# Boiling frog syndrome: True or UL **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 13, 2000, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boiling-frog-syndrome-true-or-ul/25393 "2000-07-13T03:59:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boiling-frog-syndrome-true-or-ul/25393/1 "2000-07-13T03:59:39Z")
As an occasional procrastinator I often refer to my fatalistic stalling as “the boiling frog syndrome.” Certainly many of you have heard that a frog, when placed in scalding hot water, will jump out to safety; but the same frog, placed in tepid water that is slowly heated to boiling, will just sit there contentedly until it croaks. (Yeah, yeah… I said that on purpose.) Okay, is this tale of the fatalistic froggie true or an UL? (FYI, I didn’t find any mention of it in Snopes.) And if it’s true, can you use any ol’ frog or only certain, dumber species? Naturally, I’d love it if respondents could supply documentation or links. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Gatsby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@Gatsby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatsby)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boiling-frog-syndrome-true-or-ul/25393/2 "2000-07-13T04:55:13Z")
Well, after very little searching, I found only references to the cliché and no scientific evidence. C’mon, man where’s your love of sciene?! Frogs are cheap (free in the right environment)! If you do not wish to procure them on your own, I will pledge two live frogs to the cause. ---
**Author:** ![tcburnett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@tcburnett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tcburnett)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boiling-frog-syndrome-true-or-ul/25393/3 "2000-07-13T07:06:03Z")
Don’t you dare boil a frog. I’ll report you the the ASPCF, the Republican party, and any other fringe society I can interest in this cause! But if you want to gig 'em first and cook the legs, let’s get with it. ---
**Author:** ![Gatsby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@Gatsby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatsby)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boiling-frog-syndrome-true-or-ul/25393/4 "2000-07-13T07:20:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tcburnett \* > Don’t you dare boil a frog. I’ll report you the the **ASPCF** Hah! tcburnett, I don’t think I’ve mentioned it, but you rock man! Seriously, I’ve got 5:8 odds on at least a chuckle (if not a laugh) from your posts. ---
**Author:** ![tcburnett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@tcburnett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tcburnett)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boiling-frog-syndrome-true-or-ul/25393/5 "2000-07-13T07:31:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gatsby \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by tcburnett \* > > Don’t you dare boil a frog. I’ll report you the the **ASPCF** > > Hah! tcburnett, I don’t think I’ve mentioned it, but you rock man! Seriously, I’ve got 5:8 odds on at least a chuckle (if not a laugh) from your posts. \*\* Ahhhhh! A convert. Thank you. Gatsby? You are no doubt the GREAT Gatsby, of the twenty-first century. Please feel free to tell Manny that you think some of my stuff is funny. He doesn’t think so. But I’m surprised you caught that ASPCF line. Most people would have assumed a typo. Aloha and Mahalo Tom ---
**Author:** ![Osakadave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f07891/32.png) [@Osakadave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osakadave)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boiling-frog-syndrome-true-or-ul/25393/6 "2000-07-13T11:45:22Z")
From the Snopes MB: [http://161.58.238.106/ubb/Forum1/HTML/001104.html](http://161.58.238.106/ubb/Forum1/HTML/001104.html) The issue was left in doubt. There was mention of an experement performed by either Julian Huxley and Sir Crispin Tickell. A search for Sir Crispin Tickell and boiling frogs didn’t turn up anything, and the same search for Julian Huxley also turned up nothing. Julian Huxley and frogs turned up about 30 pages, but nothing about boiling frogs. ---
**Author:** ![DVous\_Means](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@DVous\_Means](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DVous_Means)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boiling-frog-syndrome-true-or-ul/25393/7 "2000-07-13T15:27:47Z")
There are people in northern Queensland who have been known to boil up a cane toad, in order to imbibe the hallucinogenic residue that remains when the process is complete. Whether they stop to observwe the reaction from the toad prior to croaking is open to speculation.