Since we posted our action alert about Brookstone's boneheaded decision to sell live frogs and snails who are confined to minuscule "Frog-O-Spheres," we've heard from lots of people who've confirmed our worst fears about the likely fate of these animals.

Brookstone has admitted that they aren't screening potential "Frog-O-Sphere" customers, and their woefully inadequate recommendations for care—changing the water twice a year and feeding the frogs twice a week—are leading to snap decisions by unprepared people, as is likely the case with the person who posted this comment on Brookstone's Web site:

"[T]he snail died in about a week (but really, who cares?). And the recommended 2 pellets a week is not enough (the frogs are so hungry they don't move to conserve energy). When I started tripling their recommended meals, they became very active and cool. … Hopefully, they'll last until I can buy a pet snake and feed them to it."

People who are a bit more kindhearted have been flooding PETA with calls and e-mails about frogs and snails getting sick or dying, while callers to Brookstone's customer service department who complain that their frogs appear to need medical attention are merely told to put the frogs in a separate bowl. Those who call about dead frogs and snails have been told that they should throw the corpses in the garbage and that new animals can be shipped or picked up at their nearest location. As a testament to Brookstone's level of care, "replacement" animals are sent through the mail and handed to customers at the stores in plastic sandwich bags.

Other well-meaning folks are asking whether they should release the frogs into the wild, but putting non-native species into area waterways and habitats can wreak havoc on local ecosystems.

The continued sale of Frog-O-Spheres poses a clear threat to these vulnerable animals. Please add your voice to those of people who are demanding that Brookstone stop selling live animals once and for all.

Posted by Jeff Mackey

johnelkington / CC

When I was eight years old, I swore off aquariums forever after my dozen or so guppies committed suicide in the middle of the night. Rather than remain in a crowded, dirty tank, they leaped to their slow, suffocating deaths on the carpet.

The guilt that I carry around because of those poor fish has recently been rivaled by my anger and sadness at learning that Brookstone stores are hawking the "Frog-O-Sphere," a tiny aquatic prison that comes stocked with two African frogs and a snail (called "the janitor").

Brookstone tells its customers and employees that these frogs only need to have their water changed twice a year and to be fed twice a week. I can only imagine that those frogs will try to jump out of their cruel confines the first chance they get, so that they don't starve to death or die from poison.

Brookstone is offering a one-year warranty on the lives of the frogs, who can survive for five to 15 years in the wild. I guess that when the snail dies, the customers (and the frogs) are SOL—"the janitor" gets chucked into the garbage. And when customers place a complaint with the company, Brookstone offers up lame reasons why the Frog-O-Sphere is fine for these animals—reasons like "This species of frog will not out-grow the aquarium," and "when in the wild the African Dwarf Frogs generally live in a very small area of a pond or a stream." Then the company sends 'em 10 bucks.

PETA is squaring off with Brookstone, and we need you to write polite letters to the company urging it to join Magic Beans, "Tarjay," and other retailers that have stopped selling similar products prisons.

For anyone who insists on owning a portable, inexpensive, low-maintenance "aquarium," I have two words: "Koi Pond."

Posted by Karin Bennett