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The Ranidae: How To Breed, Feed And Raise The Edible Frog |
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Title: The Ranidae: How To Breed, Feed And Raise The Edible Frog Author: Unknown (Non-fiction) CONTENTS
Those Desirous of Light Work For the Country Home As a Business When to Begin How Much to Invest The Ponds and How to Construct Them Care of Ponds Great Profit in Swamp Lands The Edible Frog, (Rana Esculenta) Nests and Nest Building Enemies of Spawn, Tadpoles and Small Frogs Hatching and Progress of the Young Frog Food for Tadpoles Food for Frogs Catching the Frogs Some Things about Frogs Repeated
Preface. Think of it! "One Dollar a Pound."
FROG RAISING. Information for Beginners.
The author of this book conceived the idea that there was a large amount of money to be made in Raising Frogs. The object in publishing this book is to get persons who are so situated that they can make a business of raising Frogs interested so as to supply the growing demand that is year by year increasing, and with a price ranging from seventy-five cents to one dollar and fifty cents a pound. This should be an incentive to anyone to start in the business, when the work of Raising Frogs is so simple, and with such large returns to repay one for their efforts. The principal thing is to study the nature of the Frog in habit and breeding. What knowledge we have in the breeding and raising is given herein, and with the experience gained from observation in Raising Frogs it soon becomes an interesting and profitable business. Frog Raising will bring in more profit for the same amount of time and money invested than any other industry that we know of. Every farmer, or farmer's boy, should have a Frog pond and Raise Frogs. It is one of the lines of business that we have heard about, "That makes money for you while you sleep." Many farmers already have Frog ponds, and at a greater profit than any other investment they have on their farm of a like amount. Poultry keepers should have a small Frog pond, especially if they market their product in some city near their Plant and have individual customers, and sell their product direct. They would always have a steady market for more Frog meat than they could supply, and at large profitable prices, as it's a luxury that most people indulge in and would do so more often if they knew where to get Frog meat. Try yourself to buy Frog meat, and you will soon find that it's not to be had at any price in most places, and when it once becomes known that you are Raising Frogs you will soon find that your demand for Frog meat is much greater than you can supply. It works in very well with poultry raising if you can construct your ponds at not too great an expense, and is much more profitable considering the investment and work.
Those Desirous of Light Work.
For the Country Home.
As a Business.
When to Begin.
How Much to Invest.
The Ponds and How to Construct Them.
It is necessary to have several ponds, one large pond is not satisfactory. The reason for this is explained later. A plant for business should have at least four ponds. The depth of the ponds need not be very great, three feet is ample, and they could be less if you can have a good loam bottom that will hold water. But three feet is very satisfactory, and this graduating off to two feet, and one foot deep at the bank is plenty. A good shape and cheap way to build the ponds is like the cut shown. If the ground you have won't allow of this arrangement why make to best arrangement your ground will permit for convenience, carrying out the plan advisable for Raising Frogs. You must have a breeding pond, a hatching pond, a raising and a stock pond, four ponds in all. The stock pond should be the largest, permitting of plenty of room for growing and opportunity to get food. The size of your ponds depends largely on the amount of land available, its topography and the water supply. Ponds not less than one-half acre in area, with the inlet at one end and the outlet at the other, in a line of its longest axis, generally produce the best results, though smaller ponds can be successfully used. At least one-fourth of each of the ponds should not be over one foot in depth, and this portion should be planted with pond weed (Potamogeton) and water weed (Elodea, or Anacharis) to facilitate the production and growth of the minute animals which furnish so large a part of the food for the Frogs at all stages of growth. The rest of the pond should have a gradually sloping bottom, and consequent increase depth to the outlet (or drawoff), where the water should be at least five feet deep, so that in drawing off the ponds the stock can be assembled in a small area for sorting, etc. The bottom of the ponds, preferable, soft muck, in which the Frogs can bury themselves in cold weather and avoid against danger of freezing. In the middle of all the ponds, except the spawn hatching pond, water lilies should be planted, the large