Species
Northern cricket frog
Acris crepitans
A tiny, warty frog of pond and stream edges in north Georgia, calling with fast clicks.
Photo skitterbug (opens in a new tab) / iNaturalist, CC BY 4.0 (opens in a new tab)
At a glance
- Size
- About 1.5 to 3.5 cm long
- Habitat
- Sunny edges of ponds, lakes and slow streams
- Diet
- Small insects
- In Georgia
- The Piedmont and mountains
- Voice
- Clicks like marbles, speeding up
- Rabies vector
- No
Identification
- Key marks
- Tiny; warty; dark triangle between the eyes; ragged dark stripe on the thigh
- Told apart from
- Southern cricket frog, which has a sharp thigh stripe and a more pointed snout
- Where to look
- On mud and vegetation at the water's edge
Behaviour
Northern cricket frogs sit on open mud at the water's edge and jump in long, erratic leaps when startled.
Why they matter
They have declined in the northern part of their range, and are part of healthy shoreline communities.
Reproduction and lifecycle
Eggs — Laid singly on plants
Hatching — In a few days
Tadpoles — Often with black-tipped tails; change into frogs in 6 to 10 weeks
Maturity — Within a year
Lifespan — About a year
Calling — Spring and summer
Living around people
- Muddy, sunny pond edges are where it lives; leaving some unmown helps.
Misconceptions
- Small frogs are babies. Cricket frogs are fully grown at this size.
Related species
Seasonal activity
When this species is breeding, and when there are nests on the ground. Mowing during the shaded months is how most nests are found.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Breeding | Jan: no | Feb: no | Mar: no | Apr: no | May: no | Jun: no | Jul: no | Aug: no | Sep: no | Oct: no | Nov: no | Dec: no |
| Active nests | Jan: no | Feb: no | Mar: no | Apr: no | May: no | Jun: no | Jul: no | Aug: no | Sep: no | Oct: no | Nov: no | Dec: no |
| Notes | Sheltering | Sheltering | Active on warm days | Calling | Breeding | Breeding | Breeding | Young | Active | Active | Sheltering | Sheltering |
Where it lives
Recorded in 11 states and provinces. Each one links to the other animals there, and to the rehabilitators licensed for them.
If you found one
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