Meet Sheba

Species: African Clawed Frog
Age: 3 years, Morphed(tadpole to froglet) 1-20-2008
Nicknames: Just Sheba
Sheba's Story: Ever since I was about ten years old, I have had some kind of pet in my life. Unfortunately, in mid to late 2007, we were forced to move. My parents needed to find a house quickly, and within their budget, which wasn't very much. The only place they could find had a "no pets" policy. This, of course, broke my heart, but luckily my grandma was kind enough to let Jack live with her for the period of time that we lived there. My mom, who felt bad about the situation, would take me to pick Jack up and take him to the park for a few hours every Friday.

   Anyways, back to Sheba. There was no way that I was going to be able to tolerate living without ANY animals, so I begged and begged my mother for something - a fish, a lizard, anything. At the time, I was being home schooled, and we happened to be walking through one of the educational stores when we saw "Grow-A-Frog" kits. Alas, that was how we chose what I would get. In the beginning, I was a little upset because this "grow a frog" would only ever live in water, and I could never hold it or pet it. But I learned to accept these things.

  These "Grow A Frog" kits were tiny plastic boxes in which you raised a tadpole, and then when your tadpole morphed you needed to upgrade to another tiny plastic box. Luckily, since I am the kind of person who likes to do these things, I searched the internet for information. Quickly I discovered that these frogs need TEN GALLONS of water per frog. The little 12" x 12" box had nowhere near that much water. My mother's co-worker had given me a 29 gallon aquarium about a year beforehand, and it made the perfect froggy home.

   Sheba is now a huge frog, as you can see from the picture above. She is the most greedy of my three frogs when it comes to food, and she is also not at all shy. During feeding time, Sheba often grabs the arms and legs of her tank buddies on accident. She has also bitten me countless times during feeding and while I am cleaning the tank. Nearly every time my hand is in the water, I get bitten. Luckily, African Clawed Frogs have no teeth so the bites are harmless.. The inside of her mouth feels somewhat like a cat's tongue.


-Cynthia