pods, such as (Nymphea alba). These plants furnish hiding places from fish hawks, also serve as a sun shade and stool for sunning during summer. It is not advisable to place large bowlders in the pond, as they are in the way of seining or netting, and furnish an acceptable resort for crawfish, which are enemies when large. Nursery ponds should be constructed to afford young protection from enemies and to produce the greatest quantity of insect life suited for their sustenance, and this is better accomplished with a number of small ponds than with one large one. A good working size for spawn breeding is from 40 to 50 feet long, by 12 to 15 feet wide, with a depth of from 18 to 36 inches deep to the outlet. Where the topography of the ground will permit it is better to have the nurseries immediately adjoining the spawning pond. With water supply from same source, so that there will be but slight difference between the temperature of the shallowest part of nursery pond and surface of water of spawning pond. If the location is infested with crawfish or snakes the nurseries should be protected by wire screens. The spawning nursery ponds may be combined by constructing one comparatively long pond, narrow near the middle, so that the general shape would be like an hour-glass. Across the narrow part is to be stretched a screen of one-quarter inch wire cloth, which will confine the spawners to the deeper end of the pond, while the fry or hatching spawn will be kept separate. This form of pond is advantageous where for any reason only a few ponds can be built. Between all ponds that are connected they should be screened where water runs from one pond to the other, that is, at the inlet and outlets. Each pond should be surrounded by one-half inch wire mesh two feet high. This makes a protection to the ponds from enemies, and also keeps the Frogs confined to the ponds they are intended.
Care of Ponds.
If a boat is not used the vegetation can be drawn near the shore with long-handled rakes and taken out with long-handled pitchforks made especially. This method is simple and much more economical. Two men can accomplish more than five men by the other method. The advantage in favor of the boat is that you do not need to disturb the whole mass, but pick it out here and there as you think best, and have it more uniform and not destroy the roots so much.
Great Profit in Swamp Lands.
The Edible Frog (Rana Esculenta.)
ECOLOGY AND HABITS. The skin of Frogs is usually smooth and free from warts or horny excrescences. It is invested with a colorless epidermis, which is shed from time to time as the creature grows; this splits along the back and thighs, is worked over the head like the taking off of a shirt, and usually eaten by the wearer. The deeper layers contain much pigment, in cells which are more or less under muscular control, enabling Frogs to change their hue to conform to the background. Frogs are carnivorous, and in the season of activity are likely to be very voracious. The terrestrial and arboreal forms feed mainly on insects, worms, etc. The aquatic kinds also catch insects, but subsist more on aquatic animals--worms, tadpoles, small fishes, and other Frogs. These are seized and slowly swallowed, often, where before the remainder, perhaps still alive, has been got within the mouth. Extremes of cold or drought in climate must be avoided by Frogs. Moisture of the skin is necessary to their health, and in very dry places or seasons they survive only by going deeply under ground. Thus some tropical species get through the "dry season." The frogs of northern climates endure the winter by clustering about spring-holes and other places where the water is comparatively warm and free of ice; or else by hibernating in the mud. Terrestrial species bury themselves for the winter in the loam, or burrow into the dry dust of rotting logs and stumps. Their vitality is strong, and their power of regeneration from partial congelation is very great. Though most species live always in or near water, many spend the greater part of their time away from it, and often in bushes or trees. These, however, go to the water to breed; and as this function is likely to demand attention early in the spring, it is then that these animals make themselves most conspicuous by the incessantly uttered croaking or rattling calls of the males, which are almost as varied as the songs of the birds, and more ventriloquistic. These are wholly the cries of the male Frogs, and cease when the mates have been found and have spawned; and to assist in producing them many species have gular air-sacs, which are connected with the vocal organs and furnish the power required for the loud and insistent utterances. The great ear-drums correlated with this vocal power are conspicuous in many species. The reproductive habits of Frogs are various. All of our common species lay their eggs in water, the eggs being fertilized as they are laid. As the eggs are laid they are inclosed in a gelatinous