Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi Froggers!

I have a question and was hoping the nice folks here can help me out. I was wondering about the "panamanian ruby red-eyed tree frogs" on the classifieds. I have a few questiosn concerning them:
1. Are those a different subspecies from the regular red-eye tree frogs...or is it a variation or morph?
2. Are those rare and somewhat highly sought after?
3. Can those be breed with reguar red-eye tree frogs?

Thanks for the help in advance!

Red eyed leaf (tree) frogs are distributed from southern Mexico down into Panama-almost to South America. There are a couple different color morphs that are linked to the geographic area in which the leaf frogs reside. RETF from the northern-most part of the range (i.e; southern mexico) have orange inner thighs and generally have a darker green dorsal color. These frogs when seen in the trade are usually wild caught and may have been illegaly exported as Mexico doesnt allow legal exportation of their fauna. The southern color morph is the most desired as the inner thighs are a bright blue, the colors all-around tend to be brighter, and the cream/yellow colored "bars" on the sides of the frog are more in number and better defined. The "Panamanian RETF" is from the southern part of the species geographic range and thus has high color contrast, blue thighs, and tend to be "prettier" to most people. All across the range, though, one can see differences in the richness of the red eye color. It is my opinion through personal experience that eye color doesn't have much to do with geographic distribution; It's a genetic thing. so...
1)No, they are not subspecies, just a different color morph.
2)They are somewhat "rare" in the trade and are more sought after.
3)They CAN be bred to "regular" RETF PROVIDED that the mating pair in question is from the same geographic area - You can breed a northern (orange thigh) to a southern (blue thigh), but chances are the eggs will be invalid.

I hope I wasn't too long-winded. I just wanted you to have as much info as possible. These frogs are almost ALWAYS wild caught and may not fare well in captivity. I have 3 and have had luck, but it hasn't been easy. I hope this post is of some help.
JT

Well, you've certainly shed some bright light on the issue. Can't thank you enough. Now to figure out how to get a breeding pair that works ( from the same region...like you said) of panamaniam RETF and a regular RETF....