<< Previous   of   Next >> Enterprise/CHRIS GOODENOW  (click to enlarge) Puckering up for Grendell, an 18-year-old Whites Tree Frog native to Australia, Thayer "Frog Lady" Cueter gets close with the face she modeled her company logo after, featured at her new amphibian center, "Just Frogs, Toads Too," on the waterfront in Edmonds. Enterprise/CHRIS GOODENOW  (click to enlarge) Grendell, an 18-year-old Whites Tree Frog, native to Australia, clings to the side of her aquarium at Thayer "Frog Lady" Cueter's new amphibian center, "Just Frogs, Toads Too," on the waterfront in Edmonds. Enterprise/CHRIS GOODENOW  (click to enlarge) Thayer "Frog Lady" Cueter moves Grendell, an 18-year-old Whites Tree Frog native to Australia, in her aquarium their new amphibian center, "Just Frogs, Toads Too," on the waterfront in Edmonds. Enterprise/CHRIS GOODENOW  (click to enlarge) Thayer "Frog Lady" Cueter hangs up an entry sign at her new amphibian center, "Just Frogs, Toads Too," on the waterfront in Edmonds.

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CONTACT THE ENTERPRISE Jocelyn Robinson, News editor jrobinson@heraldnet.com

Edmonds going to the frogs

‘Frog Lady' opening amphibian center on waterfront

By Russ Doubleday
Enterprise reporter

Thayer Cueter was meant to work with frogs.

She was born on St. Patrick's Day, a holiday where kids also receive frog gifts with their four-leaf clovers and leprechaun hats. Growing up, she was known more commonly as “Froggie” or “Frog Lady” than as Thayer. Her love of frogs and her desire to protect them never wavered.

Fast forward 47 years, and Cueter is now on the eve of opening a permanent amphibian center on the Edmonds waterfront. The Just Frogs Toads Too! Foundation, which is non-profit, will be opening an Amphibian Center in mid-August.

This location will be a permanent home for some of Cueter's 9,000 collectible* frogs (a Guinness World Record), as well as being an educational resource and a retail outlet.

“We started out with one frog, which is our mascot, Grendel,” Cueter said. “Then, we ended up with two more frogs, three more frogs, toads, more frogs, bugs, stick bugs, and we became a small zoo. This amphibian center is no longer just a gift center. (The animals) will be on display for the public.

“It's going to be what we call a one-stop frog shop. But it's more than a shop now. This is a Leaping Learning Center.”

Education will also be a vital service at this center. Worldwide, frogs are in massive danger. More than 200 different species of frogs have gone extinct in just the last five years.

“Frogs are our number one indicator that there's a problem,” Cueter said. “When they start moving around and telling us that we have a problem, we should be listening.”

Frogs and other amphibians have survived the last two extinction episodes, which includes the end of the dinosaurs. But frogs are also our canary in the coal mine, meaning that they are one of the first species to be affected by changes in the environment. Their unprecedented decline in recent years is a warning sign to humans.

People around the world, including Cueter, have taken notice.

Amphibian Ark, an organization put together by the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, launched a program called the Year of the Frog in 2008. Frogs are threatened on multiple sources. Pesticides, habitat loss, pollution, climate change and the invasive chytrid fungus are all decimating frog populations. Year of the Frog raised worldwide awareness of this problem and has begun efforts to save the frogs.

More locally, Cueter is leading efforts in Edmonds and the greater Snohomish County area to help bring back frogs that were leaving the area.

“In the Edmonds Backyard Habitat society group, we're teaching people to provide corridors of healthy living so these pets can move to locations in Edmonds,” Cueter said. “By providing corridors with no pesticides and healthy living and shelter and water, these frogs are moving back into the area.”

Cueter, who is also a veterinary technician and a herpetologist, has had several frog shops in Edmonds through the years. She had a location on Main Street for seven years before she moved out into a building next to Top Foods on Highway 99, only for that to be bought six months later. The Amphibian Center on the Edmonds Waterfront, located at 300 Admiral Way, Suite 104 underneath Arnie's Restaurant, is only the beginning of her ambitions.

“I'm looking at (expanding to the) Kingston side,” Cueter said. “There's the Kingston Hotel, and that eventually will be Hotel for Frogs. And that is where the museum will be with my collection. (The two locations would) face each other on the water, and I like that.”

The only other hotel for frogs in the world is located in Edinburgh, Scotland. It serves as a safe place for frogs to stay from birds and other predators.

There have been a lot of people who have come and knocked on the door of the Amphibian Center, asking when it'll be open to the public, Cueter explained.

“I got people knocking down the doors for birthday parties,” she said. “My mailing list is about 3,800. And now I've got followers from Kingston, Snohomish, Michigan, Ohio, California and Oregon. This will be a busy location.”

It's all for the frogs, and to help save the frogs.

*Clarification, Jan. 19, 2010: This article originally did not specify that Thayer Cueter's 9,000 frogs were collectibles.