All About George

"Make sure you get my good side."

Who is George?
In short, George is the library frog.  He's an African Dwarf Frog who lives in a tank on the bookshelf next to my desk in the children's room of the library.

How We Got Him
The library was lucky enough to be able to adopt a pet this past spring. I (Miss Kat) had been talking to my assistant (Miss Shannon) about possibly getting a fish or a gerbil or something.  "How would you feel about a frog?" she asked, and called her mother right then.  Shannon's mother was the proud owner of George, an African Dwarf Frog, with whom she had lived for 9 years. (Nine years!) Unfortunately, poor George was often being terrorized by the cats, who were trying to get into his tank. The poor little guy was stressed out, and was invited here to live at the library.

No cats here! High five!

George and his mother are still on good terms, of course; she follows him on Twitter so she can keep up with his active social life.  (You can follow him, too! His handle is @LibraryFroggy .)

Biology and Such
George is an African Dwarf Frog. He's very little - smaller than he looks in photographs.

The camera adds 10 ounces.

His body is only about an inch and a half long - this isn't counting his legs, which are probably another inch and a half long on their own.  African Dwarf Frogs, George included, live their whole lives underwater. They have lungs and breathe air - they don't have gills like fish do - so they need to swim to the top of the water and take a breath every 10 minutes or so. They do need to be underwater, though; their skin is delicate, and can dry out really quickly.
Yes, George can understand English, though he doesn't have the vocal chords to speak. He also doesn't have teeth or eyelids. He eats frog pellets, which come in a jar that looks like fish food. (According to my research, he could also eat frozen bloodworms, but I'm not excited about that idea.)
ADFs live for an average of 5 years, but can live for up to 20 years! We are celebrating George's 10th birthday on September 6, which puts him right in the middle.  We hope he has a long and happy life ahead of him.

Hobbies and Interests
George loves singing. When it's really quiet (and usually later in the day, but not always), you can sometimes hear George's song, which sounds like a little tiny zipper being zipped.  "Zeep! Zeep! Zeep!"  It's a happy noise, and he has been known to sing when he's happy. He's also an avid reader, and usually has an opinion on just about any book he's read, though it's not always easy for him to articulate it.

If he was in Hogwarts, he'd be a Hufflepuff.

He's a really good listener, and will often swim up to the glass on the tank if you sit down to join him for a bit. (Not always, though - ADFs can sleep up to 12 hours a day, and might snooze through your visit.) George is also a history buff, and enjoys celebrating the anniversaries of famous events.  Here he is honoring the Apollo 11 astronauts and their successful moon landing. 

"That's one small step for George, one giant leap for mankind."

All in all, George is a pretty cool guy.  Do you have any questions that I didn't answer?