Why won't my Red Eye eat? Is she behaving normally?

[MantidBro]

Why hasnt my Red-Eyed Tree Frog eaten yet?

I tried a few methods of feeding because shes not showing any interest. Is that normal when you first get them? ive had her 3 days and 2 nights. i tried the feeding bowl method, where i put some crickets in a slippery glass bowl which is about 2" deep. I let some loose in her cage when that didnt work, they were walking right past her, quite a few times, and she didnt eat any. So i put some crickets in a separate container and then put her in it, but she was only focused on escaping. So i put her back because she seemed stressed out by that. And i just left 9 in her cage. i didnt see her eat any, but maybe she has as i was sleeping, ill check to see if any are missing right now, while she is asleep. Well one is missing but i cant be sure she actually ate it, or if it just escaped somehow, when i lifted the lid. If this hesitation is not normal could you please give me some ideas that may help her eat? Three sides of her cage are covered with nature pictures, and ive even covered half of the free side, so shes not seeing me. Temp and humidity is exactly where it should be according to the two gauges ive got, ive got a couple different ones, both digital, theyre only one degree farenheit apart, if not exactly on the dot. Shes only awake for like 1-3 hours, even at night, she always just goes back to sleep! is that normal?

Temperature/humidity:



Feeding bowl:



Sleeping right under light?:



Half of free side covered as she becomes used to her new home:



UV lamp on this side, small heating pad on the other (front corner)...



One of the water dishes... Both only chin deep

[DigitalPunk]

Red Eye Tree frogs are known for going on hunger strikes when they are stressed. The best thing you can do is let him/her be and try to limit your activity in the tank so you are done adding food and fresh water about 30 min to 60 mins before the lights go out. Reds can go up to 2 weeks without eating before you should start getting concerned. Just be patient. Keep doing what you are doing. If your frog was shipped to you it will be very very stressed.

Put fresh food in every night just like you have been and things will work out. If at the 2 week mark there is still not eating going on than it will be time to look into moving to a smaller enclosure to feed, but this will stress the frog out as well.


The humidity is a bit high for Reds. You want it more around the 70% range.

[MantidBro]

Red Eye Tree frogs are known for going on hunger strikes when they are stressed. The best thing you can do is let him/her be and try to limit your activity in the tank so you are done adding food and fresh water about 30 min to 60 mins before the lights go out. Reds can go up to 2 weeks without eating before you should start getting concerned. Just be patient. Keep doing what you are doing. If your frog was shipped to you it will be very very stressed.

Put fresh food in every night just like you have been and things will work out. If at the 2 week mark there is still not eating going on than it will be time to look into moving to a smaller enclosure to feed, but this will stress the frog out as well.


The humidity is a bit high for Reds. You want it more around the 70% range.

Thank you very much. I didnt realise they were this sensitive mentally. I though it was more of a physical thing. I had held her the first day of getting her for minute or two, when setting things up. And last night when i moved her to a smaller container as a last resort to see if shed eat. I was told that they shouldnt be held because theyll be stressed out, and are sensitive, but i was skeptical. But now im just thinking i was being a fool! i thought she was okay, because she was crawling up my arm and from hand to hand, but not jumping away, so it felt to me that she was okay with it, because she wasnt frozen with fear, or trying to escape. But maybe she was just too scared to jump away because of the new sights? Like she didnt know where shed be jumping to. I dont hold her for fun but for last resorts, but now i wont even do that, i wont transport her to a smaller cage out of hopes that she will eat. And ill just set up, or clean, or change her water bowls as shes asleep. Ill just continue putting crickets in a feeding bowl before the lights go out too. I know she can see them so its only a matter of time. I will try to ignore her for a while. Maybe my checking on her is a stress as well. I should start peeking from behind the blanket, rather than standing right there in front of her.

Oh thats too high? i was told it should be anywhere from 70-80. Well thank you, ill let it get closer to 70.

She was actually shipped to petco after i requested one. Then was right there is front of every passer by! i didnt particularly like that. The guy who moved her to a transportation box didnt wash his hands before handling her either! not sure petco knows much about red eyes...

[DigitalPunk]

Some frogs deal with being handled better than others, but they all do see us as a predator and can stress them out. The bigger worry is the oils and soap/lotions/sweat/insert other chemical here that could be on your skin. All frogs absorb moisture through their skin and can get poisoned or become ill from contact with human skin.

Ask petco to see if this frog was Captive Bred or wild caught. Odds are it is wild caught which will lead to them being more stressed out initially. Wild Caught frogs just went through be taken from their home and shipped halfway across the world. Then taken by you home and put in a cage.

Keep doing what you said previously. Offer fresh food nightly. Uneaten crickets can be put back in with the other crickets so they can eat and drink so they are ready to be food another night. Change the water everyday and try to not stalk him to much until he adjusts to his new environment.

