From food to pet.. A survivors story.

[myke66]

Hey guys, I recently adopted a green tree frog that was intended to be dinner to some carnivorous plants. However, after this little guy survived for two days, I decided he deserved to live!

He's still very small (reason for being food); I found him inside my house on a basil plant I had taken inside from the cold. He is very skinny and was extremely pale and dry. After realizing how much cooler he was over the plants im keeping, I decided to nix the plant terrarium I have been working on and move them to the new frog enclosure I got. I picked up a half-moon vertical tank for him, lined it with moss, planted my carnivorous plants on one side, and left the other side for his waterbowl, and a fake plant i bought so he could climb.

After reading about these little guys for the passed few days, i realized that he probably wont be very happy alone. I live in a part of florida that is lucky enough to have 100's of these tree frogs around daily, so i popped out back and picked him up a friend. I know that the recommened tank size for 2 frogs is 15 gallons, but this should work - for now - till i see how far i'd like to go with this.

I picked up some gut-fed crickets and calcium cricket feed and let some of them into the tank. Cool story...both the plants and the frogs have the same diet and habitat conditions, so that works out well

Either way, here are some pics. I'd like to get more things in there for them to climb on, as I'm not really happy with the fake plant. Any recommendations for either tank setup or care would be welcomed. I'd like to give this guy the best fighting chance now, since clearly he wants to stick around!

[Sanimal]

That's a cute story you told there. I'm really happy for you and your frogs! Here are some recommendations on how to care for them: first of all, two green tree frogs actually only need 10 gallons of living space, although more room is better. As for the plants, if you want to stick with the fake ones, choose broad leafed varieties that will give them surfaces to perch on. Pothos and Chinese evergreen are the best choices (pet shops do sell artificial plants of these). As for the feeding, you'll want to give them a varied diet: I feed mine crickets, mealworms, and wax worms (make sure to feed wax worms occasionally because they are high in fat). You can feed worms in a shallow dish that is placed into the terrarium. However, before feeding any feeder items to the frogs, gut load them with carrots and fish flakes for a minimum of 24 hours. I would recommend feeding your tree frogs about twice a week (my strategy is to feed crickets once a week, and the worms the second time during the week). Dust the crickets when you feed them with a vitamin/mineral and calcium powder that can be bought at most pet stores (make sure your frog's meals are dusted only once a week). Also, one important step you must remember when feeding your frogs is that the prey shouldn't be bigger than the frogs head. Hope this helps! Good luck!

Sanimal