New RETF owner here.

[mrzoggs]

Just an introduction:

Hello I'm Ryan, I have recently acquired 2 red eyed tree frogs. I bought two from underground reptiles. Since they were new to me i was always worried about them when i wouldnt see them move for a day or two and had the usual same "new owner" problems. but after about a week one of the ones died. It was the main one i was worried about. It was always awake, never slept during the day, would be on the bottom of the enclousure and just acted strange from the research i had done. 2nd one (which we still have now) acted normal. Slept during the day, you could tell it was eating, active during the night. Since the first one died it kind of hurt my feelings so i took as best care of the one who lived as i could. He has been perfect and i havent had any problems with him since i bought him. He started chirping randomly so now i am sure he is a boy, he eats plenty, poops in his water, rarely wakes up during the day and everything is great. So i bought him a new tank and a waterfall with the fogger. its a 30x12x18 and also purchased another treefrog from a nice petstore around my area. i use ecoearth loose cocconut husk on the bottom and a small amount of the bigger coconut husk overtop in some areas. i buy purified water by the gallon from the store and spray multiple times daily. i have big leaves and a large twisty vine going throughout the tank for them to walk around on and a small waterdish that they can easily get in and out of.


Now for the questions i have :

My hydrometer always reads very low and ive tried anything i can do to get it up to normal. it stays between 40-60 but i feel like it is completely wrong. I have the waterfall/fogger system, i spray the **** out of everything, i have a humidifier on full blast in my room, its raining outside, and i have a wet towel covering half of the screen lid. After all that it still wont go past 60. I dont want to harm them and i LOVE red eyed tree frogs. After i saw the first one laying in the tank dead it hurt my feelings and i do not want that to happen again. the one that i recently purchased over the weekend is bigger than mine and im hoping for a girl but will be happy either way. Since i put her in there i have had the same problems with the not moving around overnight. She could be simply going to the same spot after she moves but i can tell when my other one moves because he gets wet in his waterbowl and will have dirty feet from climbing back up and she is clean. Also is it ok to spray him off when he gets the ecoearth on him? i squirt him gently and just let the water wash it off his legs but i dont want to bother him or stress him out.

so maybe i should just keep waiting to see if the new one will get used to the new environment and be a little more active at night?

Sorry for the length, just my first post here and wanted to make sure i got everything out in the open in 1 shot. I just took some pictures so i have to get the cord for my camera from my girlfriend and i will post them up.

They eat small crickets (not pinheads)
I use a red bulb and turn on a blacklight one at night for a little light in there to see them and i have never had temperature problems. just humidity problems and the new one not leaving its spot. their colors are great. and my older one is chubby at all times.

thank you very much for taking your time to read this and answer my questions. It is very much appreciated. I use this site a lot and am looking to become an active member and learn all i can about RETF's

[Cocinecro]

Hey there. Welcome to the joy of keeping red eyes. I found them a bit tricky at first as well, and know how bad it sucks when you find one dead despite your best efforts. Once you get your enclosure set up properly it gets a lot easier. There's a good care sheet on this forum that's a good place to start.

Frog Forum - Red-Eyed Leaf Frog/Red Eyed Tree Frog Care - Agalychnis callidryas

Straight off, you said you bought another tree frog from a pet store. Is it another red eyed tree frog? You should never keep multiple species in an enclosure. Some are toxic to each other, and cannot be kept together. I've heard of people keeping very similar species together without problems, but generally it's a bad idea. Also, if the other animal is sick it can spread the illness to your other animal. Especially true with wild caught specimens.

Temperature and humidity is key with Red eyes. They like it pretty moist and hot. Day: 26-28 °C (78-82 °F); Night: 22-24 °C (71-75 °F), with humidity around 80%.
This can be tricky to maintain in enclosures, especially for red eyes as they require a lot of air circulation, and need screen lids. Be sure to spray them down well at night. I use distilled water for misting as it doesn't leave deposits on the glass. Monitor them throughout the day to spot spray as necessary.

Buy another hydrometer if you think yours is faulty. I find the digital ones to be a bit more accurate.

They require minerals from water to stay healthy, so give them a bowl with either spring water, or treated tap water.Make sure to change it out often, preferably daily. They like to use it as a toilet as well.

Feed them crickets no larger than the space between their eyes. Dust them with a calcium cricket powder supplement, such as ReptoCal. Crickets are not a complete meal sadly, and they can get malnutrition from a diet of just crickets, that can lead to bone problems and prolapses.

They tend to get stressed pretty easily, handle them as little as possible. It might take a while to get used to the new enclosure, so they might sleep a little more than usual. Keep in mind they sleep around 17 hrs a day. They sleep a lot, and usually wake up for just a few hours in the middle of the night.

Watch for red flags as well. Especially if the frogs are sleeping on the ground. This is a sign of a sick or dehydrated frog.

Spraying them with water while misting down the enclosure is fine, but I wouldn't spray them too directly. Having a little eco-earth stuck to their skin is not really a problem to them.

Hope I answered some questions, sorry if I missed one.

[mrzoggs]

Thank you very much The new one i bought is a red eyed as well. i made sure the one i had that lived stayed happy and healthy for about 4 months before i decided to put another one in there. Last night the new one got up and ate at the bottom. she also shedded which i never knew they did. i had to do some research on that. at first it was scary to watch but i googled and youtubed to see what it looked like. then early this morning she was on the side of her waterbowl. i misted the cage before i headed off to work and probably scared her a bit because she jumped back on the side of the glass and went back to sleep. i can always tell after they eat because they just look...I dont know...full i guess. kind of plump. I'm going to invest in a better hydrometer and try to be a little more accurate with their humidity. I doubt when its soak and wet in there and i have a waterfall and fogger going and a towel that it is really %50.... especially when i have the humidifier going in my room 24/7 and its been rainy and wet outside the past week. i will check lllreptile and see if there is a better one i can buy for a decent price. i watched my older one yesterday and when he got some mud on his legs he did the cutest thing ever. he stretched one of his back legs out and took his other leg and wrapped his feet around it and slid it down to whipe the dirt off. he did it to both of his legs then flung the mud one good time and hopped back up in his spot. i love when i walk past every once in a while and get to see something cool happening. it makes my day. also here are some pictures of the little ones. not sure how to take good ones like some of the others ive seen without waking them up but this is the best i got hehe





oh and yes. i still have the fishy background because its a new tank one more think i need to pick up from the petstore. more pics coming soon

[Heatheranne]

You can cover half of the screened lid with plain Saran wrap, plastic, or glass to help keep the humidity up.

[mrzoggs]

thanks. lately ive been using a wet microfiber towel. i will try that though.

[Heatheranne]

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