A Frog Eat Frog World
An Open Letter from a Mother Budgett’s Frog
An Open Letter from a Budgett’s Frog to Her Unhatched Eggs
Dearest spawn,
Well, I’ve done my part. I answered the siren call of your father’s guttural shriek, let him grab onto me with the nuptial pads on each of his thumbs, and here you all are.
I want you to know that although I will not help you through your life in any way, I care about each and every one of you. You are my 1,247 little miracles. So instead of any actual parental care, I offer you these words of wisdom.
It’s A Frog Eat Frog World
If you happen to become one of my miracles who is eaten by one of my other miracles, please know that the family is grateful for your contribution. If you are one of the eaters rather than the eatees, congratulations. Surviving the voracious appetite of your siblings is one of the first great challenges you will face. The other one is satisfying your own carnivorous cravings so that you can transform from a beautiful tadpole into a magnificent frog in a month or so. The world moves fast and you don’t want to get left behind, because
To Everything There Is A Season
Even eating. When the rain ends this pond will dry up and before that happens you need to stop eating. I know, I know, but it’s just for a little while. Make sure your stomach is empty and everything has, um, run the course before you bury yourself in the mud. You don’t want to spend the dry season with a bit of undigested snail mucking up the works.
The dry season doesn’t have to lead to dry skin. It better not, or you’ll soon be a former frog. Just put up a personal wall made of your own old hard skin and keep your feelings, and some water, locked away with you under the mud. You’ll know when it’s time to come out of your shell.
No, Your Eyes Are Not Bigger Than Your Stomach
No matter what the small creature begging for their life tries to tell you, yes, they will fit in your mouth.
Stand Tall and Speak Your Truth
The water is your safe place, where you can dive and swim away from any threat. But the time will come when you will find yourself on land, facing a predator or an annoying human with a cellphone camera. When that day comes, raise yourself up, puff yourself out, and scream my child, scream.
If that doesn’t work, just bite ’em. You’re a frog with fangs after all.
So go my children, and grow. If we should meet again, well, hope we don’t because I may be forced to eat you. Don’t take it personally. It’s a family tradition.
Love,
Mom
Budgett’s frogs (Lepidobatrachus laevis) are aquatic South American frogs found in parts of Argentina, Bolivia, and Paraguay. They are a wide, flat frog with a massive mouth and small eyes right on the top of their head, which gives them a rather unique look. That look, combined with the fact that they really do rise up on all four legs and scream when threatened, has turned them into a bit of an internet celebrity.
Since they’re also bred to be kept as pets, a lot of people have access to a Budgett’s frog they can poke and prod and scare into screaming for a video, but I’m not including one of those links here for what I hope are obvious reasons (Please don’t stress out your pets for internet points). However this pet Budgett’s frog was screaming about being put into a separate container for feeding (a common technique to help keep aquariums clean) so just combine that sound with the image of them puffed up in the defensive position, which you can see in this photo from Joel Sartore’s National Geographic Photo Ark project.
Mostly nocturnal, Budgett’s frogs are an ambush predator who usually lurk in the dark water with just their eyes and nostrils sticking up, waiting for some hapless prey to wander by. This move has earned them the nickname “hippo frog”. They may look cute to us, but to smaller pond dwellers they are the stuff of nightmares.
That might be part of why they are also called the “Freddy Krueger frog.” Well, that along with their long, unwebbed front toes and aggressive tendencies. They also recently added “the Wednesday frog” to their list of nicknames, due to a random internet meme featuring a chill-looking Budgett’s frog and the text “It is Wednesday, my dudes.”
But really, these frogs are cool any day of the week.
Links
- Budgett’s frog tadpoles are unique as well, with flat bodies and a massive mouth right from the start. At first they look more like tiny rays than pre-frogs. Watch this fascinating 30-day tadpole transformation video from a hobbyist, who keeps the tadpoles separate to avoid cannibalism (I found the music a little much but the info is all in the titles, so you can mute it without missing anything).
- Read the take of someone who’s freaked out by “The Freddy Krueger Frog” on Audubon.org
- Watch a Budgett’s frog in the wild in this older video from researchers (be warned, this does include the Budgett’s frog eating another frog)
- And the internet celebrity of the Budgett’s frog is not to be confused with the desert rain frog, who also went viral for puffing up and making noise when threatened. The little desert rain frog is a tiny-mouthed frog who squeaks, not a large-mouthed frog who screams.
What’s your take on the Budgett’s frog, adorable or unsettling?
Mouse and Minnow is a small celebration of animals, created by partners Marilyn Anne Campbell (writing) and Steve Alguire (art). Early issues were published on Substack before we made the move to instead creating a publication on Medium.
This issue (#9) was originally published at https://mouseandminnow.substack.com on August 15, 2021.
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