It is with regret that I write to let you know of the passing of one of our pets into the cosmic pond. "Schnookie Jr.", an African Water Frog, died sometime in the night. S/he (we never did definatively decide) was over twelve years old. S/He was originally a gift to my son from his cousin on his sixth birthday.

Actually, Schnookie Jr. was the replacement froglet sent by the Grow-A-Frog company, in keeping with their policy of replacing your tadpole in the event of "an unfortunate incident". That first frog, the original "Schnookie" made its transition shortly after completing its metamorphosis from tadpole to frog. The name "Schnookie" was suggested in the company's literature as a possible choice for your new pet. It means "cute little thing" in German. The irony was that Schnookie Jr. was neither cute, nor little, as it's snout-to-rump measurement was about five inches, and the outstretched legs added another three or four inches.

Schnookie Jr. had many endearing qualities, including making plopping noises in his/her tank at all hours of the night, startling some overnight guests. Unknown to his parents, our son also trained him/her to eat its diet of tiny broken "food sticks" by holding fly-sized pieces in his fingertips and having the frog jump out of the water and take them in its wide, toothless mouth. The first time that D. was away at overnight camp and I had to feed the frog, as soon as it saw my fingers over the tank, and just as I was about to drop the bit of food, Schnookie Jr. LEAPT up out of the water and clamped his/her mouth on my fingertips. I had to scrape myself off the ceiling.

At one point Schnookie Jr. was joined in his/her habitat by "Christina", a pink-colored albino African Water Froglet. This seemed to please both frogs, as one of them (we never figured out which, but suspected that "Christina" may have been a male) would make strange "rouwer-rouwer-rouwer" grinding noises at night. This noise was unbelievably loud for a froglet smaller than a nickel, and Christina, who was really our daughter's frog (hence the choice of pink) was moved out into it's own habitat in E's room. The mating calls stopped immediately.
"Christina" pre-deceased Schnookie Jr. by four or five years, never really acheiving full size.

S/he was replaced last year by "Lindy", another albino froglet. Interestingly, although kept in separate tanks in the same room, "Lindy" began the same pattern of grinding noises. This kept the family thinking that perhaps the dishwasher or even the TV was broken and was emitting the noises. Moving the two tanks into separate parts of the house did not always work to stop the calling. Lindy continues to make the mating calls even though there is no other frog currently in residence.

Schnookie Jr. leaves "Lindy", and his/her devoted family of over twelve years. His longevity is a testimony to the care provided by his primary caregiver, D., and the many pet-sitters who have assisted with those duties during our vacations.