The Northern Cricket Frog is a small frog that is found in the Northern and Southern parts of the United States and in the Piedmont, Mountains, Southern and Coastal Plains.
What Does the Northern Cricket Frog Look Like?
The Northern Cricket Frog is around 3.5 centimeters and they can be grey, green or brown. They have orange stripes that are located down the center of their back and a marking on top of their head that looks like a triangle.
Even though there are a variety of species of the Cricket Frog, they can be told apart by the call that they make to their mates.
All the species of the Cricket Frog have a dark stripe that is on their thigh.
Where Does the Northern Cricket Frog Live?
The Northern Cricket Frog is mostly found around the Piedmont and Mountain regions in the Southeast. They like to live where there are ponds, shallow bodies of water, slow moving streams and areas that are full of plant life and vegetation.
The Northern Cricket Frog does not climb high in trees are considered to be bad climbers. They will mostly be found down low hiding in high grasses or logs.
Behavior of the Northern Cricket Frog
The Northern Cricket Frog will look for a mate by making a sound that sounds like marbles being clacked together. They will attack other males to fight over a female frog.
The Northern Cricket Frog is diurnal which means that it is most active during the daytime. It is also active year around except in the winter when the water is frozen.
The Northern Cricket Frog will stay in groups along banks by the waters but will move upland when the winter comes to hibernate.
What Does the Northern Cricket Frog Eat?
The Northern Cricket Frog eats small insects such as mosquitos, ants and worms.
What Predators Does the Northern Cricket Frog Have?
The Northern Cricket Frog has many predators including birds, other frogs, fish and small animals like raccoons.
What is Special About the Northern Cricket Frog?
The one thing that is special about the Northern Cricket Frog is that it can jump very high, even up to 3 feet in one jump. They are also great at swimming.
Finding a Mate
The Northern Cricket Frog will look for a mate between May and July. They will do a high pitched, short call that sounds like marbles clacking.
The female Northern Cricket Frog will only lay one egg at a time and it will usually not be in the water but in the grass or other vegetation.
The tadpole will hatch in a few days and will go through metamorphosis in the fall. Metamorphosis means that their body will change.
Subspecies
There are three different subspecies of the Northern Cricket Frog and these include the Blanchard’s Cricket Frog, the Eastern Cricket Frog and the Coastal Cricket Frog.
Facts About the Northern Cricket Frog:
- Some of the subspecies of the Northern Cricket Frog can be found in Florida, Texas and New York.
- The Northern Cricket Frog helps to keep the environment strong by helping to control the insects.
- In Michigan and Minnesota, the Northern Cricket Frog is considered endangered.
- The Northern Cricket Frog can live around 4 months and has one of the shortest life spans of any amphibian.
- The Northern Cricket Frog is the only frog that has tadpoles that have a black tip on their tail.
What Did You Learn?
- What is the Northern Cricket Frog? The Northern Cricket Frog is a small frog that is found in the United States and in mountain ranges.
- What does the Northern Cricket Frog eat? The Northern Cricket Frog eats small insects such as ants, mosquitoes or snails.
- What is interesting about the Northern Cricket Frog? The Northern Cricket Frog can jump very high and swim very good.
- Does the Northern Cricket Frog live in trees? The Northern Cricket Frog is not a good climber and is found on the ground close to water areas.
- When is the Northern Cricket Frog most active? The Northern Cricket Frog is diurnal which means that it is mostly active during the day.