Hey folks. My girlfriend rescued a couple green tree frogs from her college's science department(they ordered too many for some experiments, so she took them to give them a better chance at survival) I'm caring for them for a few days while she tends to work and prepares a real tank for the most beneficial living conditions, so in the meantime they are in a 16x8x12 inch plastic carrier with some basic living arrangements. Im watering and feeding them properly and looking after temperatures, but being brand new at frog care, Im not sure how to assess their health.
They eat their crickets well and get very active in escaping my touch, which is a good thing I presume, but beyond that they exhibit almost no activity. Its not strange for me to come home from work and find they haven't moved an inch in 4-6 hours. This is especially true for the bigger one. The smaller one loves to stick to the top and sides of the carrier, but the larger one will pick a spot and just sit there for hours and hours, usually only moves when I spray him. They get pretty active for a little bit after I feed them.
I have a suspicion that since there isnt much greenery for me to put in with them that they may feel out of their element. Could this be the problem, that they feel exposed without being surrounded by plants? I took them from the carrier to look after the contents and they first thing they did was jump into the flowers nearby on the table.
I'm trying to leave them alone and not move their carrier, as I can only presume that being shipped for laboratory purposes, they may have gone through a lot more stress than frogs bred for pet stores, and I want them to calm down as we prepare a new life for them, theyve been moved a lot this week.
So, the questions I have really are:
1. What are some quick rules of thumb for assessing the GTFs health?
2. How harmful is it having them in this smaller, sparse environment while we put together a habitat?
3. How active should they be when they arent being hassled by feeding hands and whatnot? I havent really noticed a difference in activity in day or night thusfar, just when we are bugging them, feeding them, whatnot.
4. The smaller one does things the larger does not when eating. For instance he will sit back on his hind feet and bend at the stomach, or stretch a leg out behind him a couple time, almost like he has to stretch to move is food. What does this indicate? Could his crickets be too big for his little gut?
Thanks for reading all of this, I hope I can get some insight from you folks, as most sites I've found on GTF's list the same info, temperature and food and whatnot and dont really address the reality of these froggies.
-SkilletAudio
