Squirrel Tree Frog

A couple of weeks ago, we were in our living room, watching TV and chilling, when something BIG climbed up the wall across the room from me.  I screamed like a girl and jerked my feet onto the couch.  It nearly scared The Husband to death, and he jumped out of his recliner hollering, "What?!"  I pointed to the wall and squealed, "There's a HUGE spider climbing up the wall!"  He turned to look, and I heard him gasp.  I was already scanning the floor, looking for a shoe, a plastic sword, anything to hit it with when I heard him say, "It's a TREE FROG!"  A wave of relief washed over me.  I said, "Well, catch it and pitch it outside," which he did.

That frog was brown, the color of dark ale, almost as dark as the wood of our living room floor.  I did not know that there were brown frogs that were capable of walking up a wall.

The next day when I came home from work, there was a frog stuck to the porch wall above our front door.  This frog was the color of sand, almost the identical color of the wall.

Hmmm...could it be...?

I told The Husband about it when he came home from work.  We went outside and found him in the same spot, almost invisible against the wall.  We both pondered whether a frog could change colors, like a chameleon, for neither of us had ever seen a brown frog OR a tan frog that could climb a wall.

Tonight, the subject of tree frogs came up during my granddaughter's softball game.  I told Mr. Bob, a retired Navy man, about my theory of color-changing tree frogs.  He scoffed.  I said, "Well, let's google it," and I whipped out my phone and found this:

That, friend, is a Hyla Squirella, also known as a Squirrel Tree Frog.  This little critter can change colors.

Mr. Bob was stunned, and asked about the frog's habitat, as if he suspected it only existed in a jungle, or something.  The article I read said it's habitat is the southeastern United States, from Texas up to Virginia.  I felt vindicated.  Later, at home, I looked at the map that accompanies the article, and it shows the frog living far south and east of west Tennessee.

But, I promise you, one lives in my yard.