After Phil's post I feel this is sort of ridiculous to even finish with.
First, a partial apology to DMF, since my experiment did NOT confirm my prior experience...entirely. OTOH it did not agree with the linked sources entirely, either.
OK, three frogs, about 8 inches with their legs out. Three pots of water and a small camp stove. Frogs and water in pans were all roughly room temp of about 72 degrees. Pans were a type my wife has with a central pad that heats, while the sides maintain a relatively normal temp(I don't know the brand name). Thus the frogs could crawl over the edge without getting burned. About 4 inches of water in each.
Sparing the long description, the first thing I tested was the first statement of the wives tale: That a frog dropped into boiling water would jump out. I suspected this was wrong. The water was below boiling and I could actually stick my fingers in it without feeling like the skin would fall of. I dropped the first frog in, with a net ready to scoop him out if he could not jump. No need, since he died almost instantly. I had expected this, since it seemed impossible to me to drop a cold-blooded creature into an enviroment 100 degrees + hotter then he was previously in and have him survive. His system just flat shut down in seconds.
Yummm (small) froglegs...
Second, was to put a frog into another pan of room temp water and begin increasing the heat. Now note this because it is important to my final conclusion, I believe: The frog I picked was an extremely active frog. He did not like being handled, did not like to sit still, etc. He didn't like the room temp water, either, and jumped out immediately several times. About the third or fourth time he finally stayed put, tired of the game I assume.
With about 35 degrees increase he started swimming again. By 50 degrees he was swimming rapidly and at about 60 degrees, around 130, he hopped out. He'd plainly had enough.
Snopes confirmed...so far.
Third frog, third pot of water. This water had apparently picked up a few degrees from the stove, as it was around 80. NOW, take note of the frog: This frog was the biggest, by a slight amount. It was also the most laid back. This guy couldn't care less. He'd sit in your hand, on the table, on the floor. He would sit and let the puppies lick him. Well, he tolerated that for a couple minutes anyway. I suppose dog saliva is good for keeping him from drying out...
Anyway, into the pot, on goes the flame and up goes the temp. At around 30 degrees increase he starts swimming. At 50 degrees, or again around 130, he's swimming more. After that he slowed down. At 170 he stopped moving. At 180 his back legs extended and he settled down into the water
exactly as one would expect according to the wives tale. I let it go another minute or so then pulled him out. I didn't have the heart to kill him, though if anyone insists on finishing the experiment I will "test him to destruction". He's back in the bucket now and moving normally(which for him constitutes sitting there and breathing deeply).
Conclusions:
Part one of the wives tale is wrong. Throw a frog in boiling water and it dies. In my opinion that is still relevant to this discussion in that a rapid change of enviroment has certain violent and predictable repercussions.
Part two I find to be incredibly relevant to this discussion because it appears to me that...
It all depends on the frog in question.
I don't think I need to expand on that, and I may make it my new sig line.
Whatever, make of it what you will. Sorry Pax, no pics. Since things didn't go exactly my way I'm not too eager to try it again, either.