Monday, April 12, 2010

Frog Catcher 2.0

Well, I was thinkin' really hard about not reinventing the wheel. And I wanted to work with an idea I had earlier in the semester. When I was a young 'un at the lake, we had this little frog catcher. I haven't really seen anything like it since. I tried googling it and themes like it for a while, to no avail. It was essentially a small, rectangular wooden box with mesh walls. The top was a sort of punctured rubber. You could reach in (to set a frog down) but frogs couldn't jump out.

The problem was, with two brothers, this tiny carrying case for frogs, would quickly fill up, so we'd have to put the poor frogs in a bucket.

I wanted to create a... "Big N' Tall" version of that. The idea is that this is a short term solution to hold frogs, not a cage you keep them in, frogs need more of wet aquarium if you keep them. This is just some good lookin' patio conversation piece, that can be easily carried down to the shore for an evening of frog catchin' --

But how should it look?

I was inspired by the antique laundry basket my Mom has in her living room, that we use as an end table.



It's a big enough size, in my opinion, and also had the appeal to leave out on the patio when not in use. So, using this shape, I'd replace the sides with mesh, and then replace the top with the punctured rubber sheeting.

I came up with something like this --



The legs would be -- tv tray style/director's chair style -- where they would collapse underneath when moving it.

1) Would you leave this on your patio when you weren't using it? Or would it make its way into the back of the garage?

2) Does this seem practical if the legs collapsed, for older children to carry, set up, and then fill frogs with?

3) Are you opposed to catching frogs, and have a biased answer to questions one and two?

3 comments:

  1. I am going to have to start with questions #3 because I could never catch frogs when I was a little girl! I always feel so bad catching them and they are so squirmy and they look at me with those big eyes and I just could never ignore the fact that they want to be free.

    But If I did catch frogs I would use this, because right now the only option would be to put them in a bucket of some sort and your invention would be much better!

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  2. Would you leave this on your patio when you weren't using it? Or would it make its way into the back of the garage?

    Hmmm... Well it depends if my backyard was in a place where I was catching a lot of frogs. I would be using it a lot if I had one so mine would be on display all the time.

    Does this seem practical if the legs collapsed, for older children to carry, set up, and then fill frogs with?

    I would make the legs detachable then make the top portion into a portable frog catcher.

    Are you opposed to catching frogs, and have a biased answer to questions one and two?

    Nope.
    (I smashed a frog under my garage door on accident once.)

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  3. i love how intent you're thinking upon the act of catching frogs!
    i was a bucket user myself as a kid, but digging around in the long grasses around the lake with a bucket slung in my elbow always seemed to end with losing as many frogs as i caught.

    on a serious note, are these frogs for eating, or just sport and to watch/inspect/enjoy?
    this is quite the contraption, it would be nice to set up on the beach as a common container of sorts while kids root around for more.

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