envelope secreted by the female. This swells and protects the eggs from injury, from being fed upon, from the direct rays of the sun, and in some species it serves to float the eggs at the surface of the water, where oxygen is most abundant; finally, the envelope serves as food for the young frogs. The mouth of the tadpole is small and provided with a horny beak, which takes the place of the teeth which are not yet developed. The tadpole feeds on algae that cover stones, and on the flesh of dead animals. The long, spirally coiled intestine, which can be seen on the under side of the animal, is an adaptation to its prevailingly herbivorous diet, which requires a prolonged digestion. The tadpole usually lives in the water for two or three months before it takes to land. In the Bullfrog, however, the transformation (see TOAD) does not take place until the second summer. In many tropical Frogs the reproductive habits are much modified. One species (Phyllobates trinitatis) of Venezuela and Trinidad carries its tadpoles on its back, to which the young attach themselves by means of their suckers. A frog of the Seychelles Islands lives in the tree-ferns far from water, and carries its young about on its back, to which they are attached by their bellies. In the Kameruns lives a Frog that lays its eggs in a foamy mass on the leaves of a tree. When the larvae are developed the mass becomes slimy and the tadpoles swim about it, and when a heavy rain falls they are washed into pools of water lying at the bases of the trees. The foam is probably produced as it is in culinary operations, by air being entangled in it by a beating that the Frog gives the jelly with its feet. The inclosed air may well serve in respiration. Compare TOAD. UTILITIES. Among both civilized and savage men Frogs are a culinary dainty. The edible European Frog is so much prized in France that it is bred for the market in large preserves. In the United States both the Bullfrog and spring Frog are sold in the markets. In France and the United States the hind legs alone are eaten; they are known as "saddles" to American marketmen, and are usually served at table fried. In Germany all the muscular parts are served stewed, often with sauce. Frogs have enabled man to contribute much to his knowledge of physiology. The tail of the tadpole, so frequently fed on by dragon-fly larvae and other aquatic enemies, has great capacity of regeneration. The study of its re-formation has added to our knowledge of the regeneration of animal tissue. The circulation of the blood, so readily seen by the aid of the microscope in the web of the Frog's foot, is a classic and painless classroom demonstration. Observations on the response of Frog-muscle to stimuli led the great Italian physiologist Galvani to the discovery of dynamical or current electricity, known to us as galvanic or voltaic electricity.
Nests and Nest Building.
Impregnation takes place immediately after the spawn is deposited, as with the spawn of fish. The spawn of frogs looks like a gelatin mass in the shape of a bunch of grapes, and will be found attached to some vegetation in the pond. This should be immediately taken out with a large, long handle dipper and deposited in the hatching pond, as the spawn will be destroyed by the frogs jumping into the pond and coming in contact with it, for if the spawn is separated or broken up and sinks to the bottom of the pond, where it cannot get the proper action of the sun, many of the eggs will not hatch, but will be destroyed and eaten. The nursery, or hatching pond, should be constructed in this way: Make some skeleton frames that will set on the bottom of the pond, and come within a few inches of the top of the water. Fasten the frames down, either by weights or stakes driven in the ground. Take some fine netting such as used on windows to keep out flies; cotton or flax netting preferred to wire. Fasten this netting to the frame. Be sure that the netting is always covered with water when spawn is on it. On this netting, deposit the eggs or spawn taken from the breeding pond. In this way it will be undisturbed, and the sun can do its part toward the hatching of the eggs. This method will be found successful, and you can watch the progress, and the influence of the sun and water on the hatching of the eggs and note the change from day to day, as the Frogs have nothing more to do with their development. Another reason for separating the eggs or spawn from the breeding ponds is, when the spawn is hatched into tadpoles, the Frogs will eat the tadpoles as fast as they wiggle out of the egg. In fact, Frogs are cannibals, and will eat the young until they get large enough to protect themselves. This is why ponds should be constructed so that Frogs of different sizes can be separated, and all of about a size, kept in ponds by themselves, and raised together. By this arrangement you save many small Frogs.
Enemies of Spawn, Tadpoles and Small Frogs.
Hatching and Progress of the Young Frogs.