What size of enclosure is he/she in? I looks like a 10g tank. This will be fine for the first 30 - 60 days or so but you will want to move him/her into something taller after that. Tree frogs are aboreal and do not like being down on the ground. This is most likely why He/She is sleeping as close to the top of the tank as possible. Your frog looks like it is at least a sub adult if not an adult. You will want to look at 24" to 36" tall enclosures for him/her.

The 10 gallon should really be setup like a hospital tank / Quarantine tank. No Soil, no plants (some plant clippings for hiding and climbing on is fine) a water bowl, and Damp (use Dechlorinated water for soaking the paper towels, misting, and the water bowl) unprinted paper towels as a substrate. This type of setup will help you get to know your frog and allow you to see any poop. With your frog being a potential wild caught animal I HIGHLY recommend you do 2 fecal tests 2 weeks apart to make sure he/she does not have any parasites.

[MantidBro]

Some frogs deal with being handled better than others, but they all do see us as a predator and can stress them out. The bigger worry is the oils and soap/lotions/sweat/insert other chemical here that could be on your skin. All frogs absorb moisture through their skin and can get poisoned or become ill from contact with human skin.

Ask petco to see if this frog was Captive Bred or wild caught. Odds are it is wild caught which will lead to them being more stressed out initially. Wild Caught frogs just went through be taken from their home and shipped halfway across the world. Then taken by you home and put in a cage.

Keep doing what you said previously. Offer fresh food nightly. Uneaten crickets can be put back in with the other crickets so they can eat and drink so they are ready to be food another night. Change the water everyday and try to not stalk him to much until he adjusts to his new environment.

What size of enclosure is he/she in? I looks like a 10g tank. This will be fine for the first 30 - 60 days or so but you will want to move him/her into something taller after that. Tree frogs are aboreal and do not like being down on the ground. This is most likely why He/She is sleeping as close to the top of the tank as possible. Your frog looks like it is at least a sub adult if not an adult. You will want to look at 24" to 36" tall enclosures for him/her.

The 10 gallon should really be setup like a hospital tank / Quarantine tank. No Soil, no plants (some plant clippings for hiding and climbing on is fine) a water bowl, and Damp (use Dechlorinated water for soaking the paper towels, misting, and the water bowl) unprinted paper towels as a substrate. This type of setup will help you get to know your frog and allow you to see any poop. With your frog being a potential wild caught animal I HIGHLY recommend you do 2 fecal tests 2 weeks apart to make sure he/she does not have any parasites.

My frogs dont have to worry about chemicals being on my hands so much. Im actually quite sensitive as well. Hmm im always clammy too, maybe IM a frog! :P well anyways i dont use cologne or spray or lotion. I really only use shampoo, and bars of soap, usually dove. honestly even deodorant i dont use as often as most people because not only is it known for being a carcinogen, but i have negative reactions to just about every kind there is! despite all this, i still wash my hands with antibacterial soap before handling any frog of mine, for te sake of germs and my sweaty, salty skin. And i rinse thoroughly, being sure not to leave a single trace. I even be sure to dry them with a new towel. ive heard of people wearing powder free gloves, would that be best?

Okay ill see if ican call petco tomorrow. I dont blame the little one for being stressed! id be stressed too. Animals are more like people than many seem to understand. If it would stress us out... Itd stress them out! I personally think that i have more of an animal mind than a human mind... LOL.

Just put new crickets in, ley te oyher back in the container to eat and such. Just changed the water too, before Frenchy woke up. Ive stopped stalking him, i have been extra careful today. I move the blanket, the "curtain", so only my eye can see through and nothing else. I dont think Frenchy even saw me, she was more active than usual. She jumped down into the cricket bowl, didnt eat any, but started doing those shedding movements. I slid a video behind the curtain so i could get footage of it and post it here. I didnt see any skin coming off but she was definitely doing shedding movements.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0evV...ature=youtu.be And she turned a darker green color during that process. What does this mean? after that she had quite a big poop, which i broke apart and took photos of. Looks healthy to me, and wasnt horrible smelling, just a tad smelly, but nothing absolutely horrible.


She laid it in the water bowl so it got wet.

Seeing all that, makes me realise how much they really hate being watched! my gray tree frog isnt like that. Goes to show that different species are just that, different.


Yeah i was thinking subadult/adult as well. Shes about 3" from snout to vent. i was planning to move her to something bigger as well. I just have to buy a new screen for the lid for that one. Thats one that can be put to stand tall, like 3 feet tall. The one i have now is about 1 1/2 feet tall.

[DigitalPunk]

Yes powder free gloves are best. Even the cleanest we can try to get our skin is still risky with frogs.

Pooping is a good sign!!

