Under the Baobab Tree

And heeeeeere’s Froggy! I would love for you to meet Froggy, our banded rubber frog, who also works the graveyard shift as our night-guard. We discovered Froggy tippy-toeing around our bathroom one evening shortly after we moved into the headmaster’s office. Not until a couple of months later did we discover him living in our bathroom sink! Unbeknownst to us, we had a roommate in the overflow drain hole. And every night around 7-8pm Froggy commutes to work. He crawls out of the drain hole and down the wall highway. Once he hits the floor Froggy shifts into first gear and unhurriedly makes his way through our bedroom and into the empty front room where he idles most of the night – waiting and watching at our front door. For insects, I presume. We always have to use our flashlights when we are up and about at night because Froggy could be underfoot!

When I get up at 5am, I usually find Froggy clinging to the rockface of our white tiled bathroom wall. He slips and slides and struggles to take alternate routes until he finally reaches the pinnacle of our bathroom sink. Then he boulders around the dental floss and slinks his way back into the drain hole. Sometimes he has a helluva time trying to get home - especially after a long night at the front door basecamp. On a number of occasions I have watched him hanging onto the plug’s ballchain and eventually slipping down down down to the sink bottom - clutching Earl’s comb and all! But he is a persistent fellow. No matter how many times he fails, he always tries and tries again. He is also dedicated and committed to eating all our ants and termites. Froggy has put on a little weight around the middle, but he can still squeeze into that drain hole!

Earl & I expected to see wildlife here in the remote areas of East Africa. But Froggy is about as wild as it gets! Go Froggy! ~Diane


If you would like to learn a little more about Froggy, here is some information from Answers.com:

The banded rubber frog is of medium size, with a body length up to about 2.75 in (68 mm). This is a strikingly colored frog; the dorsum is black with red bands running from the snout over the eyelids to the rear of the body and red spotting on the limbs. The body is moderately robust, with the tips of the fingers expanded into truncate disks; the legs are short, and the toes have no webbing. The skin is smooth and shiny; its texture is responsible for the name rubber frog.
The frog is found in Africa, from Somalia and Zaire to South Africa and inhabits open or savanna country.These frogs are nocturnal and spend the dry season underground in holes or termitaria. They tend to walk or run rather than hop, and they burrow backward, though they are not equipped with the large "spades" on the hind feet that are found in some other microhylids. Secretions from glands in the skin have been known to cause skin irritations in people. Ants and termites are the principal food.