We
had some friends over for dinner and my husband brought out some of his more
obscure Bob Dylan music. At one point the conversation stopped and I realized
we were listening to Froggy Goes
A-Courtin’. I don’t think I had heard that tune since kindergarten. Could Dylan
really be singing that?
Not
only did Dylan sing the frog song, he also talked about it – noting that various
forms of the story about Froggy and Miss Mousie (the sweetheart he was courting)
dated back to 16th century Scotland. It gained some political
significance when Queen Elizabeth I was known to call
her courtiers animal nicknames, and her subjects began referring to her French
suitor, the Duc d'Alencon, as ‘froggy’.
I wouldn’t have given the song another thought, except for an
instance of the principle of synchronicity. That very night it rained hard as
we were going to bed and the frogs outside went crazy, honking and bellowing,
singing their own raspy-voiced songs, and carousing around our pool.
In the morning one couple was still in the pool, locked in a
lop-sided, four-eyed embrace, the little guy on top, surrounded by glittering
eggs.
When we built our new house near Fish Bay, the real estate people
said we really should put in a pool because without one we would have a harder
time selling or renting it. I was dubious because I didn’t want the trouble of maintaining
the pool equipment since everything corrodes in the salty, humid air. And who
comes to St. John to swim in a pool anyway? That’s what those white beaches are
for. But my husband thought it was a good idea, and might have some romantic
possibilities. Little did he know….
Since our place is pretty rustic, we didn’t think a bright
turquoise pool was appropriate. Instead we designed one inspired by the pool by
the petroglyphs, with a dark surface, surrounded by stone. We didn’t realize
that we would be attracting wandering frogs rather than tourists.
St. John has cute native tree frogs known for their nighttime
calls, especially the two-note whistle of the Eleutherodactylus coqui. These
frogs are very small and the females lay their eggs in bromeliad plants, which
hang off the trees and have cups at their centers that catch small amounts of
rainwater. The frog babies don’t go through a tadpole stage, so there’s no need
for a lot of water. Those guys would never want to go party in our pool.
No, the big carousers come from Cuba, and are known formally as Osteopilus septentrionalis, (loosely
translated from the Latin as ‘northern boneheads’). They started arriving in the 1970s, probably riding over in
potted plants. The Cuban frogs have a very bad reputation. They are invasive,
eating just about anything they can fit in their big mouths, including native
frogs, lizards, and baby birds. If you touch them, they secrete mucous that can
irritate your skin, so most people refer to them as ‘Cuban toxic frogs’. They
probably don’t really poison the cistern water if they get in there, but that
is definitely gross. Plus they can jam themselves into crevices and clog the
pipes.
We usually have a few fat Cuban frogs living at the back of the
house. They like to be off the ground during the day, so they climb up and
squeeze into the spaces at the top of the window slats and sleep there instead
of in a tree. At night they hop down and hunt, or whatever.
On nights when it rains hard, the males get all riled up. Since the
eggs have to be laid in water, heavy rain is nature’s signal that the time is
right to breed. They would generally use a natural pond, or even a flooded
ditch or wetland, but I guess our pool looks pretty good to them. The males
gather round the water source and form a chorus. Their loud calls have been
variously described as like a barking dog, a squeaking door or a snoring rasp.
They use the vocal sacs under their chins to make these sounds, and try to
impress the females by how loud and deep their voices are, demonstrating their
virility.
(People living on St. John will be surprised to learn that there
is an active trade in Cuban tree frogs as pets. Really. They come with a
warning, though, that the males are noisy at night so don’t keep them in the
bedroom, unless you like that sort of thing. Also, it’s not so good to pat
them, because of that mucous issue.)
The Cuban frogs are known as ‘explosive breeders’. Once the
females come around, the acoustic competition degenerates into ‘scramble
searching’ for mates – sort of like musical chairs when the playing stops.
I was reading about the mating habits of lobsters during my summer
vacation in Maine. Like many species, lobsters have a strict dominance system.
Only the largest, most aggressive male gets to mate, and he is always bullying
the other lobsters – male and female – to prove that he’s still number one. The
frogs aren’t so interested in male dominance, and the females aren’t very
selective. Most of the males get a partner during the one-night breeding
events, and if not, there will be another party soon. Cuban tree frogs can
breed any time the conditions are right, and don’t have any parenting
responsibilities.
The females tend to be bigger than the males – up to about six
inches long. They produce hundreds of eggs at once, since so few of the eggs survive
to maturity, and can lay thousands of them over the course of a year. Large
females produce more eggs that the small ones – but they don’t need a very big
male to fertilize them all. Most any size guy will do, so the males don’t have
to wait until they are big and strong enough to fight with competitors to get a
chance to mate.
The male basically sits on her back and grabs on with raspy
nuptial pads (like velcro) on his front feet. Over the course of the night, as
she pushes out the eggs into the water, he fertilizes them. The eggs hatch in a
little over a day, and grow into tadpoles. With luck, within a month they are a
new batch of frogs.
The Cuban frogs don’t mind if the water is somewhat salty, as long
as it is still. But a chlorinated pool isn’t really a good choice. Especially
when there is someone who comes by in the morning and scoops out the eggs with
a strainer. Yuck.
Meanwhile, I was inspired to write my own island-style lyrics for Froggy Goes A-Courtin. Since it is such
an old ballad, there are a lot of different versions, and I thought I would
adapt it.
Froggy Went A-Courtin’ - Cuban Style
Froggy went a-courtin’ and he was stout, uh-huh,
Froggy went a-courtin’ and he did shout, kwee-wee, Hopping from his lair when it rained that night,
Calling to the ladies with all his might, uh-huh, uh huh
Froggy went a-swimming down in our pool, uh-huh
Froggy went a-swimming and the water was cool, uh-huhHis friends all gathered and were calling too
Oh baby, can I spend the night with you, uh-huh, uh-huh.
Froggy wasn’t looking for an inside wife, uh-uh
Froggy wasn’t looking to mate for life, uh-uhHe was no prince who was under a spell
But the ladies they liked the way he yelled, uh-huh, uh-huh
Froggy found a big gal to be his date, uh-huh
Froggy found someone who could carry his weight, uh-huhHe grabbed her belly with his nuptial pads
And gave her eggs everything he had, uh-huh, uh-huh
Froggy went a-courtin’ outside our house, uh-huh
Froggy wasn’t looking to marry no mouse, uh-uhHis whopping big mama took him for a ride
And kept him going until he cried, no mas, no mas, uh-huh
Froggy wasn’t gone by the morning light, uh-uh
Froggy held her close all through the night, uh-huhThe scientists would say that it’s called amplexus,
When he’s wrapped around her solar plexus, uh-huh, uh-huh
Froggy and his lady left eggs in the pool, uh-huh
That’s not too smart as a general rule, uh-uh There’s chlorine in there to kill the algae
So Froggy’s poor spawn they never shall be, tadpoles, uh-uh.