They are very skitish when they shed. It is a very vulnerable time for them (great video of it by the way). Sometimes it is hard to see, but they are sucking the skin from their body into the corners of their mouth and eating it.

Reds change into their hunting cloths at night when they are comfortable and will turn that shade of dark green. During the day they will attempt to match what they are sleeping on. One of my reds fell asleep next to the little blue LED light of the Ceramic Heat emitter dome one night and his back leg and shoulder turned an almost blue color to try and blend it. I have seen them stay dar during the day if they are sleeping on an especially dark leaf.

All of her actions and behavior points to her settling in. Keep doing what you are doing and she will eat for you

3" sounds like you go a female and most likely an adult (since she is at her max size). Males tend to be 2 - 2.5 inches

One other pro tip is Reds will not over eat. They will stop once they are full so feel free to put 6 - 8 crickets in the bowl for her each night and let her eat what she needs. I have noticed that if you put to many crickets in one bowl the reds wont go in to get any.... I wouldn't dive into a bowl with 20 crickets in it either lol.

Keep us updated! Beautiful frog btw!

[MantidBro]

Yes powder free gloves are best. Even the cleanest we can try to get our skin is still risky with frogs.

Pooping is a good sign!!

They are very skitish when they shed. It is a very vulnerable time for them (great video of it by the way). Sometimes it is hard to see, but they are sucking the skin from their body into the corners of their mouth and eating it.

Reds change into their hunting cloths at night when they are comfortable and will turn that shade of dark green. During the day they will attempt to match what they are sleeping on. One of my reds fell asleep next to the little blue LED light of the Ceramic Heat emitter dome one night and his back leg and shoulder turned an almost blue color to try and blend it. I have seen them stay dar during the day if they are sleeping on an especially dark leaf.

All of her actions and behavior points to her settling in. Keep doing what you are doing and she will eat for you

3" sounds like you go a female and most likely an adult (since she is at her max size). Males tend to be 2 - 2.5 inches

One other pro tip is Reds will not over eat. They will stop once they are full so feel free to put 6 - 8 crickets in the bowl for her each night and let her eat what she needs. I have noticed that if you put to many crickets in one bowl the reds wont go in to get any.... I wouldn't dive into a bowl with 20 crickets in it either lol.

Keep us updated! Beautiful frog btw!

Okay thanks I think I'll start using them. We've got some in the house.

Yeah I was thinking so too! No parasites or blood or anything abnormal in the feces which is also a good sign.

She's been making those shedding movement since I got her. That's 3 nights. Is that normal? Are they supposed to shed all at once, or does it happened over the span of a few days? I was nervous to take a video after realising just how sensitive they are mentally but I wanted to be able to post it here and get opinions, particularly yours. That's really interesting, that they suck their skin into their mouth and eat it! So that's why they open their mouth up wide huh? I thought they were trying to tear the skin, kind of break out of it, so it'd be easier to slide off. That's very fascinating.

Oh really, they change color? Awesome! See, I read multiple care sheets and did endless research (yeah, I'm still researching, lol), and I haven't once read about these two things. Guess there's always something new to learn!

Yeah, last night I felt more relaxed about it all, she did indeed seem to be settling in.

She doesn't go in her water bowls hardly ever, is that normal? Maybe cause I'd had the humidity around 80%? It's closer to 70% now. Do Red Eyes even need to rest in their water bowls that much, considering how high the humidity is? Are they really only for if the humidity goes to low?

I was thinking she's female too, due to her being 3". I haven't got an exact measurement but she looks 3" to me. I'll do a measurement in a bit since she's asleep. So cool, the film that covers her eyes. Looks like the veins in a leaf.

Yeah I read that, that they don't over eat. I put 4 crickets in the bowl last night. Lol I was thinking exactly that - I had but 7 in the night before, but was thinking, hmm, I wouldn't want to jump into a bowl full of crickets, they're too tickle-y and crawl-y, let's reduce the number a bit.

I'll definitely keep you updated! Yeah she's amazing, I'm so lucky to have one. Never thought I'd get one. What an intriguing pet!

Thanks for all your help man!

[DigitalPunk]

No they don't soak in the water bowl to often. When they do they will get on the edge and stick their butts in the water lol.

Shedding multiple times like that is probably normal given what she has gone through. She was probably very dehydrated after the shipping. I wouldn't worry about it. I have 5 reds and it seems they are always shedding when they first wake up.

[MantidBro]

No they don't soak in the water bowl to often. When they do they will get on the edge and stick their butts in the water lol.

Shedding multiple times like that is probably normal given what she has gone through. She was probably very dehydrated after the shipping. I wouldn't worry about it. I have 5 reds and it seems they are always shedding when they first wake up.

Lol shes had her butt in the water a few times but only for like a minute, i didnt even consider it soaking, but i guess she was and thats just all she needed.

Okay cool, thanks :-)