Wood frogs in captivity?

[LazyEyedFroggie]

I'm just wondering if a wood frog tadpole, wild caught, could be successfully raised in captivity? I've heard that wood frogs are one of the hardest frogs to keep alive in captivity, despite their hardiness in the wild.

[frogluver]

That is true, they are one of the hardest frogs to keep in captivity and they don't live that long either (5 years max). Some people say that they make good starter frogs and others will argue. In my opinion—as I currently have 5 Wood frogs—I would first get some frog experience under your belt if you haven’t already. They are hard to adjust to the tank life when they are wild caught. However, the younger they are when captured the better, as they adjust more easily.

I don’t know how hard it would be to raise one as a tadpole, but it can be done. If decide you want one as an adult or juvenile, I can help you. Just tell me what you want to know.

[LazyEyedFroggie]

thanks, currently I've recuperated an adult wood frog with a severe eye injury in a 10 gallon tank, I let her go after a couple of weeks. I currently have two 1/2 inch wood froglets in the 10 gallon, with plastic plants, a shallow water dish, and some stuff for climbing/hiding. I'm feeding them gutloaded pinhead crickets. I know most of the things I need to, I would just like some tips for keeping a wood frog alive for a good long time? Thanks

[frogluver]

From what I’ve observed from the past seven years in keeping wood frogs, is that they prefer a heavily planted terrarium; but they do just fine in a setup as you described above, so long as they have plenty of hiding places (Wood frogs become really stressed without sufficient security). They also are very communal frogs, as they have strong kin recognition, so its good that you have them together in the 10 gal tank. Wood frogs are quite calm in the terrarium. But, when there’s a storm in the forecast, these frogs have the tendency to become very hyper active and will climb and hop excessively .

For feeding, crickets are the best choice, so thumbs up for that. They can eat mealworms, but not in large quantities. Oddly, wax worms and earth worms do not settle well with Woodies….they get a lot of digestive problems, such as chronic diaherria.
Temperatures should be kept in the 70’s for the day and 60’s at night. They do not tolerate heat well and if kept in hot temperatures for long periods of time, acquire dropsy. Humidity levels should be maintained at 60-70%.

Vitamin dosages and what types of vitamins to use, is a major issue in keeping Wood frogs. They can acquire MBD really easily without proper vitamins. However, after careful observations, I have found that T-Rex’s Tree Frog Dust ICB (Insect Cricket Balancer) is the best for Woodies. It contains all natural ingredients, such as rose hip extract, yucca extract, and marigold. Sadly though, I believe that they stopped making this product. You could find something similar to this, unless you already have something that really works (if you do please tell me ). To keep your Wood frogs healthy, juveniles should be given crickets dusted with vitamins at least 3 times a week. Adults do well with 1 to 2 dosages a week.

Anyways, these are some of the basics in keeping Wood frogs healthy for the longest that they can live. I might add a few more tips at a later time, but I hope this is sufficient for now . Tell me, did you find these Wood frogs now during the fall…..I have tried to catch some at this time before and have found zero, as they are in pre-hibernation stage, buried under the leaf litter. If you did, then maybe I should get some fall season catching tips from you lol !

[LazyEyedFroggie]

They get along very well, so I definately agree that they are a more social frog I suppose I could an actual cave-like hide, as well as the plants. Will the ten gallon be large enough once they are both adults?
I'll occasionally feed them a mealworm or two, as soon as I find some that are small enough.
My house has poor insulation and heating, so they are kept at about 65 at night and 72 in the day, depending on the time of year. They are usually in a shady area of my room, with a lamp on for a few hours.
I currently just have Fluckers Calcium supplement (a powdered form for dusting crickets). What are the specific vitamins that they need in a supplement? Any brand you could reccomend that is still being made?
Actually, yes, I did find them in early fall. The pond they were in didn't have much algea/plant material to eat, so they didn't transorm as fast as they could have. The pond wasn't a really good one either, it rapidly srunk, and somehow got contaminated. Luckilly most of them were metamorphs by then. There aren't really any tips I can give, except hope that you stumble across a slightly unfortunate freak of nature!
Again, thank-you so much more the tips!

[frogluver]

Once they reach adulthood, a 10 gallon tank should suffice, but a 15-20 gallon tank is preferable. I currently have two adult male Woodies in a 10 gal and they do just fine. I also had a pair of females in 20 gallon tank once and they appeared to enjoy the large amount of space. Either way, make sure the tank is longer than it is tall…you probably already know that though .

What kind of lamp is it that you use? Is it a UVB/UVA spectrum bulb? Maybe increase the hours you have the lamp on. I usually leave my hood lamp on for 8 hours a day. Unless you’re frogs do fine with your lighting schedule, leave it.

Vitamin D3 and calcium are very important components in a Wood frog’s diet. They seem to better with all natural type ingredients in their supplements though. As a result of the ICB Dust being discontinued, I am searching for another reliable brand and will have to get back to you that, sorry . Here is a list of ingredients that is contained in the ICB Dust that you could reference though: Calcium caseinate (source of isolated protein), calcium carbonate, honey powder, dicalcium phosphate, defatted wheat germ meal, alfalfa meal, bee pollen, spirulina algae, rosehips powder, haemotococcus algae, marigold extract, kelp meal, rosemary extract, yucca extract, natural mixed tocopherols (as a preservative), vitamin A acetate, d-activated animal sterol (source of vitamin D3), dried aspergillus oryzae fermentation extract, dried aspergillus niger fermentation extract, dried lactobacillus fermentation product, dried bifidobacterium thermophilum fermentation product, dried bifidobacterium longum fermentation product, dried enterococcus faecium fermentation product and dried bacillus subtilis fermentation product.

That is strange about the pond….I wonder how it got contaminated (maybe by human stupidly lol). At least they metamorphosed in time and you found them! There are virtually no Wood frogs to be found here once fall hits, so yeah I guess I would have to stumble across some freak of nature lol. You are very welcome for the tips and if you need any more help, let me know and I’ll try to get back to you soon .