Every now and then, we’ll hear about someone who happened across an animal in need and made the difference between life and death for the vulnerable creature.
And it’s entirely possible that on the very same day, you’ll hear a much more discomforting story about someone who bought some fruit and vegetables only to find that an insect from a different part of the world was hitching a ride inside their produce all along.
But until today, you weren’t likely to hear about a story that combined these phenomena into one adorable saga .
Yet after one man had a surprise encounter with a little frog, that’s exactly what we have for you.
On December 20, a recording artist, author, and actor named Simon Curtis found a green tree frog squatting at the bottom of the box of lettuce he got from Whole Foods.
And while it’s hardly unheard of for little creatures like this to find their way into produce, Curtis was stunned that it had survived inside his fridge for the four days he had stored the lettuce there.
Although Curtis tweeted that would have normally been inclined to release the frog into the wild, he felt it was too cold outside to do so and wondered how he should care for it.
Curtis also quickly grew accustomed to the little frog and named him Tony.
As he put it in one of his tweets, “He’s so adorable is this my starter Pokémon?”
And while he decided to spray the container down with water and put the lettuce back — along with a mason jar lid filled with water — in the hopes of dealing with it the next day, it seemed that Tony would make that harder than he thought.
That’s because the next day saw Curtis tweet out that Tony had escaped.
It’s unclear what he jumped from to get up there, but Curtis would later find him on top of a door frame.
It was also around this time that he spoke to Mark Howery from the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation and learned both what species Tony is and that he should feed him live wax worms.
Although Tony was happy to let Curtis feed and hold him, it seemed that he was no less curious than on the day he was discovered.
And that’s because he would end up escaping yet again the next day.
Although Curtis’ partner was able to find him again, it seemed that Tony had got himself into even more trouble this time around.
As Curtis put it, “Hiding in the shower, covered in dust bunnies… I don’t know WHAT this little guy has been up to.”
Tony would end up as safe and sound as before, but he made Curtis particularly worried this time around.
In his words, “He was so dehydrated and shriveled I was worried he’d died.”
This led Curtis to invest in a terrarium for the frog and it’s a good thing he did because both his followers and a frog expert ending up advising him to keep little Tony.
Because while it seemed more humane to release him back into the wild, there’s less risk of him introducing new diseases into local ecosystems if he remains a pet.
Provided Curtis’ terrarium finally keeps him from escaping, anyway.
h/t: Twitter | @simoncurtis
