New tomato frog -- it's TINY!

Originally Posted by emandkel

I just came home with a TINY tomato frog, just a BABY, maybe an inch long. Got him/her at Petsmart.

The clerk thought they were feeding it the tiniest crickets they could find, but weren't sure. I have fruit flies and can get pinhead crickets. When I was paying for my stuff (bought a small water bowl for it) the clerk -- think he's actually a manager -- asked me if I knew the frog needed a bowl big enough to spread out in. Then I showed him how small the little frog is.

I will be setting up a medium Kritter Keeper with a heat pad around one end, with coco-earth substrate, small water bowl, and a couple of cork pieces set up as hiding places. But, it being so tiny, should I just use wet paper towels instead? Is a heat mat necessary?

Right now it is in a "travel" cup with a wet paper towel, within a 10-gallon terrarium. I don't know whether it would be better to take it out and feed it in another container or put the fruit flies/crickets in his home. I have another tomato frog, also bought from Petsmart, but he's big, about 2" long. I wanted another one, but I didn't expect to find a frog this tiny. Any advice on the best way to raise this little frog would be great!

Edited to add pictures:

Little one beside a penny:


New habitat (temporary until it grows bigger): Currently in a medium-sized Critter Keeper within a 10-gallon, haven't attached the heat pad because it said not to attach to plastic. If I need to, I can attach it to the 10-gallon where the Critter Keeper is.

It definitely needs a heat source. buy a UTH for hermit crabs. its only 4 watts and is safe to use on plastic critter keepers. Alsomake sure you place the heat pad on the side or back opposite the water dish. These frogs burrow so you do not want to place the UTH on the bottom. I wish I could provide more info on these frogs, but I don't know a whole lot about them. Hopefully someone who own Tomatos will chime in.

Beautiful little guy

Actually, I bought the hermit crab UTH type. It says on the peel off label on the heat pad to use on glass only. It also says it can crack the glass if water gets on the glass where the heater is, so I am a bit wary of using it due to the need for misting. For those who have used these, please, I need experience/comments on this. I do have a basking light I could use, would use a 25-watt bulb so it wouldn't get so hot -- but, I have read that those lights tend to dry out the enclosure (but why wouldn't any heat source do this?).

Also, I am really confused on whether the heat is necessary in the first place. Some sites say to provide a heat gradient, some say they are ok at room temperature. I have read that the babies/juveniles shouldn't have as high heat as the adults. I should say my home is kept around 74 - 76 in the daytime, 73 at night, in the summertime. In the winter, it is set at 68 during the day and 70 at night. My "big guy" doesn't have a heat source right now, other than the overhead flourescent lighting. He stays buried in the bedding. I think my big one is a male, I think I've heard him croaking, but as I typed this I heard similar croaking and it turns out it is one of my green tree frogs.

Again, any advise/experience would be greatly appreciated.

I would really like to know about feeding this little one. He/she was hopping around last night, and has settled in under the longer cork hide today. I didn't try to feed it last night. As I said above, I have fruit flies, all three types (Melanogaster, Hydei, Turkish Gliders -- sorry for any spelling errors on these). The smallest crickets I have are around 1/4 inch, way to big for the little guy. I think I can get pinhead crickets from a local pet store, and if they are a better food I can try those, or both.

Here's my big guy buried in the substrate bedding, can only see part of his head. Sometimes I can only see just a bit of his nose.

I would try and feed a few fruit flies. It would be easier to see if he is eating if he's on damp paper towels. You can put a nylon stocking over the lid to keep the fruit flies in.

The 4 watt hermit crab UTH and the Zoo Med UTH Item # RH-7 are the only two UTH that are safe for plastic and don't get hot enough to melt it. As long as you are spraying ice water on the glass where the UTH is the glass won't crack. As I said they don't get really hot so it won't crack the glass anyway because something really hot hit with water really cold will warp or break and vise versa. It will be fine to use.

Thanks so much for the info on the 4 watt heaters. It eases my mind in using them. I think I will try leaving the critter keeper in the 10-gallon and put the heater outside of it on the glass, as that is where he will go when I think he's big enough to be able to find his food in there. Eventually, I hope to house the two together in a larger aquarium/terrarium.

I think I will change his substrate to wet paper towels, maybe with a small dish of coco-earth to bury in if he wants -- but he's so far not burying himself, just is on top of the coco-earth. That way not only I can see what he's eating, but I think it will help him see and find his food better. I'm going to see how he eats the fruit flies tonight.

Thanks for the input so far, keep it coming!

