Yeah!!!

[John]

I must confess that I've never kept tree frogs. I know quite a bit about them but never kept them. How interactive are the species that you keep Kurt?

[Kurt]

Red-eyes are not interactive at all, but they sure are pretty. My clowns are beginning to warm up to me, they're pretty too, but quite small. I used to have a pair of gray treefrogs, Hyla versicolor that I caught, one in New Hampshire and the other on my back porch. They were very interactive! I reluctantly gave them to a friend for her wildlife education business and she gave them away to someone else. I do miss them. I wonder how they are doing. My big-eye treefrog is somewhat interactive as well. You can see him and my fingers on page 53 of "Your Happy Healthy Pet Frogs and Toads" 2nd Edition by Steve Grenard. Then of course there are my White's, definitely interactive and they get large. I have seen an adult one eat an adult mouse once . Mine got a pinkie each about a year or so ago. My green treefrog is good too, although he was never part of the collection plan. I hear waxy monkeys, Phyllomedusa sauvagii are good too. I have yet to get any.

[John]

Thanks for that Kurt. When you say White's are interactive, can you elaborate on it? I know they can be handled but I'm thinking more of how they react to humans.

[Kurt]

They know when its feeding time and one of them will climb onto my hand to be fed. I feed them in a Rubbermaid box and as soon as I put them in they immediately go into feeding mode, even if the food isn't there yet. Is that interactive enough? The only amphibian that I can say is truly interactive is the tiger salamander. They will come right up to you.

[Jake]

They know when its feeding time and one of them will climb onto my hand to be fed. I feed them in a Rubbermaid box and as soon as I put them in they immediately go into feeding mode, even if the food isn't there yet. Is that interactive enough? The only amphibian that I can say is truly interactive is the tiger salamander. They will come right up to you.

That feeding reaction is common with a lot of caudate species.

I have a big female Rana catesbiena here that will lunge at my hand during feeding time.

[John]

The only amphibian that I can say is truly interactive is the tiger salamander. They will come right up to you.

That has been my experience too. I really would like to understand why they are so bold relative to other species. Just off the top of my head I can't think of even a lizard that out-does the tiger salamander. Can you?

[Kurt]

Just off the top of my head I can't think of even a lizard that out-does the tiger salamander. Can you?

I used to have a giant day gecko, Phelsuma madagascariensis grandis that would come up to me and take food from my fingers through the mesh of the screen top of his cage. So I guess you can say he was interactive. He would freak out if you actually put your hand in the cage, but through the mesh he felt safe enough to take food from my hand.

[tylototriton]

I'll chime in on the lizard. I have a very old Uromastyx that is very nearly dog like. (Trying not to anthropomorphize) He is incredibly interactive. And from what I understand Phyllomedusa are also quite interactive and friendly.