# General Topics > Member of the Month >  MOTW - May 6 - May 12 2012 - GrifTheGreat

## Jen

This weeks Member of The Week is GrifTheGreat!!!

Congratulations!!!  We can't wait to get to know you - you are a great addition to the forum!!

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GrifTheGreat

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## Heather

Yay!!!  :Smile:

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## Jen

*Monday*, tell us all about you! We know you obviously like amphibians, but we want to know about the rest of your life. 

Details about you, your life, hobbies, families, past times, favorite colors, poems you have written etc etc....just use this post to brag/boast/bore us how you please.

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## Colleen/Jerrod

Ok! Hmmm, where to start?? Well, I'll admit I have enjoyed the anonymity of just being “Grif.” You don’t have too many opportunities to be judged solely by your words or actions and not by age, looks, education, or any of the many other factors which influence people’s opinions. But I guess I should stop hiding behind a screen name. :-P

To start with, as a few of you know, there are actually two people behind “Grif The Great.” Me (Colleen) and my husband (Jerrod). When I signed up for the forum last July, I wasn’t sure if I’d be sticking around (Yeah, I know some of you are chuckling at that!) so I just put my frog’s name as my screen name. Well, as you know, this site is almost as addicting as frogs themselves! I started logging on almost every day; so did Jerrod. Only instead of getting his own screen name, he just bogarted mine. :-P It seemed kind of awkward to put our real names up there after being “Grif” for so many months. We both spend a lot of time on here (obviously). Many of our posts are a collaborative effort. (SOMEONE is a backseat typer!! LOL!) Herpetology is a hobby that we share; so is this forum.

As far as background goes… Well, I am originally from Maine. I grew up in Maine and New Hampshire. My Dad grew up in Pittsburg and then moved to Maine in junior high. My Mom is from Wisconsin. My parents were both in the army and were stationed overseas. They met and married while they were both stationed in Germany (where my mother’s family is originally from). They moved back to the states when my sister was born, eventually moving back to Maine, where I was born. Growing up I never lived more than ten minutes away from the ocean and an hour or two from the mountains. My family is all outdoor people. We went camping and hiking almost every weekend. I learned all about nature, wildlife, survival stuff, etc. My parents encouraged my sister and I to spend every possible moment outdoors, for which I am very grateful! I am a very active person. The only time I’m still is when I am reading. I am a total bookworm and will read almost anything. My favorites are books about travel and historical fiction. I have been dancing since I was four, mostly Ballet, but I am trained in several other forms of dance. I also have a blackbelt in Taekwondo. I love pretty much any activity that is outdoors, particularly if it involves snow or water. I love kayaking, sailing, skiing, swimming, and hiking. My other hobby is art. I love to draw, paint, and take pictures; but I don’t pretend to be any more than amateur at any of them. :-) Oh, maybe I should mention that I was homeschooled.

When I was in highschool, my family moved to Ohio- adding one more piece to my strange accent, Haha! I ended up going to college here and marrying a local guy ;-)
As far as Jerrod’s background… well, he told me to write what I wanted. Hahahaa. First off, he is a Christmas baby, born on December 25th. (Fun fact, our birthdays are exactly six months apart!) He really gets short changed in the birthday department, poor thing. :-( He has lived in the Cincinnati area his whole life. He has one older brother, a niece and two nephews. Jerrod has a real affinity with animals. I never seen an animal that didn’t immediately warm to him, even wild animals do. His dad always says that he can make a pet out anything, which he does! Growing up, his pets included a rooster, goats, a bull, and a raccoon. He loves being out of doors, hiking, and nature watching. He also keeps carnivorous plants and has flytraps, pitcher plants, and a sundew. He likes history. His other hobbies include blacksmithing and playing Xbox. 

