This is a video game and that is my pet frog who is a professional gamer, but he wasn't exactly born this way. Over the past year, he went through the transformation of a lifetime. My goal is simple teach him to play video games.
Yet his journey was anything but simple. He would have to face predators, hunt prey, find love, and of course, learn how to play video games. Well, we have to go back to day one where you would not believe what I just bought.
Look at this little man. I would never let anything happen to you. I think I'm gonna name you Larry.
Out of every 100 tadpoles in the wild, only four make it to adulthood. You're going to make it, little man, I promise. At the time, I didn't realize how difficult this was going to be.
For is home. I want to recreate a riverbank in a ten second montage. With just a few finishing touches, the tank is complete.
All that is left to do now is add him into his new home. Come on, buddy, don't be afraid. This is the first time he has ever seen a real plant.
But he was going to be the foundation for an entire ecosystem. For now, though, he's all on his own. So I tried introducing him to my friends.
Hey, Larry. Hi, Larry. Hi, Larry.
Hi. Hi, Larry. Yo, Larry.
Turns out he's not a people person. Dude, you've got to get him a girlfriend. Not happening.
The aquarium store is two hours away. I would like you all to meet Larry's new girlfriend, Cheryl. And after adding her in, they seem to form an immediate bond.
I'm going to leave these two to settle overnight. On day two, the feeding frenzy was about to begin. Who's hungry?
They must be fed five times a day, or they may never turn into frogs. And of course, I didn't forget to feed the resident chameleon. In between their meals, they would swim to the surface for air.
And that is where I saw his first pair of legs. Look how tiny they are. You'll be playing video games in no time.
By day 12, everything may look great, but if we take a closer look, the tadpoles are in danger. They are creating so much waste that it is starting an algae bloom. If I don't do something soon, the algae will take over.
And that is where these guys come in. Mystery snails and ghost shrimp. Who will keep the algae at bay?
Go on. Swim! Welcome, welcome.
They immediately began cleaning the glass and eating debris. I figure I should offer them a housewarming gift. A cucumber, which I gently lowered into the aquarium.
They all gathered around to feed and even the tadpoles joined in. But wait. Do you see that?
Here's a side view. Those are his front feet under his skin. He's even waving hello.
Their feet will pop out any day now, and pretty soon they'll have to adjust to life on land. Which is why I'm building them a vivarium. This slice of the jungle will be their perfect home for when they emerge.
By day 23. It was about time to raise the stakes. Literally.
This chunk of steak is their last meal before they become frogs. All of the animals came to feed except for Larry. He just popped out his third leg and is beginning to look like a frog.
Knowing this, I decided to remove the steak, but I don't want it to go to waste. I placed it in the jungle as a sort of experiment. Over the next ten hours, many animals came to feed.
They must have come from the plants. And the jungle was now teeming with many forms of life. But could they live together?
Only time will tell. On day 25, their lives were about to change forever. They took their very first steps onto land.
Larry had climbed to the top and Cheryl wasn't too far behind. She carefully climbed up the log and pretty soon they were reunited as one. They may still have a tail, but only a week later it was completely gone.
It was finally time to teach them how to hunt. All of these flies are doomed to die. Or so I thought.
They have absolutely no idea what they're doing. Come on, little man. And pretty soon they were on a roll.
It is about time to introduce them to the jungle. Welcome to your new home, little man. You and your girlfriend have a big journey ahead in this jungle.
They were obviously not alone, and Larry locked eyes with a harvestman. Close, but not close enough. Even though he could still use hunting practice, I figured he was finally ready to play some video games.
I created a mini living room for him to play the perfect game, cockroach Smasher. The rules are simple kill the cockroaches to earn points, but if they reach the other side, you lose. If I can teach him to love real cockroaches, then maybe he'll jump at the screen on his own.
Well, this is not gonna work. The cockroaches are literally bigger than him. He must get a whole lot bigger.
Deep in the undergrowth, Larry and Cheryl have grown well over ten times their original size, and cockroaches are finally on the menu. As it turns out, cockroaches are their new favorite food, which is perfect considering my game choice. So I brought Larry on set to see if he would jump at my phone.
He got it. I had to do this over and over until I was absolutely certain he correlated my phone with food. But he seems to be getting pretty tired, so I thought we could do with some quality bonding time.
After two more weeks of training, Larry was finally ready to play for real. He's 100% on his own. Let's see what you've got.
Oh, and apparently he doesn't get out much because that was a game over with a score of zero. Ah, don't worry, we can try again. Well.
And again and again. Oh, come on, you got it this time. Oh.
Or not? Don't worry, he is completely fine. But I'm only giving him one more shot at this.
This is his last chance. Come on, little man. Come on.
I know you have it in you. No way. One point on the scoreboard.
If you could just score one more point. Oh. That's it, that's it.
There is no way this just happened. I'm in disbelief right now. That definitely deserves a treat.
But his journey was not going to end here. He was going to be a father to an army. If you want to see me, raise them.
To be sure to like this video and subscribe for more. I'll see you in the next one.
