Green-eyed tree frog
Frogs are born with legs that are good for hopping and special pads on their toes to help them climb. In comparison, toads have shorter legs, drier skin, and are less likely to live near water. Most frogs and toads are responsible for controlling the Earth's insect population, since their diet consists mostly of insects and spiders. However, the green eyed-tree frog is also a carnivore. As a tadpole, the frogs mostly consume algae and plants. Frogs have a moist and permeable skin layer covered with mucous glands, which enables them to breathe through their skin, not just their lungs. The layer of mucus that covers them also acts as a shield, protecting them from scratches. The reason frogs have large and protruding eyes is to make up for their lack of a neck. This eye feature allows them to see everything around them. The color scheme of the green-eyed tree frog is to camouflage them from predators. Frogs with bright colors are alerting predators of their poisonous nature.
Lithobates heckscheri
Adult river frogs have a home range of about . They are largely nocturnal and feed on insects and other invertebrates, as well as small vertebrates, including frogs. They spend much of their time in water and are relatively bold. During hot weather they are normally found sitting in moist or wet places, presumably to avoid desiccation. When the temperature falls below about they are no longer to be seen in their normal habitat and are likely to be seeking refuge from the cold under water.
Breeding takes place between April and August with males calling from the edge of ponds and swamps from April to July. The call has been described as "a deep, low-pitched, rolling snore". The eggs are laid in a floating layer among emergent vegetation, a clutch numbering several thousand eggs which hatch after about three days. The tadpoles are at first a dark color but become much paler over time with a dark edge to the tail fin. They congregate in the shallows in the daytime, sometimes in dense swarms, but move into deep water at night. They feed on both animal and vegetable matter. They remain as tadpoles for a long period, overwintering once or twice, and reaching a snout-to-vent length of or more. After metamorphosis, the newly emerged juveniles are long and move away from the margins of the water. The large number of juveniles compared to the relatively small number of adults indicates a high mortality rate for newly emerged young. Predators that feed on tadpoles and juveniles are thought to include the banded water snake ("Nerodia fasciata"), other water snakes ("Nerodia" sp.), the largemouth bass ("Micropterus salmoides") and the grackle ("Quiscalus" sp.). However the skin may contain some noxious substances or malodorous secretions as some snakes, including the indigo snake ("Drymarchon"), have been observed gagging and retching after eating a river frog. Even after the frog has been regurgitated, the snake continued to wipe its mouth on the ground.