Hoppy

Two years ago, when Spencer was in 2nd grade, he learned about tree frogs.  He would come home from school each day and fill us in on the various facts and details surrounding the fascinating life of frogs.  He decided that this would be the ultimate pet and proceeded to save all his money to get one.  Finally, shortly after school ended for the Summer, we made a trek to the pet store and left with a 10-gallon tank, water dish, wood chips, a couple dozen live crickets, and “Hoppy”.

Hoppy was a female tree frog.  Spencer informed us that you could tell gender by the size of the ear spots next to their eyes.  Hoppy’s were large which meant girl.

We quickly settled into a routine of spraying down her tank two or three times a day, feeding her 3 or 4 live crickets each night (tree frogs are nocturnal), and making sure she had water in her dish.  We put in a few live plants which thrived in the terrarium-like conditions.  In the Winter, we put a heater on the side of the tank and eventually got a heat lamp to keep her warm enough.  The crickets were my least favorite part.  We kept them in our old one-gallon fish tank and they required carrots or apples to keep them hydrated and fed.  And Hoppy would only eat them if they were alive.  This got particularly exciting on those occasions when someone accidentally knocked the cricket cage to the floor and we’d still be finding crickets several days later.

Sometimes Spencer would put Hoppy in the tub for a swim.  Or he’d take her outside to play and let her crawl through the grass or he’d just carry her around and let her climb on his hands, quick to grab her when she hopped away.  One day last Summer, the kids found 2 small toads when Jeff was mowing the lawn.  Spencer brought Hoppy out to enjoy some company and the kids had a great time with their amphibious friends.  But since frogs don’t particularly enjoy being handled, Hoppy spent most of her days asleep in her tank.

On Friday, I couldn’t see Hoppy in her tank.  Spencer is great at finding her so I called him down.  He looked for a while and then pointed out that she was crouched behind the flower pot in the back corner where she has hung out before.   But as I looked closer, something was different.  I turned the tank around to get a closer look and she wasn’t suctioned to the glass as she usually was.  I knew there was something wrong when I saw that her neck wasn’t going in and out as it always did.  When the realization that Hoppy was dead sunk in, Spencer melted into tears.  As each of the children were made aware, they also cried and cried.  It was one sad evening in the Stowell home.  Spencer wrote in his journal that he’ll never forget Hoppy and that she was his only true best friend.  (That was the saddest part for me!)

Jeff buried Hoppy in front of our rose bush and Sterling drew this sweet picture for Spencer.

We’ll miss you, Hoppy.  Thanks for being a part of our family.