Hello. My name is Timothy, a.k.a. "T.J." by friends and family, from western MA. This past Tuesday, I caught what I have been wanting to catch for several years: Gray Tree Frogs, and two (2) at that! Everyone says they're pretty common--at least in certain areas (e.g., Westfield, Southwick, and Tolland, MA)--BUT...one of them is a GREEN Gray Tree Frog, and NO one that said they were common, had ever seen one of these!!! He is bright, lime-greenish, too!!



The quick story. It was my second day working for a friend of my family's, doing construction-type stuff; the first two days were mostly clean-up and ripping off vinyl siding, and it was during this latter task that I caught these little buggers, not even 1" (well, maybe that). They were behind a shutter, in which the shutters were screwed to the side of the house (to the vinyl siding of course), and I had to unscrew them. After scraping/rubbing off a hornets' nest at the bottom of the shutter, I noticed a green little glob, and then a gray one next to it, moving! (Near the center-top.) I am 21 but acted like a little boy when I saw these, haha! They both jumped/fell to the ground, but which I caught though in bark, heh - they were fine. My friend and co-worker, Richy (the son of the guy I was actually working for), thought it was an awesome event (for the lack of better terminology/phrasing). This indeed made my day!



I will have kept snakes for 14 years this November and have done some breeding with them; now, my specialty is rear-fanged/mildly venomous species, and unusual species (e.g., ones with odd eating habits). I have always had interest in other herps, especially anurans, and have gone herping plenty of times although not as hard-worked nor as faithfully as I could have...in fourteen years, I would think I could have caught every known herp in western MA, however, I have only caught Thamnophis sirtalis (Common Garter Snake) and Nerodia sipedon (Northern Water Snake) for snakes, the Eastern Box Turtle for turtles (sorry not good with scientific names on herps other than snakes), just about every anuran in MA if not, and 3-4 species of salamanders/newts. My goal for next year, though (or this year if I find the time): catch every MA-native herp with my girlfriend who's into turtles. (I have and do, by the way, keep feeder lizards/geckos, anurans, etc., and having worked for Regal Reptiles for two months last year, I have decent background knowledge on herps other than snakes.)



ANYWAY, I would just like a good, proper caresheet for these guys. Since Tuesday, they have been kept in a cleaned-out Gatorade bottle with appr. 1" of water (probably a little less). They adhere to the sides just fine, as high as the bottle cap. There is of course a whole (made by my switchblade and twisted a little) for air, and it has been sufficing well. In this 'enclosure,' though, I have not been able to feed them because I fear the food drowning before they get it, and I know they have to be hungry. I would have done something sooner, but after 18-20 hours of labour in two days: Tuesday-Wednesday, then getting up at 5-5:15 AM every morning Thursday-Sunday for my other job, working 44 hours in four (4) days, I was sleeping and all around that - absolutely NO time to attend to them. They still look fat and good, though, moving about occassionally and all. They're like little ninjas!! ...Doing the splits and stuff, haha! JUST PLEASE - someone provide a decent caresheet for Gray Tree Frogs ('something' vernicolor, right? Though there are actually two species, or regional forms or something, according to a field guide I have that I just lent to my girlfriend, so I cannot look them up; I hear they are disputed sometimes, though...?). Thanks!
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T.J. Gould

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