A new tree frog

[furcat]

I have a bunch of fruit flies on the way from Josh's Frogs --- hopefully they won't be frozen when they get here. Then hopefully I can start culturing a better supply.

Which has brought more questions from me. I read some of the articles on this site about tree frogs, and was surprised to learn that one of them can live up to 20 years? That's amazing. Does anyone have an idea of how long an American Green tree frog could live? I am also curious about what they do during a Kansas winter, as I know I have seen individual frogs for successive years. Some of them even have favorite spots where I can usually find them in the spring and summer. I have been curious about this for a long time. One year we had a black trash can, and I found several of them decided to winter in there, and we left it alone for the entire winter, but next year they were not there.

Also, how often does the frog need to eat? I am tossing in small crickets since I have been unable to find fruit flies, but I am worried my frog isn't eating enough. But, hopefully the flies will be here tomorrow.

Thank you everyone for being so willing to help me learn how to take care of my little frog.

[Kurt]

I throw in enough fruit flies to keep my frogs busy for a day or two. When they go through that, I throw in more, so there is always food for them. Hyla cinerea can live to six year or more. I don't know where they go to in winter, but certainly isn't Kansas. Their range does not include the Sunflower State. The gray treefrog, however, does make its home in eastern Kansas.

[furcat]

Well, I guess I must have a gray tree frog, then. It is just such a deep color of green right now. It probably will change color later on. I did some more reading, and some of the text I read said they can be green in the beginning and change color later.

I am still curious about what the frogs do over winter. Since, right now in Kansas, it is about 0 degrees F.

Thank you for your reply.

[Kurt]

Gray treefrogs freeze and then thaw out come spring. If you ever catch Animal Planet's "The Most Extreme", they had an episode entitled "The Most Laziest" (I think) in which they show this. The only other frog I know that can do this is the wood frog, Lithobates sylvaticus, but I am sure there are others that I am just not aware of.

[furcat]

Oh, how absolutely cool! A friend of mine, who lives on the east coast, told me that there were a bunch of tadpoles that froze in a little garden pond she had last year, and she felt really bad about it until next spring when the water thawed, and they started swimming around again!

Nature is truly amazing. It makes my little frog all the more special. I got the flies from Josh's Frogs today, and there are a bunch of them in the container. I should not have a fly problem from now on (unless I find one on my food in the kitchen lol).

[Kurt]

You got media, excelsior, and containers to keep them going, right?