Meet the toddler whose best friend is a pet frog.
Little Juliana Allon begged her mom for a pet white tree frog from the pet store in Panama City, Florida after it had been given-up by its previous owner.
The mother-of-three eventually caved and purchased the frog for $40 last August.
“He was so fat and squishy-looking, and she wanted to hug him straightaway,”
“The store let her pick him up and hold him,” recalled Brandie. “Then she said, ‘Mommy, please, please, please!’ and I couldn’t say no.”
The two-year-old named it George—and the pair are now inseparable, doing everything together.
The frog perches happily on Juliana’s shoulder as she watches TV and eats breakfast, and sits in her stroller as she takes him on walks around the house. She’s even taken him in a car to her grandmother’s house to show him off.
“He just crawls to the top of her shoulder, and they walk around together. He manages to hang on somehow.”
They already own a dog and a cat, but George sleeps in Juliana’s bedroom in a cage with a heat lamp, and gets fed with plenty of worms.
The family is unsure where the adopted frog is from or how old he is, but his species is found in Australia and New Zealand.
“She wakes up and the first thing she says is ‘baby frog’—and she wants to hold him right away.
“When she’s eating breakfast, he sits calmly next to her on the table, and before we leave the house, she always says ‘bye bye baby frog, I’ll be back’.”
When white tree frogs feel threatened or stressed, they turn dark brown. But when Juliana picks him up, he turns green and turquoise, so they know he’s happy.
Looking after a frog has led to one or two sticky situations.
“Frogs can carry salmonella, so I had to teach Juliana not to kiss him. Hugging is fine, but she washes her hands afterwards because she knows the rules.”
He peed on Juliana once, which she “didn’t like very much,” said Brandie, who is quite amazed by the duo’s unbreakable bond.
“I never thought we would get a frog, but if you find an old soul like George, I’d definitely recommend getting a pet frog. He’s just a happy little fellow.”
WATCH the cute family video…
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I guess it’s frog over dog with little Juliana! May they have many happy days together.
That’s adorable and it’s certainly okay to have a frog as a friend. I had one when I was a bit older than Juliana. But you can tell by looking at the frog that it’s being overfed. That will shorten its lifespan tremendously.