2023.07.16 The Great Escape

About a month ago my husband and I brought two tadpoles from a temple. We put them in a small plastic container and fed them rice and cabbages. About a week ago their legs started to grow out, and yesterday one of them finally turned into a frog. (It was amazing to see its tail get shorter and disappear in just one day.) We thought of letting it go into the stream as it had become a frog but postponed the plan since it was raining heavily outside. Since we had to keep it a few more days we had to feed it different food. Unlike tadpoles that eat almost any kind of food, frogs are known to eat live insects. We found on the Internet that there are wingless fruit flies on sale which are perfect for frogs living indoors. Since it is difficult to find a store nearby that sells fruit flies, however, we decided to give it flies or mosquitoes we catch at home.

As we observed the frog, it seemed to like sticking to the wall more than swimming in the water or lying on the floating cabbage. I felt like it wanted to get out of the container. Worried it might actually escape the place, we slightly put the lid on the container. We gave the frog a live (or freshly dead) fruit fly, but it didn’t eat them. All it cared was sticking on the wall all day. By the time we went to bed I caught a mosquito and went straight to the frog.

The next day (this morning) I went to the container to see if the frog ate a mosquito for dinner, but IT WAS GONE. Oddly enough, the lid was still on with no space open. Does it mean that the frog opened the lid, escaped, and put the lid back on to make it a perfect crime? How is that possible, and where on earth is it?

We looked at every corner but failed to find it. It was extremely difficult because the frog was really small and it could be anywhere, not only on the floor but also on the wall. Unfortunately we failed to find it and had to pronounce it dead at noon as it had passed 12 hours by that time. I felt guilty and learned that we should have let go the frog right after it changed into a frog; otherwise the lid should have been closed more firmly. Although it was pronounced dead, I hope it appears and surprises us.