Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello,
I recently acquired a gray tree frog. I already set up ten gallon tank for him/her. I used leaves for substrate and put up branches of varying width around the tank for perches. I also put a large water bowl on one side. I put a clamp light on top for heat. I used a regular light bulb, is that ok? Should I get a UV light for him/her? I already gave him/her five pinheads, but I don't know if he/she ate any yet. Does this setup sound safe enough? Am I doing anything wrong? Also, how do you sex gray tree frogs? I'm getting pretty tired of refering to him/her as him/her.
Thanks,
Sarah

Sarah,

You won't be able to sex your frogs until they are mature. If it trills this spring it's male. Females of this species will not call (except when in severe distress) and some males are less vocal than others so this is not foolproof. Eventually the females will prove larger than the male counterparts, but that's not foolproof wither, since a runt female may appear to be a male.

Your regular lightbulb is fine since they don't need any heat at all. You don't say which species this is but both Hyla chrysoscelis and H. versicolor are temperate rather than tropical, so they can handle a wider temperature range than your house will have. The light is just to define day from night.

And in the event that he/she decides to brumate you won't need light at all. It's not likely in such a young frog, but sometimes even though they are in a nice warm home (relative to outdoor temps) they will burrow under the substrate, stop eating, and not come out for months. In case your frog does do this, this year or next, you will want to continue to provide clean fresh water but move the tank to a cool room. 50F/10C degrees is ideal. This is to assist the frog in his quest to rest his metabolism. You shouldn't never initiate or force brumation, but if the frog decides to do it, just assist this way.

Henry Capobianco

Hi,
Thanks for the information. I don't know what specie he/she is. Are there any differences? None of the websites I found mentioned any. How do you determine age? He/she's about two inches long. When I first had him/her he/she was inactive. Then he/she grew active, and now I can't see him/her. But I think I know where he/she is. Is he/she brumating? Should I take away the light now?
Thanks again,
Sarah

At two inches yours is a mature GTF. You may be able to determine species based on where you live. If you were in Boston it would certainly be H. versicolor; in the south in would have to be H. chrysoscelis, but in the middle there is some overlap of species.

The only other ways to specify are by the call -- the southern species' trill is twice as fast -- or by counting chromosomes -- the northern species is a tetraploid mutation and has twice as many chromosomes as the southern one. But the latter method is hard to do without disturbing the frog.

Don't take away the light. As I mentioned, it will serve to differentiate between day and night. Brumating is similar to hibernating so, no, your frog is clearly not brumating if he/she is still moving around.

HC