Reptile & Amphibian Forums

my daughter got a tree frog for christmas, I was told it was a golden tree frog but I dont think so it does not look like the pic. It might be a cuban, looks like a gray tree frog but does not have white dot below eye.

Anyway the frog has not ate anyhing since we got him, he keeps borrowing into the moss, does not get in the water. We are misting him and the tank twice a day. I have a 60 watt red warming light on top of the tank, should this light be on 24 hours or only part of the time. I was told that I did not need a white light as he is in a bright room.

I called the pet store they said give him another couple of days maybe he got stressed out during the move, but i'm afraid he might be dying.

Also not sure if he needs a warming pad under the tank, some places say yes and others say no ( he is in a 10 gal. tank with screen top.

Please help

While I don't know too much about cuban/grey tree frogs (or whatever it is that you have really) I would say get rid of the red light, its probably keeping the tank too hot for the frog (tree frogs burrow when the conditions are not right, like low humidity, high temp, low temp...) You know the frog is nocturnal right? no matter what species he is?

Are there hiding spots for the frog? they need to climb and feel comfortable. I started my white's in a ten gallon (but quickly upgraded) and had plants and something for him to climb on. He seemed to like it well enough.

Secondly, I suggest buying a temp and humidity reader (any pet store should have them, don't buy the strip, useless. exo-terra has some, 6 or 7$) as you won't know what the conditions are without them.

Next, find out exactly what kind of frog he is, post up pics (I like www.talkto.thefrog.org ) they are all really helpful there and know there stuff, but there are other sites you can go to as well. Different frogs have different temp requirements. (like some frogs need more circulation (white's tree frogs) and others need less to keep the humidity in (red eyes))

Don't keep the light on 24/7. a 10 hour period at this time or year is more than enough for most frogs. There haven't been alot of studies about which amphibians can or cannot see red light, and it disturbed my frogs to no end when I tried it.

Since the frogs are nocturnal, you may not see them eating. Is he pooping? I know that frogs have relatively short digestive systems and food goes through them pretty quickly. If he is pooping, he is eating.

Ok I know this is getting long, bear with me.

You didn't mention a water dish? Put one in if you don't have any. Just because he's a tree frog doesn't mean he doesn't need water. Frogs breath through their skin... imagine your mouth/nose getting so dry that the air was painful to inhale...

Ok just a start. Don't feed him too much at a time, seeing as your not sure if he's eating and not sure what he is, it may be stress, as the pet store said, but it may also be it's environment. Get a low wattage compact fluorecent bulb, or go with zoo med's bulbs. Doesn't matter that your frog is in a bright room really. It isn't proven that the frogs need the light, but the plants sure do. (live plants are a great way to keep in humidity)
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I think my frog owns a megaphone....

White's tree frogs : 1:1
Mantella viridis : 1:3

Thanks for responding!

he is in a 10gal tank with jungle bark material on bottom, moss on top of that. He has a water bowl, and a log for hiding, he had a tree and fake plants. When he started burrowing I took out the tree and plants thinking maybe he felt to crowded. That did not seem to help.

I live in N.E. and the temp in the tank was reading 68 degrees, so I thought he might burrow to stay warm. I got him a heating pad and atttached to side of tank this AM and left the red light on to bring up temp. got home take was 86 deg. turned of red light like you suggested and take back down to 68 deg. URGH! I put him in the water dish and he seemed to perk up a bit, opened his mouth a couple of times ( hope he was not yawning, sign of disease I think I read somewhere).

He started with around 12 crickets (pet store said he ate 8-12 day) after 3 days of not eating, and crickets walking on him I took out 3-4. thinking maybe he felt overwhelmed by the crickets) after still not eating tried to give him a live cricket on a tweezer with no luck.

Yes I do know he is nocturnal, so I guess it is possible that he might have eaten a cricket or two but not sure, I have been watching him, up until 2am (me not TF), did not move (TF not me). Not sure about the poo, as with the moss and bark I have no idea if there is poo in there. I guess It is a waiting game. Unles you can think of something that I may have missed.

