Illyrian religion was based on totemism - belief in holly animals which represented with their divine significance and supernatural characteristics specific deities, its manifestation or even the spirit of nature. While it is definitely known that the supreme deity was a snake, the forefather of all Illyrians, for other mythological creatures we can presume that they are hiding in the form of individual animals which are most widespread in folk beliefs. But, surely the thing that can be concluded, by detailed research and analysis of certain segments of Bosnian mythology, is that all those animals which are represented in folk beliefs and magical practice belong to the cult of fertility, a very important part of the Illyrian religious tradition.
According to that, even though a snake in Bosnian tradition and mythology it has superpowers compared to other animals, zviždenjak and frog are more widespread in folk religion, especially through various beliefs and rituals. In certain beliefs there are identical claims like the one in which a witch can transform into snake and frog, or that in the grave a dead man is being eaten by zviždenjak but also snake, etc. However, each individual animal has its own individual powers and characteristics which at the same time make them connected but also independent part of the cult of fertility.
While in Roman tradition we come across the cult of ancestors - protectors of the household, family and food (Penati, Lari, Mani) among the Illyrians that cult role is taken over by certain animals, such as a snake and a frog. Why did the Illyrians choose animal instead of spiritual guardians is not hard to discern especially because of the fact that their religious structure in certain segments is pretty different from the Greco-Roman one. As we all know the Greeks and Romans were particularly prone to raising grandiose temples and statues nurturing in such a way the cult of man. Unlike them, the Illyrians aspired to a more intimate contact with nature and its forces which resulted in building temples, or better to say chapels, which were both architecturally and dimensionally very modest. Their sacral rituals were observed on tops of hills and mountains, near water, forest or some other ambient in the vicinity in order to subject their religious work to natural cycles.
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