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Pacific tree frog growth

dracaena828 Apr 08, 2008 05:32 PM

Hi all~
I am a newbie the world of frogs, being more of a reptile person, and have a few questions...

Last summer I caught some tadpoles intending to feed them to some stubborn baby garter snakes (don't hate me! these little snakes had me desperate, they wouldn't eat!!). Well this plan went out the window as soon as I took them home and set them up in a little tank, they were way too cute. I learned after that it could have been disasterous for my snakes in terms of parasites too, so it all worked out well (the snakes started eating fish later just fine). But now I had a bunch of little tadpoles and no clue what to do with them.

Thanks to the internet and several helpful websites I managed to get most all of them raised successfully and ended up with several California toads and Pacific tree frogs. My sister took the toads and I kept the frogs. I started out with five frogs, but had a problem with my fruit fly supply at the local petco for a period over winter, and three of the tiniest babies died. Now I have two strong, healthy (I think) little froglets who are big enough to eat small crickets.

My questions for you guys are:
1) How big should these guys be? They seem a little small to me, but I really have no clue. They are about 3/4" long, and have started growing a lot in the last month since I switched them to crickets.
2) How often should I be offering them crickets? The first time I fed them some (totally unsure if they would even be able to eat them, but they managed) they ate until they threw up, then tried to eat some more... Do frogs always eat too much like that, or were they just hungry from not getting enough nutrition from the flies?

Thanks for any advice. I am totally captivated with these little guys and want to do the best for them. They are in a 20 gal planted with many plants and a waterbowl in the center that has plastic plants so they don't drown. They have a low watt lamp over one end of the tank because of the cold weather, but I will be stopping that now that it is warming up. I mist the tank heavily once a day, and water the plants about every week or so.
Angela
Angela

Replies (1)

valleyrattler77 May 26, 2008 11:54 PM

Pacific treefrogs are a small species, and smaller species usually grow slower than a big species. 3/4" seems about right, the average size(according to Stebbins field guide) is 3/4-2". I have caught many of these, and the have been all different sizes and colors. They are also extremely voracious when feeding, going after pretty much any bug I threw in there.
As a matter of fact, I just brought home about 20 tadpoles from my buddies creek, and they are pacific treefrogs. Great little frog, and your set up sounds good. They are mostly found in grasses and shrubbery and rocks, close to the ground and a source of water. A good way to feed these guys is to get a live bug trap like for kids, and feed this to the frogs.

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