Thanks for the address to find out what kind of TF he is, I just took a couple of pics and will try to identify. Wanted to attach a pic here but don't know how.

Thanks again

First time TF owner and finding it very stressful

Alright, I seem to have forgot to mention something (and trust me, it was on my mind earlier, but I wrote you such a long post that I forgot.. sorry)

Heating pads are a very bad idea (sorry bout the money wasted) simply because they get too hot. Frogs don't feel pain the same way we do, if they jumped on the glass to get warmed up, they could end up staying too long and burning instead. Same with putting it on the bottom of the tank. It is virtually useless for tree frogs simply because it has to be on the bottom and unless the frog burrows to get to the heat, he won't feel any. Not to mention that if he burrows to far down, he could burn. (die)

How big is your frog? If you go to the galleries here, you can sign up and post your pics there, then it will let you place images of them here directly.

The relative rule is to feed them crickets that are no bigger than the space between their eyes. I don't know why the pet store was feeding him so much (and I don't know age or exact frog) but that seems like overdoing it a little. My recommendation... take all the crickets out for a night, let him relax. I do believe that most of the frogs you mentioned that your frog could be would be comfortable at room temp, and once you get a 30-40 watt light on there you should be fine. Spray him down good, put the plants back in so he can hide.

Now I'm not ruling out the possibility that your frog could be sick. It could be just about anything.

Bark is a bad idea for most tree frogs because of the way they hunt. I would suggest taking it out. (I know the pet store people said to use it, but because most are lungers, they could scoop up a mouthful of bark, eat that and be impacted.) Be careful with the moss as well, same could happen there (loose moss or pillow moss?) Best thing to stick with is the bed a beast or anything made with shredded coconut. Keeps in the humidity nicely.

ANyways, get some pics up so that people can figure out what kind of frog you have and then someone could point you to a caresheet that could probably help solve the problem. Pet store people mean well, but its rare that they can really truly help you with your frog. (this doesn't go for every store, its a generalization, and if they gave you bark and a red light.....)

Owning a frog shouldn't be stressful, but can be if the right preperations aren't made before buying the animal. (I learned the pet store people thing the hard way too, they really don't know what they are talking about and cost me some money for nothing aka heating pad, bark......)
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I think my frog owns a megaphone....

White's tree frogs : 1:1
Mantella viridis : 1:3

Ok, Daystorm has it to the T! I would also suggest the talktothefrog, lots of really knowledgable people and you'll get responses quickly. This site is hit or miss.

One thing not mentioned was water, make sure you are using a treatment like Reptisafe to remove chlorine and chloramine that can kill frogs. Use it in your mister and water dish.

Most frogs in pet stores are wild caught and don't have great odds of surviving. That said, keeping it quiet, covering the view into the tank for a few days will help. Also 12 crickets is way off! Maybe 3-4 every other day (every day if a baby) and of right size (distance between their eyes). Extra crickets can bother them while they're trying to sleep, not to mention biting them. If they aren't eaten right away toss a piece of apple or carrot in there so they don't chomp the frog.

They will appreciate alot of cover, like Pothos which will grow without UV and is cheap and fast growing. A small 3" pot will fill a tank in just a couple months. It will keep up the humidity and they just take to it so well.

If you don't want to permanently plant it in you can just put a pot in there and that will work as well. Just make sure to remove the soil that comes in the pot (it usually has fertilizers and those styro balls) and replant in a fertilizer-free dirt or bed-a-beast or similar.

To post a pic use the Image URL spot below when you're posting. You will need to have the photo uploaded to a place like snapfish or some other website and then right-click on the pic and select properties and got to the URL area and copy all of it (sometimes you have to pull down to get it all) and then put that in the Image URL space.

Sorry forgot to mention washing the leaves of the plant off to remove any fertilizers.