I've had tomatoes in the past and I have one right now who is doing really well. I keep her tank in the mid 70s range and give her lots of burrowing room as that is her favorite thing to do besides eat. Keep the humidity high. I love your little tomato such a cutie. His/her colors should change more as s/he gets older. Tomatoes are known for the ferrous appetite and hopefully your tomato carries this trait. As for substrate you could use paper towel just make sure you clean it out everyday and you could also use coco-fiber. Since your frog is so small just put a half-inch or so of the fiber down. Your tank right now looks very nice just try to get those temperatures in the mid to high 70s. A little temperature drop at night and you and your little tomato should be fine. Hope this helps if you have any questions or concerns feel free to message me. Glad to see other Tomato keepers out there

A few minutes ago, I decided to take the little guy out of his critter keeper and put him in another container with a damp paper towel at the bottom, then added at least a couple dozen fruit flies. He's an eager eater, but has no interest in hunting, in other words, the fly has to come near enough for him to get. But from what I've read, that's normal. At the time of this writing, he is still in there as there is still some fruit flies in there and I will leave him in there a little while longer before returning him to his setup.

My big guy just stays in his place, not sure if he's eating or not ... wish I'd see him eat. I put 4 or 5 small crickets in there every night and I see one or more crickets still in there in the morning. He hides under a plant, burrowed in the substrate. Last night's feeding I lifted the plant and a cricket crawled right on him and he didn't move. But hopefully he's ok and getting enough to eat. [Edit, 15 minutes after posting -- went in and checked and he was out.]

I know I started this posting for the little guy, but here's a picture I took last night of my big guy ... still behind part of a plant, but more visible, soon after he came out of his hole (the brownish on him is the coco-earth). He is yellowish with some red dots and darker red legs. Only had him a week or two. I still can't really believe finding my little guy after getting this one.

The little guy got full tonight. I don't know how many fruit flies I put in, but I put him in a small critter keeper tonight and put in almost as many flies as I feed my 6 bumble bee toads, probably 5 or 6 dozen. He ate about half of them, then started trying to jump out with no more interest in the flies. I'm looking forward to seeing this little guy grow up.

Well, he seems to be able to handle crickets that are nearly 1/4" long, I've found the tiniest ones out of the ones I get and have fed him 2 - 4 crickets, depending on whether or not I give him fruit flies as well. The other night I put fruit flies in, covered the top of the container with a paper towel and then put the lid on and that worked in keeping the fruit flies in, but most of them ended up cimbing up and staying out of reach on the bottom of the paper towel. [Any advice on this would be great -- thinking fruit flies would be better at this point if they don't stay out of reach.]

This evening I fed him 2 little crickets, and took him out and put him in a small Kritter Keeper, again with a paper towel across the top then a plastic lid on top, with about 2 dozen fruit flies. I keep tapping the top to get the fruit flies off the bottom of the paper towel. But he does NOT like being caught.

I'm going to start breeding my own crickets -- with that I should have some more properly sized crickets -- can't get 1/8" crickets locally and I think that's a better size, plus hopefully will save some money versus buying crickets.

He seems to be doing great, I think he's grown a bit or at least has become a bit chunkier at least. He's active during the night and uses his water/soaking bowl.

The temperature in his enclosure (with a heat pad on the outside of the 10 where the Kritter Keeper is within the 10) gets to be 78 - 8o during the day and around 75 at night, with humidity 70 - 80%. I do have a glass versa-top lid on the aquarium to keep in humidity, with it vented open about 1/4 inch at the front for a bit of ventilation. Does this all sound ok?

A couple of pictures taken a few minutes ago -- sorry for the lower quality, the camera wouldn't focus in low light and didn't want to turn on the light -- can't quite tell if he's grown or not but it's only been a week. Regardless:

I have a new Tomato frog as well a touch bigger than yours between nickel and quarter size. I don't have a heater but the room I keep them in stays near 80F. From people I know who had them (this is my first) they said no heat is necessary at all.

I have mine in a larger critter keeper. I found that dusted D. hydei flies are best as fewer escape weighed down by the dust as it really holds onto the wings (the D. melanogaster have no wings and the dust has less effect). It may be an obvious plug but I do carry D. Hydei cultures and fly media.

Mine does sit still a lot but he does hunt at nite. When just the room nite light is on I see him hunting. He also ate some small crickets. Now he is a fat little butterball.

I have to say they are cool friendly frogs.

I have since covered the top with a nylon stocking (or covered the lid, actually). I haven't tried the hydei flies as my culture hadn't really matured yet. I had tried turkish gliders at first and they seem to quickly climb the sides and hang out on the bottom of the covered lid. I put half a grape in and did find by the morning a few were on the grape.

The D. melanogaster wingless flies so far are working the best. They don't seem to climb the sides much and stay longer on the substrate.

I have also since gotten another little baby tomato frog about the same size and they seem to be ok together and pretty much stay in the same hideout. The newer one is a slightly more orange color. When feeding them the other night the fruit flies got in the water container and the new one found them and started feasting. I have a short video of them feeding.

They are feisty little frogs. Even at their size if I touch them, they puff up! They both are doing well, chunky little babies, and I enjoy watching them when I get the chance in the evening, especially at feeding time.

A video of the two eating fruit flies:

The latest picture of my two babies, now about the size/length of a quarter:

Theyre such sweet looking little things! Id love some for myself when I have my own place. Love the video of him munching away

Your little tomatos look great! Personally my favorite species, thanks for sharing.