Caught a roach

Last night, when i was just stoning in my room, something exciting happened. A golden brown cockroach [Periplaneta americana] flew in through the windows( it was wide open). Initially i decided to live and let live. Then, it started getting my attention. It was flying all over the place, so i thought to myself, why not?

I took a ziplock bag and tried to make it fly into it. Yeah, think cockroach nowadays are smarter, considering i found it in uni.
Then, i decided to grab it and chuck it into the ziplock bag, its new home. maybe i should call it Papa roach..

here's a picture of it, with a tiny bitsy piece of marshmellow all my pets get fed.



I went to get ethanol to make my dear "friend" drunk from the labs just now. Hope its ready to end its life. Hope more of its kind, the insects, are ready to die for Audrey. Going on a killing spree soon.

Tentitively, i will be going frogging on saturday(2nd) and monday(4th), both at 7.30pm to 9.30pm.
Survey site : Where will the frogs be?


Ps: they were fOGging at KE7 at about 11am.


Alicia

Double sigh,,

Yesterday, on my way down from my unit, i saw this PGP guy cleaning the drains. I approached him. Cos i felt he is the correct person to enquire about the frog health in the PGP area. This was roughly how our conversation went.

me: Hi, Good morning
him: yeah, Hi (while turning off his high pressure hose)
me: Have you seen any frogs/ toads around PGP?
him : Frogs?
me : Erm, yeah. I am doing this project on frogs/toads around NUS.
him: Oh, frogs? No, i have never seen them here
me : What about calls?
him: Calls. Yes, sometimes. Behind the PGP back gate area.
me: Oh, okay. Thanks.Thanks.
him: I will tell u if i hear or see any.Yeah, u're welcome
me : Thanks again and have a nice day =)
him: *Smiles (gets back to work)

And another sad piece of news to share, went to check out that area which had the foamy gooey stuff. It was so, (triple sigh) i felt like fainting. Haha. That area was all dried up. End of story. (some stories are just more boring than others).
Maybe that may be causing the decline in frogs/toad population?
Anyway, there were only a few possible endings to that story,
version 1- the gooey stuff became tadpoles. Wah very happy
version 2-the gooey stuff were not frogspawn, it was a false alarm
version 3-the area dried up
*maybe there is a story to tell from this, hopefully=)

remains optimistic about the Anurans,
aliciatan

frogspawn?

Date : 29th January 2008 (Tuesday)

It was raining heavily from about 4.00 to 5.00pm. So, i thought i might as well go for a walk around PGP. The area was rather marshy. There were suprisingly more waterlogged areas than i expected. I was walking along the drains/canals, straining hard to find some form of life. Walked rather aimlessly for about an hour, just to give this area another chance to perform.

I was actually looking for tadpoles or at least some form of indicator that there were frog beings around. Anyway, didnt hear any calls. Even the pond was as frogless and tadpoleless as ever. I saw quite a few guppies though.

As i was walking near the children's playground, i saw THIS area. This magnificent area. It has this foammy like thing with some gooey stuff. Took a picture of it. Hope its worth the film. I will check out that foamy thing the first thing tomorrow. I really hope its some frogspawn.


Alicia

A Frogful night

Date : 28th January 2008
Time: 7.20pm to 8.00pm
Weather : fair
-Nigel, Shinyee and I

Today, I caught the smallest frog, I have ever seen. It was so small, I didn't even think it was a frog. It was a Microphyla heymonsi, more commonly known as the dark-sided chorus frog. We heard the call all over the place. Being such a noobie, I was just frantically trying to spot one. Nigel then asked to to stay at one spot to spot carefully and patiently. Yeah, then we managed to get one of those lil creature. It was brownish, with a distinct blackish brown line at its side. It was really cool. =). Couldnt get a picture of it though, due to a technical setback of my camera.

Then, we proceeded near a pond, to spot the Rana erythraea species. Shinyee spotted one. Sigh, when i tried to grab it, (i think i wasn't using enough brains), i let it slipped through my hands. And leaped to dunno where. Anyway, i enjoyed this session quite a lot. I learnt how to handle a small frog, and also to act faster the next time (the Rana erythraea incident).

