confusing color (Common Tree Frog)

Previously I talked about unusual behavior of herpeto-fauna regarding hibernation. This new incident is also related to that.

A few days back, in the morning, I was working in a abandoned garden. Suddenly a “white thing with black spots on it” caught my attention. It was inside a well. So I leaned into it.It was a frog. The size and shape was also telling me that it was a Common Tree Frog. But I was confused about the coloration. I have seen Common Tree frogs earlier. They were light brown in color and had black stripes on the legs but no spots on the back. This one however has prominent big black spots on the back and its coloration is white, not brown. So when I returned home I consulted the books by J. C. Daniel and Ranjit Daniel and found some really interesting points about Common Tree Frogs. And these points some what confirmed that it is a Common Tree Frog.
In Hindi, Common Tree Frog is called ‘Chunam’ Frog. Chunam means lime. This frog bears white coloration, the coloration of lime, and that is how it has got its name. So now I became more interested and wanted to study it further. But where am I gonna find it?? If it’s not hibernating, it will surely come out at night to hunt. Another fact I learned came in handy. Previous studies showed that this frog comes out every night to hunt but it returns to the exact place at dawn. That solved my problem. Now I know where to find it. The next morning I visited that place again and yes, I found the frog at exactly the same place. It was resting 6’-8’ down into the well.
So I climbed down the wall of the well to get it. My brother was with me to help me do things. Catching it was not a problem. My personal experience showed me that Common Tree Frogs don’t always jump at the first instance. If you put your hand in-front of it and push a little from behind, it will even crawl up on your hand and stay there. I caught it and brought it home.

At home, I setup a little environment in my new terrarium and the frog found a comfortable corner inside an earthen pot readily. It passed the whole day inside the pot. At night it came out and after some time, crawled up the glass wall of my terrarium and stayed there whole night. It was quite surprising how it sticked to the smooth glass wall. In the morning I took it out and released it. I found an explanation for the color but the spots are yet to be confirmed. Though I read in the books that Common Tree Frogs sports black stripes and spots on the back but the photographs and live ones I have seen didn’t have the spots.


Natural history
Common Tree Frog (Polypedates maculatus) is one of the most common tree frogs of India. It is a medium sized frog. Adults’ measure upto 3.8-8.5 cm. Females are larger than the males. It is found through-out the Indian sub-continent except the arid and semi-arid regions. It has a interesting semi urban characteristic. It is fond of human homes and thus in cities with extensive gardens, it is very abundant. Common Tree Frogs enter human homes and take shelter behind books, vases, inside cupboards, cloths etc. and once they settle down, it is very difficult to get rid of them. They tend to come back to the exact place even they are thrown out of the window. They do this to stay away from the dryness of outside air. But every evening they go out to replenish their water stock and to hunt. Frogs can absorb water through skin. But this particular species has developed this to a greater level. They can absorb significant amount of water and store it partly under abdomen and partly under the skin of hind legs.
Common Tree Frogs can also change their body color to a certain extent to match the color of their surroundings. In day time when they are in rest, they sport white color. In night when they are active, they sport light-dark brown color. Their breeding starts in May on the onset of monsoon season. Their mating call is like “DODODODO--DODO”. They lay their eggs in foam nests on over-hanging leaf on a water pool. Tadpoles that emerge from the eggs are washed to the pool by rain or the nest melts. The transformation takes about 55 days to develop a baby frog from egg.

## there is a popular belief in South India. They say, if a Common Tree Frog leaps over a childs leg, his legs become thin and weak. Needless to say that its only a belief, there is no scientific base regarding it.

unsolved puzzle in winter

December, January being the winter months, I thought that I can go into hibernation. There will be no-more posting in the blog as it is mainly a reptile related blog. And everyone knows that reptiles go into hibernation in winter. Reptiles can not regulate their body heat, their body temperature changes with ambient temperature. So, when the ambient temperature drops in winter they had to find a warm place and stay inside. Otherwise they will die in cold. Hibernation is a state of dormancy during which reptiles slow down their metabolic rate so that they don’t have to eat for the whole period of hibernation.


There are some exceptions in this trend. I have seen some particular snakes to remain active in winter time also. They are less active than the warmer time but they are still active. The snakes are Rat Snake and Checkered Keelback. The first one is a land snake and the second one is a water snake. Both are common snakes of this area. The common lizard found in our area i.e. Common Garden Lizard also remains active. Single garden lizard basking morning sunlight on a garden fence or at the end of a small brunch is a common sight. One other common household lizard i.e. Northern House Gecko stays active too. They seem to gather around lights in less number though. But I didn’t found any amphibian to stay active in this time.


But this year my observation seems to tell a different story altogether. I have first located a Common Bronzeback busking in sunlight in the morning on a brick wall. A few days later I saw a Common Toad to be out for the night’s hunt at around 10pm. Within a week, I got some information about killing of 4 Indian Cobra in a nearby paddy-field while the snakes were basking in the morning. Then I saw a Russell’s Viper to sun bask on a small bush beside a railtrack. I found an Indian Bullfrog that day evening. Literally it was out for hunting, frogs don’t wander around. The following days showed me Common Toads a few times again. Oneday when I was returning home at night around 9:30 pm, I found a fresh roadkill Olive Keelback snake. Generally I find them at the location in the rainy season, not in winter time. And the most crazy of them all happened just a few days ago. I found a few Skittering Frogs were calling for mating in a small water body. And they are still calling for the past few days.


The reptile and amphibian species that I have mentioned here are the main species around here. Their activity shows us what in general all the species are doing in here. Without any confusion we can draw a decision that the reptiles and amphibians of this area obviously have not gone to hibernation. It may be the change of weather or the pollution and all that which is creating this change. But what is the reason behind the mating call of the frogs?? There was no rain for the past 2 months and I have not heard mating calls from any other water bodies. So, what is causing the frogs of this particular water body to call for breeding??