Handling frogs

[Miss Toady]

Hi every one. I'm a new frogger.
I was given a fish tank, heater, and a light . Didn't want to put fish in it as I have fish outside in a couple of ponds.
A friend breeds brown frogs in her garden, so I decided to give it a go. She gave me a few tadpoles, and I am now the proud carer of 1 or 3 frogs, not sure cause I can only see 1 at a time now. A few escaped in the house, I was lucky to find and revive two but sadly the other two dried out beyond re hydrating. I have been catching fruit flies and buying crickets, I think the crickets are a little big for my little frog, he sits there and just watches them.
How big or old do my frogs need to be before I can handle them, and is it correct my hands need to be wet ?
Thanks

[Wambli]

The stage they are in now is very delicate. They are suceptable to lots of things. I lost a few at that age and it breaks your heart. My frogs don't seem to mind being handled, in fact I think most of mine like to get out and romp around a bit. But mine are all around 1.5 inches, so they are almost adult. Good luck. I really enjoy the dumpys, and red eyes.

[John]

Most non-tree frogs don't tolerate handling much at all, and even tree frogs generally aren't crazy about it (varies, individual to individual). Don't look at frogs as a handling pet - they're delicate and they can absorb chemicals through their skin. If you do handle them, do so rarely and be sure your hands are free of soap residue and other chemicals (give them a good rinse in water).

[Malduroque]

John just gave you some good reasons why handling them is not a great idea. I would add just put yourself in the frog's place, you probably would not want to be handled by those big, oily, scary human hands. Now I've never actually channeled a frog to know exactly what they are thinking, but that is my hunch.