We have been together for almost four years. We married on March 3rd, 2012. We now have three Cranwelli frogs. Those are our only pets right now. Sadly, my dog Tucker passed away in September. :-( He was thirteen and had a good, long life. He was the only dog I have ever had though and his passing has left a big whole in my heart. So for now we just have amphibians. :-) Herpetology is a big part of our lives now. It is something very enriching that we can do together. We consider our frogs to be very much a part of our family! We both try to help as many frogs (and their keepers) as we can. Neither of us is an expert, by an means, but we learn as much as we can and try to share that knowledge. It may seem silly, but I feel like we make at least a little difference in the world. :-) 
Well, I guess that is all. Thank you if you actually read this behemoth of a post!! Lol

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## Heather

Congrats on the recent marriage!  :Smile: 

It's great to hear about you both  :Smile: . Our friends behind the great "Grif", lol! Seriously though, it's been a pleasure reading both of your posts and you've been so much more than helpful numerous times, to myself as well. So, thank you!!!  :Smile:  

It seems as though most of our friends here share a love of the outdoors. How neat that Jerrod had a pet raccoon.

Colleen, you dance? That's awesome! 

What are your and Jerrod's favorite frogs?

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## wesleybrouwer

So it is memberS of the week this time  :Big Grin:

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## Colleen/Jerrod

> Congrats on the recent marriage! 
> 
> It's great to hear about you both . Our friends behind the great "Grif", lol! Seriously though, it's been a pleasure reading both of your posts and you've been so much more than helpful numerous times, to myself as well. So, thank you!!!  
> 
> It seems as though most of our friends here share a love of the outdoors. How neat that Jerrod had a pet raccoon.
> 
> Colleen, you dance? That's awesome! 
> 
> What are your and Jerrod's favorite frogs?


Honestly we love all frogs. We don't exactly have a favorite.

This is Jerrod by the way.  :Smile: 

I also used to have a Tarantula and would love to have another, but the Colleen says NO!! Haha We'll see about that hahahah!!

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## Colleen/Jerrod

> So it is memberS of the week this time


Very true Wesley. We have been pretty good at keeping it hush hush.

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## Kristen

Wow I actually had no idea that "GrifTheGreat" was two people!  :Big Grin: 
It's good hearing more about you's. And congrats on your wedding  :Smile:

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## Autumn

It's great to learn more about you two  :Wink: !!

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## Jen

*Tuesday*, tell us about your amphibians!

How you came to keep them, mistakes/learning curves, species kept, breedings, how you found Frog Forum etc....we heard enough about you on Monday, let us hear about them frogs!

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## Colleen/Jerrod

Well, obviously we LOVE frogs!! I think they are amazing, fascinating creatures, beautiful and much smarter than people give them credit for. 

We have three Cranwelli Horned Frogs. A brown Cranwelli named Grif, and green Cranwelli named Loki, and another green Cranwelli who just joined our frog family on Friday so we haven’t decided on a name yet. :-) 

We got our first frog in February of 2011. Jerrod said he wanted a Pacman or a tarantula… guess which one I voted for! LOL!  So once we decided on what we were getting, we went about researching what we would need. I tracked down every book on frogs I could find. I went to the library, four different book stores, spend many hours online. I thought we were prepared, but there was still so much to learn, as we found out. Anyway, we got our first Pac. I remember how tiny she seemed, sitting in that Dixie cup and making that little chirping noise. :-) Based on what we knew at the time, we made an educated guess as to gender. Well, we guessed wrong! As it turned out “he” is a “she.” It wasn’t until she reached eight months and was still not showing any signs of nuptial pads or calling that we realized our error. But we kept the name Grif. It seemed silly to change it after calling her that for eight months already. We got the name from a character on the show Red Vs. Blue. Grif (the character) is lazy and eats a lot, so it seemed like a perfect Pacman name!

