Question - Responsible or Not

[Lirathal]

I don't normally ask people for their thoughts on my personal life and responsibilities, but this is a little different, I'm dealing with the life of two frogs too.

Today I came home from staying the night at Nomilynns (I was too tired to drive the three hours). In that time, enough water had evaporated in my frog tank to bring the PH level to off the chart ratings. The moment I stepped in my room I tested the water to find this out, I looked to make sure they were both there and only saw one. I lifted out the little castle to see if one was hiding, nothing. In the tree? nope... $h*t where the... so I tore apart my room looking for a corpse now (underwater frogs have about 5 minutes to live out of water, so I'm told). I searched for about an hour feeling so dreadful that I cost this frog it's life. Well I eventually found him, in the tank . He was still in the castle, little bugger. So not dead, but the PH is an issue. I brought it down but now I'm wondering. Am I responsible enough to keep these pets. I talked to the fish store owner and he said that he would keep them if I wanted to try and stablize the tank and then I could have them back, but for now I'm just watching the levels and bringing them down little by little. *sigh*

So discouraged and scared, and .. if anyone gives me the "they are just frogs" ... I'll go ballistic

Your thoughts?

Regards,
A/V Dept.

[Rio and Me]

Well you may have herd about me and my mouse? if not it was a very irrasponsible thing i did and most would say you should not own any animal, but i say it was a mistake a most certainly wont hapen agian, so if i were you i would worry just be more carfull, and you proberbly learned from your misatke (i did).
Please keep your pets.
Ky and Rio

[Karen]

I think that this will be forever in your mind, and that from now on you will be more careful about pH levels. Keep the froggies, okay?

Hope you and the froggies are feeling better.

[G.P.girl]

you should keep your froggies. it doesn't make you a bad pet owner, everyone makes mistakes with their pets and hopfully learn from them. hope the froggies are feeling better

[CathyBogart]

Everyone makes irresponsible mistakes sometime. The responsibility is in not repeating them. Once, I ran completely out of rat food (How?! I buy it in 30lb bags!!) and had to fake it with human food for a day. >.< D'oh! Now I replace it when I'm down to about ten pounds so that doesn't happen!!

[jenluckenbach]

I say that you are only irresponsible if you don't learn from this error. You may well not have known that one night would make that much difference. Now you do.
SO
If you plan to take precautions that this does not happen again, then by all means keep the frogs.



By the way, we all make mistakes, some are worse than others in their outcome, but they are always unintentional.

[Nomilynn]

Aww Nate Please don't blame yourself.

Just so people understand better, I got a frantic phone call about the missing froggie, because Nate-Dad was SO worried and scared for them

I've suggested that Nathan might even need a different type of tank. This one is not "professionally" made, and perhaps this could be the problem?

Don't feel bad, Nate. Like everyone has said, now you know how fast the water can evaporate, etc, so you can be extra careful.

[carole]

I agree with everyone's comments, we all make mistakes, its learning from them that matters, however if you honestly feel in your heart, that you feel you are not responsible enough to own the frogs, then find a good home for them, but I for one certainly DONOT think that at all, it is up to you, but I say KEEP the froggies, and put it behind you as a learning experience that did not turn out to be a disaster ok.

[Cinder & Smoke]

Hey Nate ~

Do the UndurWaddurKids have an Air Pump to keep
their water properly Oxygenated??

And - do they have "City" water - or some sort of bottled water??

The TYPE of water may be very important.
"City" water usually has Chlorine in it -
and unless you let it "age" - the Chlorine can be bad for critters.

Ask a Fish or Froggy *expert* - which I am NOT!

You might want to put a *HIGH* and *low* mark on the OUTside of
their Tank/Home - so you can easily spot the level in the tank -
a timely addition of fresh water should reduce the
pH Level *shocks*.

KEEP da Froggiez!!

/s/ Phred

[Lirathal]

I use a gravel filter with a air pump, so yes. The tank is filled with Auqafina water, and thanks. I think a high and low mark would be most appropriate.

It's a small tank and I'm shocked that the water evaporated so quickly. I didn't think I'd loose 500ml over night. I guess I know now. I just feel so rotten.

A/V Dept.

Originally posted by Cinder & Smoke
Hey Nate ~

Do the UndurWaddurKids have an Air Pump to keep
their water properly Oxygenated??

And - do they have "City" water - or some sort of bottled water??

The TYPE of water may be very important.
"City" water usually has Chlorine in it -
and unless you let it "age" - the Chlorine can be bad for critters.

Ask a Fish or Froggy *expert* - which I am NOT!

You might want to put a *HIGH* and *low* mark on the OUTside of
their Tank/Home - so you can easily spot the level in the tank -
a timely addition of fresh water should reduce the
pH Level *shocks*.

KEEP da Froggiez!!

/s/ Phred

[Cinder & Smoke]

Originally posted by Lirathal
It's a small tank
and I'm shocked that the water evaporated so quickly.
I didn't think I'd loose 500ml over night.

Nate ~

The air pump - although necessary -
will accelerate the evaporation of the water.
You might want to "check" the Rate or Volume that the
pump is running at...
Most of those pumps have a Flow Control Knob or
adjustment somewhere in the system -
TOO much air flow may be the cause of the rapid evaporation.

A *bigger tank* will have several benefits ~
. . More *stable* temperature
. . "less" water loss as a percentage of overall water volume
. . less contamination from Froggie Functions

Keep da Froggiez!

[micki76]

I think you should definitely keep the froggers!

Remember that during the winter your heater is evaporating water at a much higher rate than the a/c will in the summer. Heating is very drying. I don't have froggers, but for my own comfort and my animals comfort, I use a couple of humidifiers in my house during the winter months.

A side benefit is that it also eliminates static electricity, so no more shocks from anyone! Not to mention that it soothes a sore throat.

[cali]

I honestly did not find one single thing you did that was irresponsible.

[lv4dogs]

now what would be irresponsible of you is if you were to drive that 3 hour trip tired & crash!

i see nothing wrong with what you did. everyone makes mistakes. as long as you learned your lesson i would keep the froggies! maybe you could talk to a friend/neighbor/relative about caring for your frogs should something like this happen again.

Everyone makes irresponsible mistakes sometime. The responsibility is in not repeating them. Once, I ran completely out of rat food (How?! I buy it in 30lb bags!!) and had to fake it with human food for a day. >.< D'oh! Now I replace it when I'm down to about ten pounds so that doesn't happen!!

i feed my rats lots of people food everyday with their rat food. they have all been happy & healthy, most live way past their life expectancy, one was 7.5 years of age when she passed.