I'd think you'd want your day temps into the low 70s, until you find out what kind of frog you have and you can get a heat source you can get heat from either a room heater or even using a desk lamp near the tank.

So basicaly I need to start all over, remove bedding, heat pad and red light. remove crickets

Get bed of beast (coconut husks) get a 30 or 40 watt white lightbulb (the house kind?) Get a live plant in pot, no crickets for a day, then three baby crickets. put tree back in tank.

TF is about 2 2-1/2 inches long, his color is army green or brownish green with dark spots on his back bumby skin, white to creamy colored belly with gold colored eyelids.

I use bottled water for him (Poland springs kind)

Tried to go to talktothefrog.org last night could not get onto site. I looked at 340 pics of frogs last night did not see one that looked exactly like mine. Looks similar to common TF, cuban TF, gray TF, but with color variations hard to tell. Will have husband try to download pic here for me.

Just to let you know I did do research prior to getting frog, but based everything on the care sheet for a Golden TF. When I called pet store to stay that based on the pics of GTF I was not sure that mine was a GTF, he said use the caresheet for a DUMPY tree frog and it was the same anyway.

Thanks so much for all your help'

Thanks for filling in the gaps ragdoll!

As for the pet store people, I would say that they are a very bad source of advice and I would stop calling them. I don't really have anybody in my area pet store wise that I can really trust with information and it scares me when I listen in to what they are telling people to do (like say using a red light for a salamader, treating the poor thing as if he was a lizard and not an amphibian, never mind that they white's tree frogs are placed in the warmest spots in their little enclosures with no humidity... I could go on and on)
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I think my frog owns a megaphone....

White's tree frogs : 1:1
Mantella viridis : 1:3

Your frog is nearly full grown, it is about the size of my presumed male RETF. I usually use 3/8th inch crickets. I buy them online for about $20 for 1000. I throw in around a dozen every other day. (I do lose some to the water area.)

As long as the water is spring water and not drinking water that is fine; drinking water usually contains additives for us that aren't good for frogs.

You don't have to get too worried about redoing the tank, just add the things as you can, like the plant etc.

I'd have to agree that pet stores mean well but don't usually have species specific information. They tend to only have to keep them for a short time so they sometimes don't have the best enviornments for them. I was told I needed UV bulbs for my fat tailed geckos only to find out they don't need it! And of course I couldn't return it then!

You can email me the photo if you have one and I could post it for you. I'm on yahoo.

Here are your pics you emailed.

other pic

THANK YOU for posting the pics!!!

Anybosy have a guess as to what type of TF he is?

I took the advise from yesterday, except I put wet paper towels in the bottom of the tank, I wanted to be able to see if he was pooing or not. which did seem to perk him up a bit he jumped on the glass wall and stayed thereafter a soak in the water.

BUT he did the frog thing and changed his color to his environment He is looking , color is pale green, skin looks smoother and most of the spots have dissapeard.

Thanks again, I realy appreciate all the help

I don't know enough about frogs to say, but everything I can find puts him closer to a type of gray. I can try posting it on talktothefrog and see if I can get an ID there.

How big is it? (I posted it on talktothefrog and that was asked, it was suggested by one that it may be a Cuban?)

This is a Cuban pic, looks close.

Well the overwhelming concensus is that it is a Cuban! The pic here is from one of the members of the frog.

They also indicated that if it was sold as a whites (I thought you mentioned) that you should get some money back as they sell for around $7 versus $20 or so for a whites.

Image

Thank you so much for all your help, you have been wonderful. I realy do appreciate all of your effort.

I had thought maybe cuban also, but with no knowledge of frog species and was just a wild guess.

Thanks for the thought on a refund, but my goal in finding out what kind of TDF he is, was just to find out best way to care for him.

Thanks for the pic of cuban, yes he soes look very much like that, so I will work off the pemise that he is a CubanTF

Thanks again