Gray tree frog

[matt palm]

This morning i found a gray tree frog can someone give me some insight about these things and how they are to keep as a pet.

[InfinitysDaughter]

There is a sticky at the top of the forum for them. They are a very VERY easy and hearty frog and one of the best in my opinion. Lucky you. ^w^ Post pics! I'd like to see!

[matt palm]

thanks i have had him for about three hours and she has already changed from a near white to a brown to match the branches she is on i do not have a cord in my possesion to put pics up but once i do i will get them up. also would you say the small exo terra terrarium would work fine.

[matt palm]

this is when i first found him( yes its a him he croaked at me) he was still pretty grayish white to match the steps he was on

[toxxxickitten]

Awww, he is adorable. I have two Grey Tree Frogs. I know one is definitely male as one croaks a lot - also I've been reading that males have yellow on their back legs. It gets brighter when around another male is around as sort of a warning type thing. If by Small Exo-Terra you mean the 12"x12"x12" - that should be fine to house just one Grey Tree Frog. I have the 18"x18"x18", I believe and have my two in that with PLENTY of room. I see them perched near each other all the time, though.

[matt palm]

yeah mine has really bright yellow on the inside of his back legs would you have any suggestions on what to get for a terraium set up like anything extra i need that doesnt come with the kit

[toxxxickitten]

yeah mine has really bright yellow on the inside of his back legs would you have any suggestions on what to get for a terraium set up like anything extra i need that doesnt come with the kit

Which kit are you looking at?

[matt palm]

the rainforest kit the small one

[Fae]

Sweet frog! I'm jealous

[toxxxickitten]

the rainforest kit the small one

Looking at the Exo-Terra Small Rainforest Kit the size is actually 12"x12"x18" which is plenty of room for one Grey Tree Frog. And looking at what it comes with it's pretty much everything you need - except for food, of course.

[greene]

I wish I could catch another one of them. What state did you catch I in?

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2

[matt palm]

far north eastern illinois antioch be exact about 1.5 miles south of wisconsin. this morning about 11 am i was walking into my dads shop i saw some gray thing sitting on a step i origonaly thought it was rock but it moved so i nabbed it and saw the yellow on the back legs and knew it was a gray tree frog i think i only found it because of all the rain last night plus i found another american toad by some bushes in my yard about 20 minutes later.

[matt palm]

at about 9 pm i went outside to catch a moth for my gray to see if he would eat it tonight and when i went to put it in the cage with him he was turning green his upper body like above his legs were green and his sides were grey he looked really cool im so happy i got this little bugger

[InfinitysDaughter]

I know one is definitely male as one croaks a lot - also I've been reading that males have yellow on their back legs. It gets brighter when around another male is around as sort of a warning type thing.

Thats actually not true. My Hellen had yellow on her back legs and she was most definitely female. Its just part of the coloring for the species. Its possible that it gets brighter when another male is around (but it would make more sense that it would get brighter when a female is around. kinda like a male bird plumping up its colorful feathers to impress a possible mate) but I'm not sure. But all Grays have the yellow on the inner parts of the back legs.

Grays are easy to tell if there male or female. White throat is girl, dark brown or black is male. This wont change even when they change to match there surroundings. They are very chameleon like. Hell displayed all kinds of colors from almost pure white to a green very similar to my store bought green tree frog (yup. even though there "gray" they can still turn green to blend in) to almost black and every color in between. Females make noises similar to croaking but not as often as males do. Hellen sometimes made this chirping noise around dinner time or when the cat was being too friendly with the tank. Azy (my whites female) made this little call a few times since I've had her but nothing constant.