After that, at about 8ish to about 9.30pm, we went from KE7, down to Medicine and then back. Typically urban, found nothing. Then, as we were heading back, we heard this frog call. The area was quite wet, with a few puddles. However, the croaking stopped as we went closer. I will definitely go back there for a 2nd search. At least, there's hope. =)


Alicia

More Frog Ramblings..

It has been a pretty busy week. I amended my proposal and did a schedule for my frogging sessions. I will try to do more frogging this week. Just to see how things go. i am also hoping for "good" WEaTher. And, i will be meeting Mr. Siva on Tuesday.

Tomorrow night(monday), I will be going to Science and NUH area, just to check out the place. Hope to find some frogs/toads in the midst of the saturation of concrete and tiles. Wonder how the night will turn out.

Anyway, if there are frogs/toads, good for that area. If not, hope it's worth a 2nd "visit".

Alicia

Katak ke kodok?

Random pictures of frogging sessions..

My first Asian toad of the Year Bufo melanostictus


My "legendary" Banded Bullfrog ,Kaloula pulchra


Bufo melanostictus


Alicia

Pictures by Audrey

Got Frogs?

Date: 24th January 2008
Time: 7.30pm to 9.30pm
Weather : After a heavy rain
Audrey, Amelia, Tiffany and i

I went frogging again with Audrey, Tiffany and Amelia. We went around Residence 1 at PGP. Found more Bufo melanostictus (Asian toads). But, found a spot near the back gate with lotsa them.

I have been hearing frog/toad croaks/calls even when i am grocery shopping. Wonder why.

anyway, frogging is getting more exciting. Hope to find more frogs/toads around skul in the coming sessions.

Planing to go to SRC next week, to do a frog search.

Found something intesting, found it disturbing though..
Click to discover

Cheers,
aliciatan =)

The Day I Caught A Banded Bullfrog

23rd January 2008
Time : 7ish to 9ish at night
Weather : Almost super dry
Nigel, Audrey and i

Went for a short walk to Kent Ridge. Went through the route we went for Kent Ridge Walk Pracs for BioD last sem. At first the walk was pretty sad, i would put it. We saw almost everything (spiders, lizards, joggers,..) but found a grand total of 0 frogs/toads. We didnt even hear them. Then, just as we decided to head back, we heard a call. Wow..imagine the joy in my heart. (seriously).

To cut the story short, i caught my first Kaloula pulchra (Banded bullfrog), with the help of Nigel-The-Frog-Pro and Audrey-The-Camera-person.


Later that night, i went back to PGP, and found more Asian toads. In total, i have found 5 Bufo melanostictus (Asian toads) from the PGP vicinity. Only Asian toads.

One of the many froggings ahead.

=)

Ps: I need volunteers to help me out during my frogging sessions. It will be better if you are Batrachophobia (phobia of Amphibians) because treatment will be provided. Kidding. I just need people to tag along during these sessions. It will be around 7.30ish to about 9/10 at night. It will be done in NUS Kent Ridge Campus. Thanks =)

AliciaTan

Frogging or fogging?

Here's a survey i just created. Its about the occurance of frogs/toads on Kent Ridge campus.

Please spare a few minutes to complete the survey.

Your few minutes will mean alot to the population of frogs/toads in NUS.

Heartfelt thanks on behalf of the order Anura.

here's the link Click Here to take survey

Anticipating the responses/results =)

aliciatan

A night out

Monday : 14th January 2008
Time : 7.30pm to 9.00pm
Weather : After the rain
Nigel, Audrey and i

Audrey, Nigel and i went for a "walk" around Prince George's Park Res. Nigel wanted to show me the proper way of handling frogs/toads and to give me an idea of what frogging was like. It was pretty good, i would say, finding 2 Bufo melanostictus(Asian toads).

However, i am still not very confident with the methods i will use. Minds filled with lots of 'what ifs?' .But i guess thats what it's all about. Otherwise i wont need a sem.

Hoping to learn along the way, heading towards my destination of results. =)

alicia

A.N.U.R.A.ed

A few months back, when I was at Sheng Siong, I saw an aquarium full of American Bullfrogs, waiting to be boiled into steaming hot porridge. These huge, greenish amphibians are more commonly known as tian ji (in Mandarin). I found out that they have a much cooler name , Rana catesbeiana.

This is a video by National Geographic which MAY satisfy your craving the next time you crave for your delicious Rana catesbeiana-leg congee, Enjoy =)

alicia '_'

Link