Hello! And a little help?

[MrsFuller]

Hi! I'm Stephanie from West Virginia, originally from Maryland (and that's where I still work, as a 2nd grade teacher.) I have never had anything except furry pets and fish (and the occasional hermit crab,) and now I have three baby frogs! In my classroom, every year, we get a frog egg mass and raise our tadpoles into frogs. Usually, we release the native frogs into our school pond (which is a lovely place for a frog to live.) This year, I decided to take 3 of the babies (and a few kids adopted some too) and try to raise them up over the summer. Now I'm home with a tank of frogs, and I'm not sure what to do next! I don't know what type of frog they are. I know close to NOTHING about frogs, other than what we learn in 2nd grade. I have had them alive for 5 or 6 weeks since they changed from froglets, though, so it must not be too hard to keep them alive! I've been putting some fish-based reptile/amphibian food in their tank in a water bottle cap, and sprinkling some "tadpole" food we got with our egg mass. I think it's for water frogs. These aren't water frogs, or tree frogs. Unfortunately the only information that came with the egg mass was that they were "native" and that we could release them near a pond or take them home with us. I think the supplier assumes the frogs won't make it very long, so why give any more information? (haha.)

Since I'm new here, I don't want to be obnoxious, but if there's anyone who could give me some advice, it'd be greatly appreciated! I've been searching for weeks to find out what kind of frogs these are, and no success. They are starting to have some distinct spots on their backs and around their faces, but I'm still lost. I'm thinking wood frogs or leopard frogs? I'll ATTEMPT to attach a picture.

A lady at a pet store suggested I try flightless fruit flies for food. How do I know if the frogs are actually eating? I haven't purchased the fruit flies yet. They were a little expensive for feeding a science experiment. But now that I want to keep these frogs as pets, and classroom pets next school year, I need to get them on a nutritious diet that's right for them.

Thank you so much, and I'm glad to be here! I'll sift through some posts next to see if I can get more information

[DonLisk]

Welcome to the forum and hopefully members here will provide the advice you need to keep the frogs healthy and growing.

My 1st suggestion would be to have a substrate based on either coco fiber. Eco Earth and Plantation Soil are two that work well with frogs.
Since your going to want to keep the humidity level around 50 to 60 percent during the day, the mentioned substrates will hold moisture and help here as would some live plants. even some cuttings of Pothos, Creeping Fig, and/or some ivy would help give places to feel secure while helping maintain humidity.

Flightless Fruit Flies are a great meal for these frogs and can be purchased at Petco for about 10 bucks a jar. The jar will produce flies for about three weeks.
Now I will suggest you check out Josh's Frogs - Largest online herps feeders and reptile supplies store for some info on fruit flies (has great videos) and how to produce your own.
Much less expensive if your keeping the frogs long term.

Flightless Fruit Flies, although they don't fly, will escape the tank even through most screen materials so having a secured up top will help reduce the flood of flies in your home.
Have a piece of plexi glass cut at a local Lowes or similar hardware store. I think I pay 6 bucks for a thin sheet and they cut it free.

To help keep the flies localized for feeding, you can set up a feeding station by placing a piece of banana in the tank and the flies will flock to it.
I usually put the banana in large bottle cap like the cap that would come with orange juice. Just crush the banana right in and you can leave it there to just melt away.

Another option is to feed Pinhead Crickets, which are newborn cricks. Your local pet stores should be able to order them in for you or you can buy them online too.


Besides that the only other thing I would provide is a water dish for them to soak in (no deeper than the frogs shoulders) and a stick or similar for them to climb onto.
Oh, make sure the water is declorinated tap water or bottled spring water and not distilled water.
They need the nutrients and minerals from the water.

[MrsFuller]

Thanks for all your tips! I'm doing most of those things. I do need some plants and I think I will try the fruit flies. The smallest crickets the pet store had were twice the size of my frogs... so maybe later with the crickets I've been buying spring water by the gallon since I had the 38 tadpoles. So now that it's just these three frogs, I've got that under control.

Thanks again! I'm excited to see where these baby frogs go. If they don't last long (and I don't have high-hopes, they were only meant for a 2nd grade science unit) I just might have to venture into the frog world anyway! Their habitats are fun to create and I can't wait to see if I get to hear some croaking.

[DonLisk]

Fruit Flies are a good meal and the rogs should goright after them. It is recommended you dust the fruit flies with a calcium supplement which is available in powder form at pet stores. When the frogs are froglets it is recommended to dust daily and then cut back to about three times a week as adults.

Dusting the flies is easy. I drop a very small amount into a 32 oz cup, then sprinkle in the flies. After a quick shake, you can scoop the flies out with a plastic spoon. I dump the flies right on to the banana.