Despite our research, it became clear that there was still a lot to learn. So much of the information out there is incomplete or conflicting. I believe you should never stop learning. There is Always more to learn. My search became more frantic when Grif started showing signs of illness at about 4-5 months old. At first, when her appetite slowed down I thought it was just because her growth was slowing. But her attempts to catch food became sloppier and then after a few failed attempts she would give up trying to eat. After a couple of days like that, she stopped even trying to grab food. She became increasing listless and rapidly lost weight. That is when I joined this forum, desperately looking for answers. At that point she hadn’t eaten in a week. Even when she was full of water, her skin was hanging off her bones; when she would pee, she looked like little more than a skeleton. I was so afraid we were going to lose her. At first, I was afraid it might be chytrid, but forum members didn’t think her symptoms fit. They did confirm that she needed to go to a vet asap. I had already been searching for one. I was shocked that even living in a big city it was very hard to find a vet that would treat frogs. Even many of the “exotic vets” still don’t treat amphibians. It took me two days of searching and calling a couple dozen vet offices before I even found one, and it was another two days before they had an available appointment. (This is why I STRONGLY urge everyone to have a vet located BEFORE something goes wrong!!! You don’t want to waste valuable time while your pet is dying.) By the morning of her appointment, she was on her 11th day without food. The vet could find no physical signs of illness, but diagnosed her as anorexic. I gave him samples of her stool and shed (I kept both as soon as she started showing signs of being sick). He confirmed that it was not chytrid or parasites. He prescribed antibiotics and a de-wormer just in case. He also gave us some canned cat food given to malnourished animals to force feed her. So we gave her the medicine and force fed her nightly, slowly increasing the amount of food. She gained weight back and became somewhat more active, but still made no attempt to eat on her own. After completing the medication but still not seeing a full recovery, we took her back to the vet. This visit didn’t go so well. 

Although initially impressed with the vet (he specialized in treating exotics and he had even done work in Argentina), it became clear that he did not know that much about horned frogs, or frogs in general. He was completely stumped as to why she was not recovering. He gave her a shot in case she had tape worms. Then he actually got on the computer and was trying to look stuff up about horned frogs. (He informed us that there was very little information on them in any of the databases.) He started mentioning x-rays and other possible tests, but it became clear that he was more interested in treating her as a test case for learning than in treating her. As soon as he pointed to a spot on her and said, “There _should_ be a vein there.” I said NO and that we were leaving. By the time we got to the front desk to pay, Grif had gone limp. The vet came out and said it was a possible reaction to the shot and offered to keep her over night for “observation” but it really seemed like he was just trying to cover his *** at that point. Every instinct told me that if we left her there she would die, so we took her home. It was a scary ride home. She was so limp and unresponsive. She didn’t even move when Jerrod picked her up. We took her home, gave he a warm honey soak, and she perked back up. My best guess is that she went catatonic from being in cold air conditioning for so long. It was July and they had the AC blasting at the vet office. Between being kept waiting in the lobby for 45 minutes, then the actual appointment, then waiting because he wanted to run another stool sample while we were there, then waiting while he tried to look stuff up on the computer: we were there almost two hours. The cold was just too much for poor Grif. Thankfully she returned to normal after being back in her enclosure. We decided that the best course was to continue force feeding her daily, slowly weaning her off the cat food and onto solid food, nightcrawlers at first and moving on to crickets, hornworms, and a pinky. One day, after about two months of force feeding, she just started eating on her own again. Probably because of the hornworms; she loves them! It took a lot of patience and work, but all of it was more than worth it to have her healthy again!!

Knowing what I know now, most likely her condition was brought on by stress, although we don’t know what caused her to become stressed (most likely the AC; she stopped eating a week or two after we started using the AC in the summer). But she has made a full recovery. She is healthy, rotund, and now measures 4.25 inches SVL. She turned one in February.