HATCHINGS. The tail begins now to diminish, as seen in No. 10, and is finally absorbed into the body and disappears. The tadpole (which, for a time, is like a fish and breathing by branchiae, or gills, and feeding on vegetable food of fishes) is now a frog; breathes the air by true lungs, and betakes itself to the land, where it pursues the avocations of its new and higher life, whereas it before swam by means of a tail it now leaps, and as before, it ate only roots and grass, it now becomes a hunter of insects and worms. This, or a very similar process of reproduction, is common to all species of the family. The Rana Frogs form the highest group of the Batrachian class. They are active creatures, feeding on insects and worms. Those which live upon the ground in the neighborhood of standing water, and pass a considerable portion of their lives in the water, have their toes pointed, and those of the hinder feet united, almost to the tips, by membrane.
Food for Tadpoles.
The beak of the tadpole is adapted to the eating of leaves and other vegetable foods, and on which they could entirely subsist. But it is well to give them access to small insect food, much of which they can get from surface of water. The food changes entirely when the tadpole develops into a Frog. When a frog, the food is entirely insect or live food. It is well, sometimes, when you cannot get facilities to supply naturally plenty of insect food, to take some of the smaller Frogs and tadpoles and place them in the ponds with the growing Frogs, and allow the Frogs to live on them. They must be fed live food. Chopped meats and food of this character will do for tadpoles, but must not be used too freely, as they do not eat it readily, and it only decays and a stifling stench follows. If your ponds are connected with a running stream, much of the insect life for the tadpoles and smaller Frogs is brought into the ponds by the stream, which is very desirable, and saves much extra work. Leave the tadpoles in the nursery pond until they have developed into Frogs. The tadpoles are fish in a sense and will eat most anything, either vegetable or animal matter. In fact, he is a scavenger, and will clean out the ponds. But as soon as he turns into a frog, he requires a different class of food, as he is an amphibious animal. Remember this, as herein, is one of the secrets that have caused so many failures. THE FOOD FOR FROGS IS ANIMAL FOOD.
Food for Frogs.
IMPORTANT. If it is necessary to feed your Frogs on small fry from fishes or on tadpoles and small Frogs, it might be well to have a supply pond, which can be small, and in feeding it is only necessary to feed twice a week, and can be done by putting quantities here and there in the ponds, and let the Frogs catch them as they swim about. Three gillies, tadpole or small Frogs is considered a fair meal for each Frog.
Catching the Frogs.
Some Things About Frogs.
The eggs take six weeks to hatch out. The tadpole takes from five to six months to turn into a Frog. And the Frog, to grow to marketable size, about two years. Here lies the secret of the high price of Frog meat. The time it takes before the Frog can be developed to marketable size discourages many from entering into the business. But once equipped and the first three years gone over, from that time on the revenue is continuous and the profit large, and you have a yearly income equalled by no other line of business, as you have always got some Frogs that are coming into marketable size. And the income, from this product, depends entirely on how large a scale you want to enter it. Another source of revenue, which is very profitable, is selling breeding Frogs to beginners, as it is only the "Edible Frog" that is profitable to raise for market, and it takes from four to five years to get the best breeders. They bring good prices. The prices range according to the age. Frogs will breed from two years old, but the best results are obtained from the older mates, as the older and larger the Frog, the heavier and larger the spawn, and the more eggs will hatch and produce stronger and sturdier tadpoles, and from these mates the Frogs grow large more quickly. So in starting, it is always better to pay a little more for your breeding stock and not use so many pairs, and get good old settlers, as the saying is, when you hear them croak, "There is a good old settler." And be sure to start right, not with the common meadow green Frog, which is eatable, but has a strong taste and does not grow to any size. The average size of this Frog at most any age is about three inches, and you will be greatly disappointed after you have spent your time and find that you have not had the profitable breeder. Get the Frog known as the "Edible Frog of England." This is the (Rana Esculenta). The subject of Frog Raising is a limited one. We have, however, tried to give as briefly as possible all the essential details and secrets to success of Raising Frogs. [The end] GO TO TOP OF SCREEN |