“Nature is so beautiful.”
After a hailstorm swept through his neighborhood earlier this week, Florida resident and Reddit user Incompeplant decided to open his door to let in some fresh air. What he didn’t expect was that the weather would bring more than just cooler breezes — it would usher in a surprisingly tiny guest.
“I opened the door to my house and saw what I thought was a tiny insect jump through the door,” Incompeplant told The Dodo. At first glance, it looked like nothing more than a speck — an ordinary bug. But as he bent down for a closer look, he realized this “bug” had four legs instead of six.
It was no bug — it was a frog. A very tiny frog.
“If he was any smaller, I would’ve missed him,” Incompeplant said.
Delicate as a droplet of rain and barely larger than a grain of rice, the frog was dwarfed by a single strand of dog hair resting in Incompeplant’s hand. A bit of research led him to identify the amphibian as a greenhouse frog, a tiny species native to Florida. Juveniles like the one that hopped in his door can be as small as 5 millimeters long — around the size of a pencil eraser.
The young frog seemed healthy and alert, likely having just undergone his transformation from tadpole to frog that very day. Luckily, Incompeplant spotted him before the fragile creature could be lost or harmed indoors.
The little frog was gently returned outside, where he’d have a better shot at thriving in the wild.
The moment left Incompeplant with a renewed sense of wonder. “Nature is so beautiful,” he said. “Everyone deserves appreciation and a fighting chance at life, even if you are a tiny frog like this one.”