Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hello all, im new to owning a WTF. ive always wanted one and this past monthe it has come to time that it was reasonable to get one without many questions. im a photographer so i had a grant that i could use to pay for them from my school. i have my white in a nice set up 5 gallon tank righ now sence hes a baby and while hes in that im refinishing my old 45gal hex tank. ive own almost any pet thats allowed and some that arnt at one point or another.
ive done lots of research but still have many questions. i just got my white about 4 days ago and hes doing fine and hes eating great. however in the small tank (witch will change soon) his humity is 70-80. online i know they say 60 is best for them but is 80 to hight? can it hurt him?
my second question is that even though hes eating i havnt started to power or gut my crickets and i was wondering do yall have any suggestive to the product i should use? and how often should i fead him?
and my third question is my white is about 2 and a half inches, how can you tell how old are they from there size? is it possible? the petstore i got him from was no help in this question.
my last question is that online it says that white turn brown because of stress or enviroment. well mine is blue green what would be the best way to keep him that color?
sorry for this long post but agin im new to frogs and this the first frog i ever own and even though i know alot about animals i know not nearly enought about frogs as i should.
thanks agin guys and gals

i also wanted to add one more question. when i put him in the 45gal hex tank you think i should get a nother WTF as a tank mate?
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*SNAP* Now thats a Picture.

-John

Sizes are not always the same with WTF's, so its quite hard to determine age fom size (this also applies to some other herps as well). Another factor is subspecies. If its an Australian CB, then it should be bulkier and bigger than the Indonesian counterpart species. Both are almost identical except of size and girth.
Colour of WTF varies quite a bit, especialy now that captive breeding is common, so sometimes its easy to find some colour mutations (albino and some being natural brown). As far as greener ones go, they tend to turn to brown if they are stressed. Most people have a misconception of animals changing colour to "blend in with the background/habitat" Actualy most animals change colour coz of stress (like chameleons and WTF's, some asian agamids, one i know is called localy as a "bunglon"
45 gallons seems like a nice spacious place for one. If your into breeding than definetly get another. Basicaly most herps dont care for socialization/"friends" Its every frog for themselves out there, but they would tolerate and live with other frogs. Simple rule, one male per tank to several females. (this applies mostly for reptiles), since males can tend to be agressive and teritorial.
If you want to keep him on his own, thats fine. If you want another tankmate for him, thats also fine. Just make sure that they are at about the same size. I've read that WTF's are able to eat smaller frogs in the tank if your not careful.
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My "babies" :
1.0.1 Indo BTS (Tiliqua gigas gigas)
1.0.2 RES (Trachemys scripta elegans)
0.0.1 Amboina box turtles (Cuora amboinensis)
1.0.0 Chinese softshell (Trionyx sinensis)
1.0.0 Asian leaf turtle (Cyclemys dentata)
1.0.0 Leopard gecko (Eublepharis macularius)
1.0.1 Indonesian Whites Tree Frogs (Litoria caerulea)
And hopefuly still growing...

Almost forgot. As far as humidity goes, a slight fluctuation wotn usualy be a harm for them (especialy since yours is a temporary quarter for him). But, just in case, i would drill some holes to get better air circulation to reduce any excess. Just make sure the tanks clean. That kind of humidity is a perfect place for fungus and bacteria to multiply, so just keep the tank clean. On reptiles, any excess humidity can cause some simptoms like pneumonia. I'm not very familiar with amphibians, but why take any chances?
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My "babies" :
1.0.1 Indo BTS (Tiliqua gigas gigas)
1.0.2 RES (Trachemys scripta elegans)
0.0.1 Amboina box turtles (Cuora amboinensis)
1.0.0 Chinese softshell (Trionyx sinensis)
1.0.0 Asian leaf turtle (Cyclemys dentata)
1.0.0 Leopard gecko (Eublepharis macularius)
1.0.1 Indonesian Whites Tree Frogs (Litoria caerulea)
And hopefuly still growing...

thanks for the responce im working more on the 45gal to set it up today. i remove the glass top and put 2 sections of plexy glass witch i drilled alot of hole in. ive been replacing his water daily and try to remove all his poo (if i can find it)
ive notice a little brown turing on him so im taking hes stress in the small tank so im going to work fast to get him in that new one and hope that helps.
last night (for the first time) he started doing a low cherp/ croke. im taking this means hes a male? or do females also croke every so often?
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*SNAP* Now thats a Picture.

-John

oh sorry frogot to ask How much should i handle my frog? right now i handle him from 1-10 minutes when i change out his water.

also should i gut and poweder my crickets?
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*SNAP* Now thats a Picture.

-John

ALWAYS gutload everything, and you can put the calcium on most of his feeder insects, vitamins and minerals 1-2 times a week if you want.

While white's are more tolerating of being handled, they shouldn't be handled unless you have too. I don't even touch mine to change their water unless they are sitting in it, then I just nudge them out of the way.

As for the male-female ratio given, that is strictly for reptiles. With frogs, its the females of the species that get territorial and aggressive (why some darts can only be kept one female to a tank)With white's, whatever you place in there will be fine. With a 45 gallon, you could put in three frogs comfortably if you wanted. General rule there is 20 gallons to one frog, then ten for every additional frog.

The humidity can be kept between 60-80, but I wouldn't go higher than that. If its too humid, don't mist for a bit. White's generally do better with a well ventilated tank, although I have heard of some that completely cover their tanks. (water dish is always necessary)They are great frogs to keep!

If your frog is calling, chances are he is male, since the females don't usually call unless they are under stress (mine calls at the vet's)
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I think my frog owns a megaphone....

White's tree frogs : 1:1
Mantella viridis : 1:2

im logging on to write this question at 10 30 at night, my white just camp down from the top of the tank and got a cricket. however he was very swollen and look as if he had a slime coming out of his mouth and on his arm .his somich was getting realy big then going back normal, then swollen agin realy fast as if he was throwing up. is this natural? after about 5 mins the slime was gone but he still looked puffy.about 10 mins later he looked normal agin

also i gave him 4 chrcikets. how many do you think he should get?

thanks agin for all the replys
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*SNAP* Now thats a Picture.

-John

Are you feeding him too big of crickets? They should be the size of the distance between the frogs eyes for reference.

They should be eating everyday if they are babies, every other for juvies and every 2-3 days as adults.

You will want to be dusting the crickets every other feeding, you can have serious problems in the long run if you don't.

Always gutload the crickets before feeding with carrot, potato, fish flakes, cricket feed etc. Just put them into a cricket keeper the day before with the food. You may eventually want to check into online crickets, it's cheaper and more convenient, wormman.com is a good one.

Also don't get too concerned with the color thing. Some whites never turn brown, others are always brown (especially the Aussies) just make sure the temps and humidity are correct and you'll be fine.

I would try to lower your humidity though, they don't need it that high so that is a bit of stress for them and besides it promotes mold growth.

A good place to chat with a lot of whites people is the repticzone forums.

It sounds as if your frog was shedding. (white slime kinda gave it away). He was probably making himself larger in order to loosen the shed skin, then they eat it. A yummy little snack.

Four to six crickets every couple of days is pretty good for one frog (I would say put in four, if he eats them all, next time put in five, if they are all gone then put in six.) I feed mine every three days with butterworms as snacks in between. (they will only eat one a night, since I hand feed those).

Another great spot for frogs is the frog, talkto.thefrog.org
their are alot of people that go on there with white's and many many other types of frogs.
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I think my frog owns a megaphone....

White's tree frogs : 1:1
Mantella viridis : 1:2