Hi I'm new

[Leanne]

Hi Everyone,
I'm new to this frog keeping thing, I've been kinda forced into it by my very enthusiastic daughter who has been nagging me constantly for months about getting a pet frog for her birthday later this month, but as it so happened my partner found a little garden frog in our backyard yesterday. It only had 1 eye open and I feared it would not survive long in the wild so I have succumbed and have gone out and brought her a frog setup and now Prince Charming has a new home. However I'm concerned because the person I brought the setup from said that the frog wont actually spend much time in the water but he keeps immersing himself in the water up to his eyes is there something wrong???

[Kurt]

Welcome aboard. Depends on the species whether this is normal. Can you describe the frog? Where do you live in Australia? If you can post a picture of the frog, I may be able to identify it.

[Leanne]

Hi Kurt, the frog is about 3-4cm long it is light murky brown with faint small circles on it's body and a yellowish stripe down the center of it's back. We live in Narre Warren South, Melbourne, Victoria. I apologize as the picture isn't the clearest, but the best I could manage.
Leanne

[Ebony]

Hi there Leanne, Welcome to the Forum I'm thinking maybe a Spotted marsh frog (Limnodyastes tasmaniensis) These frogs can be found in Farmland, woodland, ponds or slow moving creaks, Many situations. I'm no expert and I'm only taking a guess so don't quote me though. We have some experts here on this forum who will most definitely be able to help you.

[Leanne]

Hi Ebony, yes the coloring is fairly accurate if anything the frog maybe slightly lighter than the photo and the stripe is a yellowy color, I have noticed that it does change in color depending on what it is sitting near

[Kurt]

Most frogs do that. I am going to second Ebony's ID. I believe it to be a Limnodyastes tasmaniensis.

[Tom Highum]

Can you describe the enclosure that he is in? or better yet a picture. Sometimes the set ups they sell are not very well suited to the frog that you have in mind.

[Leanne]

Hi Tom,
The tank is 2ft wide 2ft high and about 1ft deep I've a heater in the water set to about 26 deg c a uv light over the tank plus a small water fall over the large log

[Tom Highum]

I would recommend making part of the enclosure land.

[Kurt]

What I have read, this species could either be kept semi-aquaticly or terrestrially with a decent size water bowl. Provide places to hide.

[Tom Highum]

If you have any other questions don't hesitate to ask. What are you feeding him?

[Leanne]

Hi, Thank you for all your suggestions and help I tried to attach photos of the tank to my last reply but for some reason they didn't attach, It is about half land and half water and we are feeding him crickets. Here are the photos of the tank

[Kurt]

I am concerned about the gravel. Is it small enough to fit in the frog's mouth? If so, remove it ASAP. You do not want the frog accidently ingest it and becoming impacted, which can lead to its death. Think of gastrointestinal impaction as constpation from Hell!

[Leanne]

what should I use instead?

[Ebony]

Hi Leanne, Great Tank. I would definitely replace the gravel or stones asap as Kurt said. I have large rocks in my Enclosure and on top of that I have sphagnum moss. The Sphagnum is not sitting in water and thrives in this situation. Its great for greenery. I'm not familiar with your Frog though so you may need to look into their needs first. I have a photo of my set up in my album if you want to see what I mean. I hope this has helped.

[Greatwtehunter]

The easiest thing to do would be to remove all of the gravel from the water portion and replace it with a light layer of sand. Then remove the gravel that would be above the waterline, place down a portion of window screen (the plastic type) and then replace the gravel you removed with some coco fiber.

However, if your going to keep it's setup semi-aquatic for an extended period of time then I would recommend using a false bottom setup.

[Leanne]

Hi,
We have obtained some 40 or so tadpoles to raise to frogs, my local reptile aquarium has suggested a small tank set up with oxygenating plants using unpolluted rain water with gravel at the bottom big enough for them to not ingest and a diet of blanched lettuce and some protein based tablets. Does this sound ok or does anyone have any better suggestions, we think they may be spotted marsh tadpoles.
Cheers Leanne

[Ebony]

Hi Leanne, What type of Tadpoles? I think it sounds good to me. I would suggest not to feed too much. Little and often is better. Its best that there's no left over food floating round in their water as it makes the water dirty. I also feed my tadpoles crush up fish flakes. I would love to see your Tadpoles progress. Good luck

Oh i just thought..With the lettuce you can freeze it once blanched and then you don't have to keep preparing it. You wont need to prep much though as you only have 40 Tadpoles.

[Leanne]

Hi Ebony,
I'm unsure of the species of tadpoles but we are assuming spotted marsh as we dont have a great deal of variety here in melbourne

[Ebony]

Cool, What do you plan on doing with them all once they have morphed?