming animals a bad reputation.

 Although it may seem, judging from pet store sales, that reptiles -- snakes and lizards -- are the most popular herpetiles, Americans most beloved herpetile is actually the frog. America's favorite muppet character is Kermit D. Frog; in fact, there is a web site dedicated exclusively to Kermit D. Frog. Even those of us who don't drink alcoholic beverages have been charmed by the Budweiser Frogs. Kellog cereal's most popular children's cereal, Sugarsmacks, has a frog character on the cereal box. San Francisco's KOFY-TV 20, "The WB," has Michigan J. Frog as the network's mascot and Texas Christian University has a frog as the women's basketball team mascot. One of the first games we learn to play as young children is leap frog and almost every little girl ponders if she kisses a frog if the frog will actually turn into a prince.

 Frogs aren't just the most popular herpetile, but they are the most popular species of amphibians. "Amphibian" is derived from the Greek word "amphibios" which means leading a double life and amphibians truly do lead double lives. Amphibians begin their lives like fish, living in lakes and pools of water before moving on to land, but they never fully leave either environment. Many amphibians are mostly aquatic while others spend virtually all their time on land. Frogs, salamanders and caecilians must live in cool moist areas to survive. There are three types of Amphibians. Anuras (frogs and toads), caudates (salamanders and newts) and caecilians (snakelike amphibians).

 Anurans are characterized by traits having strong hind limbs designed for jumping, stout forelimbs, a short body and in males a vocal sac used to call the female during the breeding season. Caudates are characterized by having tails (the very meaning of the word "caudal"), cylindrical elongated bodies, and a distinct head and can be considered amphibian's version of the lizard. Caecilians, considered amphibians version of the snake, are probably the most poorly know of the amphibians. Some may get the impression that caecilians are rarely seen in the hobby, but in fact caecilians are very common. The problem is that caecilians are almost always placed with the fish rather than with the herpetiles. Their tanks are also often mislabeled as well: "fish eel," "Congo eel," "rubber eel," and I have even seen them sold as the "hosepipe fish." Fish hobbyist have probably unknowingly purchased caecilians, thinking they were adding an exotic eel to their collection, when in fact they were acquiring amphibians.

 Another characteristic that amphibians have is that they are able to breathe through their skin, in water and on land. This characteristic trait makes them highly vulnerable to toxins and is a reason for large numbers of species extinction. Amphibians skin acts like a sponge, sucking in air, water and nutrients or toxins. Small trace amounts of toxins in a frogs environment will cause many tadpoles to die and become deformed. Large trace amounts of toxins means death for amphibians. For this reason, frogs are indicators or alarms to a poisoned environment.

 Frogs are analogous to the canaries that coal miners would take into the coal mines to guard against being overcome by poisonous gases. If the canaries died, that indicated small trace amounts of poisonous gas in the mine. Small amounts of poisonous gas wasn't enough to kill the miners, but it gave the miners enough time to get out of the mine before the toxins became too high. Those that didn't notice the dead canary in time, died before they could react to the situation. There are several scientific organizations that believe frogs are the Earth's indicator and that frogs are becoming extinct at an alarming rate because of the toxins in the environment. Eventually, if we don't recognize the problem as serious, we too will become extinct.

 DAPTF (The Declining Amphibian Populations Task Force ) discusses more about the decline and the reasons for amphibians decline. DAPTF was established in 1991 at Open University in Britain and consist of 3,000 scientist and conservationist from around the world. DAPTF's mission is to determine the cause to the declines of amphibians throughout the world and promote ways of stopping and \ or reversing the decline. This is an excellent site for anyone who wants to learn more about the importance frogs have to our survival.

 Frogs just aren't similar to birds in detecting toxins in the environment but are referred to as the song birds of the night for a couple of reasons. During the day, the songs of birds fill the air of the rain forest with beautiful music and the trees with their colorful plumage of greens, yellows, reds, and blues; however, during the night, the songs of frogs fill the air of the rain forest with their beautiful music and the trees with the colors of greens, yellows, reds and blues. Frog photo gallery has photos of various frogs from the rain forest and the web site, frogs and toads, shows a colorful collection of frogs and toads native to North America. The website, frogs and toads, not only allows you to view frogs from North American, but it enables you to hear some of the songs that the frogs of North America make in their natural habitat. Facts about frogs is an excellent web site for learning more about frogs.

 I have acquired some of the more common pet store varieties of amphibians. My collection consist of a White's Treefrog (Kermit) -- also called a Dumpy Treefrog -- a White Lipped Treefrog (Bozo), a pair of Cuban Treefrogs (Fidel and Castro), a pair of Green Treefrogs (Verdé and Jade), four Fire-bellied Toads (they are the only toads that live in water), a Blotched Tiger Salamander (Tiger Woods) and three Fire-bellied Newts. I also own a pond in my backyard that attracts the west coast's most common frogs the Pacific Treefrogs. My amphibians have become some of the best pets that I've ever owned. Amphibians don't require as much attention as dogs, aren't as messy as cats, and are more interesting to watch than fish; furthermore, frogs croaking is so relaxing that they can literally sing you to sleep.

 Once more people see how beautiful and charming amphibians, especially frogs, can be and learn that the negative myths aren't true, more people will get into the hobby of amphibian herping and more people will chose to buy an amphibian over a reptile. Not only are amphibians beautiful and charming animals, but their health is important to the health of our planet and in turn to our health. Any way you look at it, you've got to love amphibians!