Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know I should just let this go, but I need to find at least one person who sees what I see! I feel Like I am taking crazy pills here!!

>>I know I should just let this go, but I need to find at least one person who sees what I see! I feel Like I am taking crazy pills here!!

Sorry..I just can't see it. And, it's OK to take crazy pills as long as you share.
>>
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We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Bullfrogs do sit in the water with their legs extended, but this "creature" looks nothing like it.

IMO without a better picture it is impossible to identify the animal... but I'm not going to say speculation is a bad thing.
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Current Collection:
0.1 Antherystic elaphe guttata guttata - Corn Snake
1.0 Elaphe vulpina gloydi - Eastern Fox Snake
0.1 Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta - Black Rat Snake
0.1 Leucistic elaphe obsoleta linheimeri - Texas Ratsnake
1.1 Morelia spilotac cheyni - Jungle Carpet Python
0.1 Tiliqua scincoides intermedia - Northern Blue Tongue Skink

the head that is above the water is the only part of the animal that is visible and it is an exact match for the photo of the bullfrog I posted to the left of it. Even the the reflective pattern on the back of the head is the same! What looks like a long snake like body is an optical illusion created from the silt. Look at whats above the waterline only the rest is silt!

NP
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

I was thinking exactly the same thing... about the crazy pills

hehe

I do see the frog head, but I can't make the rest of it into a frog. To me, it looks like the top of a metal post more than anything else. The longer I study it, the more convinced I become.
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Chris Harrison

Thank god, some light at the end of the tunnel.The frog head is the only part of the animal that is visible the rest is an optical illusion created by the silty water! Okay this is my last attempt to convince everyone. I have reproduced the mystery creature using microsoft paint. You have to exuse the crudity of this model as I did not have the tools to match color or the time to create it to scale.

I can almost see what you are talking about, but I still don't think it is a frog or salamander.
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Andy Maddox
AIM: thekingofproduct
MSN: Poloboy32486@hotmail.com
Yahoo:surfandskimtx04
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

"Some things will never change. They just stand there looking backwards. Half-unconsious from the pain. They may seem rearranged. In the backwater swirling. There is something that'll never change-The Meat Puppets"

I DID mention that I drew the spots on the snake picture using the computer. I didn't try to shift it around like it was the actual pic of the snake. I am highly assuming that's why everybody made such a joke out of that post.
Michael
Michael's Place

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www.freewebs.com/mikesnake
Michael_Fedzen@hotmail.com

but its not a frog. i can see how u might think its a frog but its not. it is not a liveing creature. it is a lawn spricler or the intake to a filter. thats what it is and u can argue with me all u want. u can find me in ks chat most the time.

CrazyCody

I see how it resembles a frog head but if you would be able to see the shadow that far down into the silt, you would be able to at least see a trace of the frogs body and limbs. I say its a pipe.
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0.0.1 San Luis Potosi Kingsnake
0.0.2 Yellow Rat Snake
0.1 Normal Cornsnake
0.0.1 Eastern Garter Snake
0.0.1 Brown Water Snake

I don't disagree that the head is suggestive of a Ranid frog head. However, the rest of the structure is very unfrog like.

I have seen more than my share of large ranids floating in the water, and I have never seen one with its body and legs hanging straight down like that. In fact, I can't see how their skeletal structure would allow such a position.

Think about this....

If you had been shown this photo and asked what it was with no suggestion of the thing chasing fish or moving in any way. Would you still be thinking it was a frog? I doubt it.

We are making the assumption that this was something alive and then trying to figure out what it is. If you don't assume it was alive, it seems obvious that it is a stick/metal pipe. Suggestion is a very powerful tool!
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Chris Harrison

so is the suggestion that it was observed snaking around. My arguement is that the observer saw just that, accept what he was looking at and what your looking at in the picture, isn't happening below the surface. It is a silt trail on the surface of the water. as it dissipates, it gives the illusion of depth and of movement. The only part of this animal that is visible is the frogs head, and that we agree on.

After meticulous forensic analysis I have been able to peel back some of the murky watter to reveal the creature. As you can see it appears to be an otter.

