Frog herbaceous: description, photo

Rana temporaria - class of amphibians, genus and family frog, order tailless. In translation into Russian - a frog is herbal. Habitat - steppes, forest-steppes, banks of water bodies, forests, wet swampy places. The life span of the amphibian is quite large, in nature - about 5 years, in captivity - can reach 15-18 years.

Herbal Frog Description

There are three subspecies of the herbal frog: Rana temporaria parvipalmata, Rana temporaria honnorati, Rana temporaria temporaria. They differ only in their habitats and color. The herb frog has a squat body, whose length can reach 10 cm. The average weight of the amphibian is about 22.5 g. Of course, there are also larger specimens, whose weight reaches 30 g, but in nature they are a rarity. The color of the backrest varies depending on the habitat. Above, the herbal frog can be gray, olive or reddish-brick in color. A distinctive feature of the amphibian is a well-distinguishable dark brown triangle near the tympanic membrane. On the sides and back of the frog there are small (1-3 mm) dark spots. On the dark abdomen there is a marble-like pattern. A herbal frog, as a rule, has brown eyes with black horizontal pupils, but there are albino individuals with red-tinted eyes. During mating, males acquire a lighter color, while females become, on the contrary, darker. The skin of the amphibian is smooth, slightly slippery, the epidermis is not keratinized.

Behavior in nature

The most active frog grass is different in the evening and night. Daytime activity can occur only in cloudy weather or in wet shady places. On a sunny day, the frog hides under rocks, in dense vegetation, in stumps. With the onset of cold weather, when the air temperature drops below 6 ⁰ C, the activity stops. Wintering frogs sent in large groups, the number of which is from a few tens to hundreds. Places for wintering they select scrupulously. As a rule, these are ice-free rivers with a muddy bottom, roadside grooves or wetlands. The group tries to cover the distance to the wintering place in one day, usually it is no more than one and a half kilometers from the place of summer habitat. If winter hibernation conditions deteriorate, the group leaves the selected site, selecting a more suitable place.

Young frogs go on wintering later, some of them can be found even in November. During the hibernation period, frogs sit on their hind legs, their foreheads cover their heads, turning them upwards with their hands. The period of hibernation lasts about 155 days. At this time, frogs switch to skin breathing. If the reservoir chosen as the wintering site freezes to the bottom, the whole group may die.

Food

Many lovers of amphibians are interested in what the grass frog feeds on . Favorite delicacy of adults - flies, slugs, dragonflies, midges, snails. They hunt them with a sticky long tongue. Tadpoles mostly prefer vegetable food. They feed on detritus, algae. During the mating season the frog does not eat.

Reproduction

Sexually mature frogs become at the age of 3 years. Reproduction can occur in any shallow pond: in puddles, ditches, lakes. Spawning begins 3-5 days after hibernation in April-May. Males come to the pond before. They call a partner with the help of marriage "songs". Mating frogs begin on the way to spawning place. At this time, all caviar in females is ovulated and located in a thin-walled, extended section of the oviducts, ready for laying. After throwing caviar, females leave the spawning site. Frog masonry is a bundle of tightly clad shells. One individual lays 650-1400 eggs.

Enemies

Many fowl feed on the eggs of frogs, for example: mallard, common triton, large spindle, wiggery, black tern, gray duck. Tadpoles are hunted by white-brow thrush, magpie, beetle-buzzard, sizovoronok, thrush-ryabinnik. Adult individuals feed on: black stork, gray shrike, owl owl, owl, owls, goshawk, gull, spotted eagle, rogue. In the spring time frogs can eat wolves.

Frog herbal: maintenance and care

To keep the grass frog at home, it is recommended to purchase a large enough water aquarium (at least 30 liters). If this is not possible, you can buy a regular aquarium, which is filled with water, but put in it wood or polystyrene, which will stay on the surface. This is done so that the animal can spend part of the time outside the water. On these "islands of land" it is desirable to sketch out the leaves or stems of any aquatic vegetation so that the frog can hide from the light. At the bottom of the aquarium it is also necessary to put water vegetation. Since under natural conditions the frog is not too demanding to the place of residence, it is quite simple to keep it in captivity. Water in the aquarium can be changed once a week to 1/3, but only once a month completely. Additional lighting or heating is also not required. You can feed your pet at home with cockroaches, flies, crickets, bloodworms, pipeworms. From time to time, frogs can be given small pieces of raw meat. Young individuals are fed with lettuce leaves or sprinkled with boiled nettle leaves.

Status of populations

Many factors cause the death of frogs. They primarily include: pollution of reservoirs with harmful substances and household waste, dense movement of vehicles. In addition, a huge number of frogs are caught every year for laboratory experiments and for fans of terrariums. The destruction of forests, industrial pollution of the environment led to the fact that in some places the frogs completely disappeared.