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Friday, June 6, 2008

The Lone TadFrog

Unfortunately, our tadpole sitters (wonderfully generous neighbors) had to witness the death of 5 out of our 6 tadpoles--the first day we left on our roadie! After I cleaned the tank and walked it over to their house before we left town, I noticed some white flaky stuff floating around the water that I had never seen before and is still baffling me. This was sure to be what the poor tadpoles ingested and caused them to meet their demise later that day--just a little over a month after we "saved" them from their natural habitat.

Our neighbors called so we could inform the kids before we came back to pick them up (in case the kids may be distraught in some way). After we told the kids about the other tadpoles dying, they were pretty matter-of-fact about it when they told their cousins, and were glad we still had one left. After we got back, Jimmer asked what our neighbors did with the other tadpoles. I told him I wasn't sure...but I'm relieved he didn't outright ask our neighbor when we went to pick up the aquarium! FLUSH!

On a lighter note, we still have one very hearty tadpole left, and he's getting his legs in back. See?
We're trying to think of an appropriate name for him now that he's been through some tough times and is the lone survivor of our tadfrogs. This one was the smallest one of the bunch, is quite mellow compared to the other rambunctious critters he used to float with, and he's usually found hiding at the bottom of the tank under our little aquarium plant.

Check out how well his legs are formed in this picture. At first the legs were so small and just floated along with the rest of the body seemingly lifeless. Now our little tadfrog uses them to push himself along the tank. Doesn't he look happy...like he's getting ready to clap and dance?!

We thought of naming him Bilbo (for Bilbo Baggins, the main character in The Hobbit) since hobbits don't usually like too much adventure. Then we thought of Winnie (the Pooh) since this tadpole seems pretty gentle and soft spoken. There's gotta be an Aesop's fable about a mellow, patient, non-greedy type like this, right? We haven't given him a name quite yet as I'm not sure that any of these names fit him fully. Any suggestions out there?

4 comments:

Angela said...

I am sad the other little buddies died! So- what WAS the white stuff they ingested???

I like Bilbo for this little guy. I think it suits him perfectly. We haven't read Aesop's fable book yet, so I can't help you there- but, I am sure you are right- there probably are a few good names to be taken from there.

I will keep my thinking cap on in case I think of anything creative.

What a fun experiment!

c.jo said...

I, too, like Bilbo. Samwise or Frodo would be cute too!

I'm not sure about another character. I always loved Grover, so maybe that's who I would've picked!

L a u r a said...

I think the name Samwise seems to fit our little tadfrog best since he was an ordinary hobbit (not Tookish), enjoyed gardens (our tadfrog hovers under our lone aquarium plant all day), and is wise (our tadfrog is the lone survivor). However, our kids don't know Samwise yet...just Bilbo.

Maybe we should wait until he's fully frog to see if he has any Tookishness in him. From what I have observed, he's the most inactive critter in a tank I've ever seen!

If we caught a little frog, named him Gandalf, and put him in the tank with our tadfrog--perhaps we'd see a little more spunk in him!

c.jo said...

Haha! That's great! Ben is absolutely obsessed with Lord of the Rings, and has threatened to name our first child Samwise.

It's actually a really cute name (at least his serious suggestion wasn't Frodo), Sam of course for short, but I think this would break my dad's rule for boy names. His rule was always: it has to hold up in a bar. So Samuel and Miles and names like that do not (at least in my mind). Tony (said like a mafioso) most definitely does, so Tony it was!