Snapshots

Not what you think

26 Comments

To help me learn to use my new macro lens, Bev suggested a while back that I practice photographing little plastic frogs or something. It just so happens that I have a few of the real things around so last night decided to take some pics while I had them out of the tank for cleaning.

Technically, these are toads and not frogs and they didn’t make very cooperative subjects. They kept climbing on top of one another trying to escape the holder that I had them in. It was fun to practice anyway. I’m sure my husband was convinced of my insanity when he was ambling off to bed and I was taking pictures of the fire-belly toads in the kitchen sink. Such is the life of a frustrated photographer. 😉

To further damage your impressions of me – the toads were an anniversary gift from my husband a few years ago. No jewelry or chocolates for this gal! Every so often the DH goes out on a limb and strays from the safe gifts; it’s always interesting when he does.

They’re cute little guys and are very warty. They also have bright reddish-orange bellies. I feed them mostly crickets, but they’ll also eat waxworms or mealworms or very small guppies. Right now I have four of them, but it’s difficult to keep too many together because the larger ones seem inclined to bully the smaller ones and not allow them to eat. When the mood strikes them and they’re feeling amorous, they bark like little dogs.

If you’re in the mood for pics of truly amorous animals, stop by the Dharma Bums blog to see photos of a pair of Bald Eagles caught in the act. Love is the air and Spring can’t be far off now.

26 thoughts on “Not what you think”

  2. Damage? Au contraire. This is so way cool. Your very own toads! AND a husband who indulges your desire for critters of every stripe – er . . wart. Bev is so kind in helping us tame our cameras.

  3. I just said during one trip to the pet store that I thought they were cute – never that I wanted them – but well, I guess he was out of ideas!

    Cathy, I need all the help I can get to *tame* my camera!

  8. I love the TOADS! I watched my pond frogs mating last summer – it’s fascinating. I’ll show those photos one of these days. Who needs typical anniversary gifts when you have have warty toads??!! LOL!

    Thanks for the giggle tonight :o)

  12. Didn’t you find yourself a good catch? Your husband, I mean. A man who gives fire-belly toads is a definite keeper. Even the green and spots we can see are strikingly handsome- I’d love to see their bellies sometime! You’re right- Robin Andrea’s photos are wonderful.

  13. Love the colour of the toads Laura!

    Thanks for your visit and nice words about Flora! And I changed my caption, you are right, Flora is smiling! I update, take a look:
    “Wow Flora, Laura is right, you are smiling!”. Thank you , now I can see her shy smile! Many hugs!

  16. Those are very cute little toads, and what a great present from your husband. Good to see you’re getting some practice with the macro lens. At this rate, you’ll be ready for Insect Season! Does your lens use some form of autofocus, or is it manual focus? If you’re using autofocus, if you haven’t tried this already, try shooting a photo of the palm of your hand at the same distance as the object you want to shoot (the toads), then quickly turn the camera lens to the toads and shoot your next shot. A lot of times, cameras can’t get properly focussed on a small object, but you can get around that by shooting a photo of something larger. When shooting insects, I often shoot a photo or two of a nearby leaf (something large and flat), and then quickly turn and shoot the insect before the focus has a chance to change. I use various tricks like that to get the focus and light to work with me when shooting macro. I’ve found that macro work requires quite a bit of experimentation.

  18. Oh, you give me inspiration to try the macro lens on my new camera (a b-day present). Now, if I could only find some toads. . .

  19. Hey there! I didn’t realize that I lost your RSS feed until just now. My guess is that it stopped sending me data when you switched to the updated site. 🙁 Feet flickers for Blogger!!!!
    =:8

  21. OMG!
    TOAD PORN!!!!!

    Seriously, that is just too cute. Your DH gives you amphibians for an anniversary.
    “Say it with frogs…”
    Priceless.

    I have so many birthday and Christmas presents in mind for you…bunny slippers, live crickets, hay….
    You are sloooowly introducing us to the menagerie in your house. It took you what…a year? to show up the guinea pigs, and now toads?

  22. What cute little sapos! I only just tonight clicked over here manually to find out what was happening– I lost your daily feed, so maybe your upgrade had something to do with it. And maybe that’s why my traffic is down, too. Weird stuff.

  25. I would love to hear those toads barking like dogs. Does your camera have a video and sound component? There are just so many things about the natural world that is a delightful surprise to me. It makes me want to hear and see everything!

    Thanks for the link, laura.

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