Whether you’re jumping over a frog or jumping like one, today is a great day for hippity-hoppers.

Frog Jumping Day can be traced back to Missouri author Mark Twain, and his first short story, “Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog.” If you’d like to read this story today, it’s also known as “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” as well as “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.”

Frogs make great pocket pets, so you may want to celebrate Frog Jumping Day by getting a frog—or a toad—as a pet. Many frogs are simple to care for, fun to watch, and can be a great first pet for children—as long as they maintain proper hand washing techniques!

Raising pet frogs can be as simple as buying a frog habitat with a coupon for tadpoles, and raising your frogs from infancy. Tadpoles can be super simple to raise. But it can be a lot more fun to pick out Kermit all grown-up, especially for young children eager to see their frog all ready to hop and croak!

Be sure to do your research before you buy a frog. You’ll need to set up a good habitat with proper lighting, water, and food—which may include live bugs! To sidestep maintaining this environment within your home, you may want to even set up your own frog pond in your yard.

Also be sure to get to know the kind of frog you want. Some frogs may be deceptive; the smallest little amphibians can sometimes grow to be enormous! Dangerous frogs, especially poisonous frogs, are not recommended for beginners or children, and horned frogs and bullfrogs are not very active.

Some varieties that make excellent pets for first-time frog friends are the African Dwarf Frog, the Oriental Firebellied Toad, and the White’s Tree Frog. These are all either very or fairly easy to care for, active enough to be interesting, and do not grow to be excessively large.

If you love frogs but just don’t want one as a pet, you could always volunteer with the Frogwatch USA program. In this program, you can, alone or with some friends or family, monitor the frogs and toads in your area by identifying them by their sounds. Their website provides information, frog sounds to learn, and a place to sign up your specific location.

And finally, if you don’t want to adopt a new green friend, have no time to volunteer and have no interest to a-hopping, why not send a friend an e-card for Frog Jumping Day?