my new Litoria Caerulea

[jodie]

Hi everyone,
i'm new to the forum and to frogs. i got my first frog yesterday (Litoria Caerulea). i am a little worried because he hasn't eaten anything yet. It's been nearly 24hrs. I have tried to feed him crickets and mealworms with tweazers but he's not interested at all. is this normal? maybe he needs to settle in first? i'm worried because he looks very thin. i heard that Litoria Caerulea are suppose to be quite chubby frogs. any advive would be very much appreciated! Thanks

[Badger]

He/she probably needs to settle in a bit first, I wouldn't worry. Once they start eating, they never stop though. You should only worry about not eating until at least a week and a half. How is your tank set up? Temps/humidity can play a role too. Any pics of the frog and/or the setup would help. Here's a pic of one of my White's if you need it for comparison:

[jodie]

thankyou very much badger! i think the terrarium my be a little cool for him. i have an exo terra terrarium 45cmx 45cmx 60cm. i'm finding it difficult to get up the temps because the exo terra only allows for 2x26watt bulbs. i also have a 14watt heat mat under the terrarium. if i put the thermometer close to the bulb. the temp gets up to 30degrees celcius but if it is in the middle of the tank it is around 25c. at night i turned the lights off and left the heat mat and the temp went down to about 22. does this sound alright? my frog looks thinner than yours when he lengthens his legs i can see his bones popping ut of his back. i will try and post some pix

[Badger]

I suggest you ditch one of the 26w flo bulbs, and get a 25w incandescent red light bulb, such as this : Zoo Med 25 Watt Red Bulb They ship internationally if you purchase it from them, I don't know how many reptile supply stores there are over there. How are you measuring temps and humidity? Do you have any plants?

[jodie]

i tried that. i had a 40watt red bulb in one of them even though the manufacturer says nothing over 26watt but i was still getting the same temp as before so i went with 2 spectrum light bulbs that also give heat. We have central heating in my house and when it is on the temp goes up to 28-29c but the central heating is only on from 8am-10am then again from 6pm-10pm. i have been misting the terrarium and the humidity is around 68. can you please tell me how to upload pix as i can't work it out. thanks again!

[jodie]

sorry i forgot to mention i dont have any real plants. i'm hopeless with plants i wouldn't know where to start and i thought the terrarium would be easier to keep without them?

[Badger]

You have to have some sort of plants or cover for the frogs to feel secure. You have to use another site for pictures, like photobucket.com ,upload them there, and then type [ Img](the url of your picture)[ /img] (no spaces in the IMG brackets. Sorry, it's hard to explain.

[ViperJr]

Or you could just upload the photos here on Frog forum, since it have a intergrated uploading feature. Just log in and go to Albums. You'll figure it out from there.

[jodie]

Hi, i uploaded some pix into an album ( my new Litoria Caerulea). can you see how thin he is? his stomach is caved in. ANother question, can i leave the live food in the terarrium for him to catch or do i need to hand feed him?

[Badger]

Hmm, you can do 1 of a few things. 1.) just put the crickets in the tank for him to catch.

2.) take a smooth glass bowl, put it in the tank, and put the crickets in there, It's easier for them to find em that way, and the crickets are too stupid to jump out.

3.) you can try hand feeding.

I suggest the feeding bowl and you can try hand feeding. They are nocturnal, so you probably won't see him eat. Keep an eye out for poop. I'd wait a couple more days before attempting force feeding, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

[jodie]

thanks i'll try the glass bowl trick!

[Badger]

Keep us posted!