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Named for their cricket or locust like calls, the cricket frog is one of the smaller known tree frogs. Their cries can be heard throughout the warmer areas of North America where is it believed they evolved from living in trees to life on the ground. The southern cricket frogs prefer to live along the edges of water in areas that are free from travel such as swamps, shallow pools or ponds. It is in such areas that this amazing little creature, which only reaches the size of 1 to 1 1\2 inches long, makes their home. Cricket frogs are not especially particular about where they spawn although it appears to be important to them that the area is rather inconspicuous. Due to this it is not uncommon to hear their mating calls even as late as the month of December with spawning taking place in February.
In most cases this tiny frog is rarely away from the water where their eggs are laid. But occasionally they will move on to land when there has been a heavy rain fall, traveling inland for several miles. The normal mating season for most cricket frogs is in the earlier part of May and may extend through the first weeks of July. The females of both species will lay her eggs singly or in groups with around 400 eggs being deposited on surrounding plant life or in the water of their habitat. Within days of being laid the eggs begin to swell and the tadpoles begin appearing late in July right through the first weeks of September. Although cricket frogs reach sexual maturity within the year of their birth, their life expectancy last only one year. Both species of the cricket frog, A. crepitans and A gryllus are from the Hylidae family. They are best characterized by their olive green to brownish coloring and the scattering of small warts that cover the outer body. The call of the cricket frog is often described as a series of high clicking noises that can be distinguished with a discerning ear from the crickets and locust often found near their habitat.
Due to the tiny structure of the cricket frogs body it is often mistaken for the young of other species but a close inspection will show a triangular marking between the eyes that is only found in the adult cricket frogs. Like most tree frogs these small creatures are known to begin their chorus near the end of day light calling back and forth into the stillness. Like other frogs these amphibians hibernate under water by burrowing into the mud during the fall months and return to the surface to mate in the spring with the younger frogs spending longer times on the surface than the older ones. Some in the species are considered tremendous jumpers for such a small frog, being capable of moving themselves up to three feet with each jump. All cricket frogs make their home near water but unlike other frogs they do not appear to like deep water and prefer spending their small bouts swimming time on the surface rather than submerged. Cricket frogs have voracious appetite feeding mostly on small insects until they are full and then resting only to feed in the same manner each time they become hungry. Some of the more interesting of the species and sub-species include the Northern cricket frog, Southern cricket frog and Blachard's cricket frog. Although some species of cricket frogs have maintained the pads at the end of each toe their evolution from tree to ground frogs they are now incapable of sticking to smooth surfaces such as tree bark.
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