In September, we got our second frog. We named him Loki after the god of mischief. He definitely lives up to his name! He quickly got the nickname “Tree Pac” because of his fondness for climbing on his plants and hides. He still does this sometimes, although now that he is bigger, he usually ends up with his belly hanging off one side or the other. ;-) This time we guessed right, as he is indeed a male. He started calling at about five and half months old. It was squeaky at first, but now he is LOUD! He likes to “talk” to the two of us. He knows our voices and will start calling when we talk. It’s funny because if we stop talking to listen to him, he immediately stops calling. However, if we keep talking he keeps calling and increases his volume as he goes. He does not like to call when he hears voices of people he doesn’t recognize though. I love hearing him call, but I have yet to catch him in the act no matter how sneaky I try to be. He is just sneakier! Sometimes he will call while he is completely buried. :-) 

Our newest addition joined us on Friday. He is another green Cranwelli. We haven’t decided on a name yet. I think it is amazing how each of them has such distinct personalities that are visible from day one! Grif is very docile (for a Pacman!). She is a total sweetheart. Loki is a brat (which I love about him!); he is always trying to escape. He likes to make his opinions know with his very loud calling. Our new baby has a wise-beyond-his-years air about him. His face doesn’t have that “baby face” look to it; he almost looks more like a miniature adult. He stares very intently at everything. He seems to be very smart too. He even ate from tongs his very first night!

Keeping frogs has been an amazing addition to my life. I love to just watch them; they are so fascinating! I consider them to be a part of our family. :-)  

So here is my overall recap/ general advice:

Research, research, research BEFORE you get the pet. BEEEEFORE!!Know that no matter how much you research, learning is an ongoing process. There is always more to learn. And a responsible pet owner will do their best to keep learning.Have a vet located.Never take your pets for granted. :-)

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## Lynn

> Ok! Hmmm, where to start?? Well, I'll admit I have enjoyed the anonymity of just being “Grif.” You don’t have too many opportunities to be judged solely by your words or actions and not by age, looks, education, or any of the many other factors which influence people’s opinions. But I guess I should stop hiding behind a screen name. :-P
> 
> To start with, as a few of you know, there are actually two people behind “Grif The Great.” Me (Colleen) and my husband (Jerrod). When I signed up for the forum last July, I wasn’t sure if I’d be sticking around (Yeah, I know some of you are chuckling at that!) so I just put my frog’s name as my screen name. Well, as you know, this site is almost as addicting as frogs themselves! I started logging on almost every day; so did Jerrod. Only instead of getting his own screen name, he just bogarted mine. :-P It seemed kind of awkward to put our real names up there after being “Grif” for so many months. We both spend a lot of time on here (obviously). Many of our posts are a collaborative effort. (SOMEONE is a backseat typer!! LOL!) Herpetology is a hobby that we share; so is this forum.
> 
> As far as background goes… Well, I am originally from Maine. I grew up in Maine and New Hampshire. My Dad grew up in Pittsburg and then moved to Maine in junior high. My Mom is from Wisconsin. My parents were both in the army and were stationed overseas. They met and married while they were both stationed in Germany (where my mother’s family is originally from). They moved back to the states when my sister was born, eventually moving back to Maine, where I was born. Growing up I never lived more than ten minutes away from the ocean and an hour or two from the mountains. My family is all outdoor people. We went camping and hiking almost every weekend. I learned all about nature, wildlife, survival stuff, etc. My parents encouraged my sister and I to spend every possible moment outdoors, for which I am very grateful! I am a very active person. The only time I’m still is when I am reading. I am a total bookworm and will read almost anything. My favorites are books about travel and historical fiction. I have been dancing since I was four, mostly Ballet, but I am trained in several other forms of dance. I also have a blackbelt in Taekwondo. I love pretty much any activity that is outdoors, particularly if it involves snow or water. I love kayaking, sailing, skiing, swimming, and hiking. My other hobby is art. I love to draw, paint, and take pictures; but I don’t pretend to be any more than amateur at any of them. :-) Oh, maybe I should mention that I was homeschooled.
> 
> When I was in highschool, my family moved to Ohio- adding one more piece to my strange accent, Haha! I ended up going to college here and marrying a local guy ;-)
> As far as Jerrod’s background… well, he told me to write what I wanted. Hahahaa. First off, he is a Christmas baby, born on December 25th. (Fun fact, our birthdays are exactly six months apart!) He really gets short changed in the birthday department, poor thing. :-( He has lived in the Cincinnati area his whole life. He has one older brother, a niece and two nephews. Jerrod has a real affinity with animals. I never seen an animal that didn’t immediately warm to him, even wild animals do. His dad always says that he can make a pet out anything, which he does! Growing up, his pets included a rooster, goats, a bull, and a raccoon. He loves being out of doors, hiking, and nature watching. He also keeps carnivorous plants and has flytraps, pitcher plants, and a sundew. He likes history. His other hobbies include blacksmithing and playing Xbox. 
> 
> ...


