No Joke: Pet Frog Scarfs Engagement Ring, Undergoes Tricky Medical Procedure to Give It Back

A 10-year-old pet frog named Croak is making international news for scarfing the engagement ring of his owner’s fiancée after she accidentally dropped it on the kitchen table.

The enormous and handsome frog, who is considered a family member by Russian Roman Livane, was allowed to roam free for a short time while Livane cleaned his glass aquarium, according to The Daily Mail. Reluctantly watching over the mischievous amphibian was Livane’s future bride, Kristina.

As Croak sat on the kitchen table, the two eyed each other as Kristina played with her diamond engagement ring. But then the unthinkable happened when Kristina accidentally dropped her ring on the table. Croak shot out this tongue and scarfed it on one bounce.

“I admit things got a bit strained when I asked her to look after him,” Livane, a resident of Yekaterinburg, told The Daily Mail. “She dropped [the ring] and it fell towards the table where my frog was sitting, and as quick as a flash [Croak] snapped the ring out of the air and swallowed it.”

Livane and his fiancée took Croak to a veterinarian who took X-rays of the frog’s anatomy to determine exactly where the ring ended up.

Dr. Julia Malyshev deemed it necessary to remove the ring by a tricky medical procedure during which the doctor would use a special hook-like device to enter the frog’s mouth and then fish the ring out of his stomach. The strategy worked and the ring was cleaned and returned to Kristina.

“I have had him for almost 10 years. He's like part of the family,” Livane said of his trouble-making frog. “My girlfriend Kristina is the only girlfriend I have ever had that also likes frogs, so we are a perfect partnership.” The couple plans to wed at the beginning of August.

Back in September of 2013, we reported on an equally misbehaved pet cockerel that pecked a diamond stud earring from his owner’s earlobe.

Fearing the risks related to surgery, the bird’s owners from Berkshire, U.K., decided to leave the earring in the bird’s gizzard, where it will likely stay until the end of the bird’s life — about seven years from now.

Frog images: via DailyMail.co.uk, uncredited