Looks more like Nessy to me.
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Andy Maddox
AIM: thekingofproduct
MSN: Poloboy32486@hotmail.com
Yahoo:surfandskimtx04
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

"Some things will never change. They just stand there looking backwards. Half-unconsious from the pain. They may seem rearranged. In the backwater swirling. There is something that'll never change-The Meat Puppets"

Anyone can plainly see that's a Platypus. The silt sort of hides that tail (which is turned sideways in this photo). If you look closely at the area beside it, which looks just like the rest of the area of the photo, you can just make out the eggs that it just laid in the silt, which, of course, proves that it's a Platypus because Otters don't lay eggs. Plus, it looks like it's holding a Ham Sandwich in it's left paw, which is also obscured by the silt. Otters don't eat ham sandwiches either. They prefer Pastrami. Whew...man, I'm glad you finally solved this. It was starting to look like a Hippo to me. Or maybe the remains of a horse which has just been almost completely devoured by Piranha. Hmmm....let me just have another look at that...
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We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children. Ralph Waldo Emerson

You know I've had flying squirrels for 10 years now and I never knew they liked to swim.

Yeah, they do...but they don't know it, either. They have to sort of be persuaded. Since they can fly, it's not easy to do. You usually have to tie a rock to them before you throw them in to prevent them from just flying away.
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We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Or just cover their feet in cement. I heard the mob used to do that with flying squirrels and it worked ever so well.
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Andy Maddox
AIM: thekingofproduct
MSN: Poloboy32486@hotmail.com
Yahoo:surfandskimtx04
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

"Some things will never change. They just stand there looking backwards. Half-unconsious from the pain. They may seem rearranged. In the backwater swirling. There is something that'll never change-The Meat Puppets"

OK, we know what happened to Rocky then, but what happened to Bullwinkle.

He is mounted on my wall.
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Andy Maddox
AIM: thekingofproduct
MSN: Poloboy32486@hotmail.com
Yahoo:surfandskimtx04
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

"Some things will never change. They just stand there looking backwards. Half-unconsious from the pain. They may seem rearranged. In the backwater swirling. There is something that'll never change-The Meat Puppets"

.

Nice, the only thing this proves it that you have better software then me, it's still a frog!!

No, I think the only thing it proves it that the picture is not detailed enough to make any kind of guess with any certainty. I understand your argument, but I don't believe that the picture provided give any level of validity to your claim. Some questions I would like to know are, How far away from the object was the poster, how long did he observe it, how big around would he estimate it to be, how long was it, etc?

Its too bad we don't have a couple of pictures to go by. A slightly different angle could make a huge difference.

Maybe the poster could take pics of the stick from different angles next time she/he visits that location

or pictures of the same frog.

(...The White House said, "Put the thing in the Blue Room"
The Vatican said, "No, it belongs to Rome"
And Jody said, it's mine and you can have it for seventeen million.)

It Came Out Of The Sky?

Yes exactly, Creedence Clearwater Revival. It has been a fun thread and I wanted to see if anyone on this forum was as old as I am.

Ha, I know what you mean, this is a pretty young crowd alright. I'm 49 so I guess they would all call me a fossil or something

Not quite a fossil...More of an ancient artifact. BTW, how were the dinosaurs?
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Andy Maddox
AIM: thekingofproduct
MSN: Poloboy32486@hotmail.com
Yahoo:surfandskimtx04
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

"Some things will never change. They just stand there looking backwards. Half-unconsious from the pain. They may seem rearranged. In the backwater swirling. There is something that'll never change-The Meat Puppets"

.

I thought of that also, maybe it's the neck and head of an escaped Mata-Mata

Well if I had a million dollars I would bet it was some kind of turtle. Did you see this guy hunting and eating the fish about dusk? I have a 2 year old and we always take him fishing at small ponds in case he falls in and around dusk every evening we see hundreds of those little heads swimming bout eating fish. We actually caught one with the fishing pole(not on purpose). I am in Northeastern pa and most of the ones around here are painted turtles. As soon as I saw the pic I knew what it was.