Grif(s)
I really enjoyed reading this post.
I was wondering how you were _both_  going to pull this off!  :Semi Twins: 

Grif congratulations on your marriage to Grif.  
Seriously, Colleen and Jerrod, I wish you both all the best and happiness together for ever and ever !

Funny  ! _"(SOMEONE is a backseat typer!! LOL!) "_
Sincerely, Lynn

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GrifTheGreat

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## Colleen/Jerrod

> Grif(s)
> I really enjoyed reading this post.
> I was wondering how you were _both_  going to pull this off! 
> 
> Grif congratulations on your marriage to Grif.  
> Seriously, Colleen and Jerrod, I wish you both all the best and happiness together for ever and ever !
> 
> Funny  ! _"(SOMEONE is a backseat typer!! LOL!) "_
> Sincerely, Lynn


Jerrod- This is true Lynn.  :Wink:  

I'm the backseat typer. Usually the way we do this is I'm on here in the evening while Colleen is on during the day. She works nights and I work days. Except weekends. I'm usually the one on here then. I was the one who assisted you with (Trouble in the enclosure). We both share our knowledge and always gain new knowledge from other experienced members. Honestly I'm on here way more than Colleen, because I DID actually steal the profile from her. ;P I started to make my own and at the time didn't have time to finish my own profile so we share one. I wish it was easy to deiscern between the two of us on here, but apparently no one can tell Lol! So it works. Colleen hasn't had time to be on here as much as she'd like.  :Frown: 

Almost all picture posting is done by Colleen though.  :Smile:  

I guess I just have a little more time for the hobby at the moment. I would do anything for my wife and our froggie children :Big Grin: !! I don't mean to sound like I do everything. I have just had a lot more time recently to be on here than Colleen.  :Frown:

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## Jen

*Wednesday*, show and tell. 

Wow us with your pictures/videos/sound clips.

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## Colleen/Jerrod

Ooooooo, pictures! My favorite part! :-D Prepare to be photo-bombed.
Grif as a baby

Growing up:


Grif is very much the reigning Princess around here. She is very spoiled! I love that she has so many shades of color on her for a "brown" frog. Also, she has very nicely defined horns. :-)

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## Colleen/Jerrod

And some shots of Loki:




The last one is a little hard to see, but that is his favorite spot. It gives him a view of the whole room, so he knows exactly what we are up to! :-D

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## Colleen/Jerrod

And our newest baby:



And some non-frog pics:

Here we are at our wedding


And some of my other photography:

My dog Tucker, RIP

Pemaquid Lighthouse (near where I grew up)

And a couple shots from my time in China


Ok, you are probably all sick of pictures now! lol

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## J Teezy

Colleen is a black belt, i'll make sure i don't make her mad when we run into each other again at a show or what not!

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## Colleen/Jerrod

> Colleen is a black belt, i'll make sure i don't make her mad when we run into each other again at a show or what not!


JT, there are few things as satisfying as the look of shock on a guy's face when my foot connects with it! :-D Seriously though, martial arts is very much about self control and restraint. You are trained to only use physical action in self defense and then only enough to incapacatate them. People get the wrong idea from watching too many movies. That being said, I am TOTALLY leathal!! :-P

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## Jen

Those pictures are amazing!   Thank you so much for sharing them all!!!

