A few newbie questions....

[nixie]

Hi there!
Our family was just given a Green Tree Frog, quite suddenly, as his previous owner had grown tired of taking care of him. We fell in love with him at first sight, and have named him Kreacher. We are trying to get any information we can, so we can give him a nice, suitable, cozy little frog environment. I know our current set-up falls short, but we acquired him rather unexpectedly (literally 5 minutes notice), and are working to improve it ASAP. This is what we have so far: He is currently in a 5 gallon tank (small, but it's all we had handy at the time, he will be in a 20 gallon within the week), he has a fake plant for climbing (purchased from a pet store), coconut fiber substrate, a shallow stone water basin. I mist him daily with dechlorinated water, and we just fed him around 8 crickets. I don't know when he was last fed by his previous owner. He is being kept at room temperature (our thermostat is set at 72 F), but I don't know the exact temperature of the specific area he's in. I suspect he's not warm enough. I don't know anything about the care received at his last home other than that his tank was lined with astro-turf samples, which doesn't seem very comfy to me.

Now, for the lots of newbie questions...
1) If room temp. is not sufficient, what is the best way to keep him warm?
2) He seems to stay in the top corner of the tank, behind his plant all the time, seldom moving. Is this normal? Could this be an adjustment thing, a temperature thing? Should I be concerned?
3) I've read conflicting advice on how much and how often to feed, what is general consensus around here?
4) I'm worried that switching him to the 20 gallon tank once we get it will cause further stress to him if he's already stressed out from the initial move. Any advice?
5) The substrate seems to be sticking to him all over, is this a concern, what can I do about this?
6) I would love to invest in a misting system down the road, but is it ok to be misting him and his surroundings lightly with a mist bottle of dechlorinated water for now? If so, how often should I mist him?

I'm sure I will have more questions as we go along, please be patient with me. Thanks in advance for any advice you may have!

[Kurt]

1. Room temperature is fine.
2. Normal
3. I play it by ear mostly. It's a judgement call and you will eventually figure what works best for you and your frog.
4. Yes, it will cause him further stress, there's nothing that can be done about that. What you can do is give him quite time as much as possible.
5. Covering the subtrate with leaf litter will prevent this and prevent accidental ingestion of the substrate. The best leaf litter to use is "live oak" which can be purchased from both Josh's Frogs & Black Jungle.
6. I don't own a misting system, never have, and I have no plans to get one any time soon. I use the type of misting bottle that you pump up with air. Very easy to use and mine has a flexable hose and wand attached to it. Got it at my local hardware store.

Oh and you can use a deeper water bowl, he won't drown. Also, make sure the top is vented well.

[nixie]

Thank you for the great information! He's such a cute little guy, I want to make sure we do right by him.