Now constant calling could either be a male or a female who desires constant attention (they are a communal frog by nature). Now some may disagree with me but Hell always loved it when I took her out of her tank and handled her. She would sit on my upper chest and watch tv with me or on my shoulder ect ect. They are a very hardy frog and do stand up to handling pretty well. So if you have a white throat you do have a girl but if shes making lots of noise you may look into getting her a tank mate (I got Percy, a captive bred green and they were actually very happy together. you could also look around and see if you can find another gray) or lavish her with attention yourself. :3

[matt palm]

yeah the part that expandes when she croaks is white but just below her mouth is a grayish color and i was thinking about getting another frog in close relation to a gray and i have never seen a wild gray until today. my parents made me put it in my basement tonight because they wanted to see if it would wake them up when its down stairs and if it doesnt i get to keep it

[InfinitysDaughter]

Sounds like you do have a boy. A young boy, but a boy non the less. If you get another gray from the wild and its female, be careful. They could breed and you could have a bunch of tadpolls you didn't expect to have. XD

And despite what others say, Greens and Grays CAN be mixed with no harm to either one. It is NOT recommended to mix species unless you know for sure but I can attest from personal experience that if you have enough room then a green and gray will be perfectly happy together. If you go to the store to pic out a green try (and I say try because the greens we have at work are REALLY good at hiding during work hours) to pick one that is a good size. If the worker helping you seems knowledgeable of the frogs habits ask which one is the best eater. My Green, Percy, was small at first and Helly did take all the crickets when they first started living together. I put Percy in her own tank for about a month to fatten her up (which turned into several months cuse that was when the cat got ahold of Percy) and when I put her back in with Hell she was more assertive and though dinner time looked like a scene from "West Side Story" while the two stared each other down in the center of the tank, they both got plenty to eat and never physically fought over food.

[UncleChester]

I wouldn't put more than one adult gray treefrog in a 12"x12"x18" tank. I also wouldn't consider mixing another type of frog with it given that this sounds like your first frog and definitely not in an enclosure this small. Your frog has no need of a companion, they don't get lonely, they don't need friends, just food and an appropriate enclosure. You might consider getting some live plants to go in your tank. Pothos, aka Devils Ivy, is a readily available and very easy to care for plant if you want something simple to start with.

You can try earthworms as food as well as the moths. Earthworms are awesome nutritionally but not all frogs have an interest. Make sure any feeders you collect are from a pesticide and chemical free area.

I've never heard of the yellow/orange colours inside the legs being used to communicate any kind of warning to other frogs. They're referred to as "flash colours" and are believed to startle predators when the frog goes to flee by suddenly becoming colourful. Females have the same colouration as males here.

I don't find the throat being dark or light a reliable indication of male or female. I have 2 males and one female, one of the males has a noticeably lighter throat than the other two, the other male is pretty much the same as the female. I've also seen numerous wild calling grays with light throats. It could be my local population though.

You don't really have to worry about them breeding spontaneously in captivity if you did add another one. They generally need to be cycled (go through a cooling period) to breed and then kept in very warm and humid (or even raining) conditions and have an appropriate place to lay the eggs. I don't cycle mine and my female shows absolutely no interest in the advances of the male she's in with.

[InfinitysDaughter]

You don't really have to worry about them breeding spontaneously in captivity if you did add another one. They generally need to be cycled (go through a cooling period) to breed and then kept in very warm and humid (or even raining) conditions and have an appropriate place to lay the eggs. I don't cycle mine and my female shows absolutely no interest in the advances of the male she's in with.

But if you get a male and female from the wild at the same time during breeding season it is possible that they will breed since they've already been threw a natural wild cycle. All wild grays really need to breed is a water source (a water bowl large enough for them both would suffice) and a leaf hanging into the water to hold the eggs. The likelyhood of the eggs all hatching or the tads not dieing from lack of space is pretty low but its still possible for them to breed since they've already been cycled. After this year, though, they wouldn't breed unless they are artificially cycled.

[UncleChester]

I wonder what the smallest space a gray treefrog eggmass has been found in? I've never found them outside puddles that can easily hold the mass, which is fairly large.

In any case, if it did happen and it's legal where you are, the eggs can be returned to the wild before they hatch if they are undesired. Or culled. I'm still opposed to putting more than one in 12x12x18 enclosure.

[matt palm]

welp this morning i came down stairs to check on it and he was gone i spent 45 minutes before school looking for him then after school my friend and family helped me look i know he is some where in my basement he has no where to go so im going to sit down here tonight to listen if he croaks