(necroposting a bit here)



What should you do? Don't eat it.



It seems that someone, last year, vandalized the Wikipedia article on pickerel frogs to say that they can make humans very ill and kill small animals, and this was picked up by several people as authoritative. It is, however, rank nonsense (not to mention being that individual's only known edit). I fixed it, and put a few links to more accurate information on the article's talk page.



Yes, pickerel frogs (and many other anurans) secrete toxins when stressed. In the case of pickeral frogs, they're quite lethal to other frogs, as some amateur collectors have found out when they got home with a bucket of frogs and found all but the pickerel frogs dead. These secretions can be irritating, causing a burning sensation, if you get them in a cut, on a mucous membrane, or in your eyes. The key word here is irritating.



I've been catching pickerel frogs since I was knee high to a toad, and -- despite being inordinately sensitive (or downright allergic) to a wide assortment creatures including jellyfish, bees, hairy caterpillars, and garter snakes*, I've never had any issues with a pickerel frog. So has just about everyone whose childhood included living or vacationing where pickerel frogs are common, since they often spend a great deal of time away from water and are fairly easily caught (I lived in one place where it was necessary to shoo young pickerel frogs out of the way to get to the steps at night, a hundred yards and a very steep slope away from the nearest open water). I've seen them sold for live fishing bait. I've kept them as pets. In short, you have nothing to worry about.



As a general rule, you should discourage your kids from grabbing frogs, not so much for their safety as for the frogs' safety. Frogs can be easily injured and their skins are very fragile. Just enjoy watching the little guys.



*Yeah, garter snakes. :-/ I react to something in Thamnophis and Nerodia saliva, and bites itch something awful. You go figure.

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