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GrifTheGreat

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## Colleen/Jerrod

Our pleasure Jenna.  :Smile: 

I bet we don't quite look how everyone pictured us. :P

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## Autumn

Really great pictures! I particularly like the ones of Grif and the photography ones (of the flowers and such) are stunning  :Smile:  really nice share....

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## Jen

*Thursday*, answer any questions posted to you regarding your threads on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. 
Other members can use this opportunity to pick your brain. (All questions must be appropriate and related to topics of discussion.)

I'll start off --

So,
how did you like being a MOTW?  Mostly we knew little behind the screen name, how do you feel now after letting us really get to know you?

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## Heather

Love the pictures!  :Smile:

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## Lindsey

This has been a very enjoyable (and romantic) thread!  Congratulations on your marriage! :Love Heart:

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## Colleen/Jerrod

> *Thursday*, answer any questions posted to you regarding your threads on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. 
> Other members can use this opportunity to pick your brain. (All questions must be appropriate and related to topics of discussion.)
> 
> I'll start off --
> 
> So,
> how did you like being a MOTW?  Mostly we knew little behind the screen name, how do you feel now after letting us really get to know you?


Well honestly, I was somewhat hesitant about it at first. I did enjoy the anonymity. But- like most people- I secretly enjoy talking about myself, so once I got started it wasn't so bad! ;-P I always love sharing pictures. We spend enough time on here that sharing a little more about the people behind the screen name felt natural. (Plus I think only a few people read this section anyway, Lol!)

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## Heather

Haha! It was fun reading more about you guys, even though I knew the secret  :Wink: , lol! 

 :Smile:

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## Colleen/Jerrod

> Haha! It was fun reading more about you guys, even though I knew the secret , lol!


Now Heather, don't go bragging that you already knew! Jk ;-) Thank you! And Thank you to those who took the time to read my mini-novel sized posts! ;-) It was fun sharing actually. But it would be a bummer if I wrote all that and posted all those pics and no one looked at them. Kind of like being the weird kid on the playground; you know, the one who is more interested in looking for critters and creatures than in playing kickball... oh wait, I totally was that kid! :-P

What we love about this forum is that we can share our interest in herps with other people. This is a great group of people. So here is to being a Frog-Nerd!! Three cheers for all of us! :-D

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## Colleen/Jerrod

So, does anyone else have any questions??  :Frog Smile:

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## Heather

Haha!  :Wink:  

It is really fun to share here. That's the best part...sharing pictures and frog stories. I love learning new things too. You guys have taught me bundles  :Smile: . Thanks! 

It has been really fun hearing the other side of your lives, along with our other MOTW too. I hope we can keep this going  :Smile: .

Will you ever try to breed your frogs?

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## Colleen/Jerrod

> Haha!  
> 
> It is really fun to share here. That's the best part...sharing pictures and frog stories. I love learning new things too. You guys have taught me bundles . Thanks! 
> 
> It has been really fun hearing the other side of your lives, along with our other MOTW too. I hope we can keep this going .
> 
> Will you ever try to breed your frogs?


We may in the future, but right now we don't have the means to care for 2,500 tadpoles let alone froglets.  :Smile:  I believe if you keep frogs then eventually you should try and breed them. Read that in a book I have and agree strongly with it. Better to be fully prepared before breeding though. That's a lot to care for.

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## Heather

I agree. Even 3 pacs and 3 retf's make for busy chores  :Smile: .

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## KingCam

Really enjoyed this post.  I always wondered how you managed to be so helpful all the time, Grif. Now I realize it's because you have 2 brains, 4 eyeballs, and 20 fingers!

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## Colleen/Jerrod

> Really enjoyed this post.  I always wondered how you managed to be so helpful all the time, Grif. Now I realize it's because you have 2 brains, 4 eyeballs, and 20 fingers!


Haha! Very true! We both spend way too much time on here. 

Now the downside is when I am on the computer and then he gets on the forum from his phone and kicks me off. Grrrr.  :Big Grin:

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## Locascio

Very cool you both keep up the good work

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