Tips for beating winter lethargy.

[BeckyM]

It's a bit colder in my house nowadays, (not too too cold for a gray though, hovering around 69-72) and Gerty, save for that little hop out of the tank escapade Christmas morning, hasn't moved much, nor is she eating much. If I move a plant, she hops around, but right now she's content to just stay still and ignore the crickets that are currently in the tank.

Normally she eats like a pig, devouring every bug in sight. These two crickets have been in the tank for a couple days now. Whether they were hiding under the paper towels I just removed or if Gert is too sluggish right now to catch them, I'm not sure. She just dived bombed one and totally missed.

Her eyes are clear, she seems a bit fatter than usual, but I found a few turds in the tank so I know her digestive system is properly working. (Time to clean it...again.)

Would a honey soak energize her enough to catch these bugs? I did soak her in some warmer-ish water the other day and she went nuts, but showed no sign of appetite then. Now...however...

The last time I had a frog in winter, he'd been sluggish a long time anyways. So, I'm ashamed to say I've forgotten their normal winter behavioral habits. o//o

[UncleChester]

I'd pull out any crickets that don't get eaten within a day and replace with fresh ones. At this point they've cleaned off any vitamin/mineral powder and are just likely to annoy a frog who isn't interested in eating them, or will just find an inconvenient place to die and stink things up.

Lower light levels, cooler temperatures, and lower humidity will push the frog into brumination. But in this case they'll usually try to bury themselves in the substrate and don't really show any interest in food. From your post I'm guessing you have a paper towel substrate and either plastic plants or potted plants in the cage? Does she have a spot to bury herself? Does she spend all of her time on the bottom of the cage?

You can make the crickets easier to catch in a few ways. You can put them in a small bowl inside the vivarium to limit their movement. Or if your frog shows an immediate interest in them but just isn't fast enough to catch them you can chill the crickets in the freezer for 30~40 seconds then drop them in front of your frog. As the crickets warm up and start to move slowly, they are easy pickings. You can also mix in slower moving food, like earthworms (very nutritious), or the occasional mealworm or waxworm (neither are good staples but fine the odd time).

[HerpDerp]

I would definitely recommend a honey soak as well. They seem to do wonders for a frog's energy. And have you ever tried tong feeding your frog? From my experience some frogs take to it and some just don't. Glurmo doesn't want anything to do with eating from tongs but Lrrr doesn't even have to see food to lunge at the tongs now. He just associates them with food. And just because a gray tree frog can tolerate a wide range of temperatures doesn't mean that the drop in temps didn't affect your individual. She was used to a warmer temperature and now it's a bit cooler so she's just adjusting maybe? You could try a low wattage bulb to warm up the enclosure a little bit or wait and see if she adjusts.

[BeckyM]

@Brian, the opposite. Gerty likes to stick to the wall under the plant or fasten herself to an upper corner of the tank wall. I lack a hydrometer (is that the humidity one? Hygrometer? I forget.) but I mist her tank 3-4 times daily, I try to keep it nice and damp in there for her.
Yes, I use paper towels for substrate.
Freezing the crickets is a good idea. I might try that. She finally caught one this morning.

@Michelle, I did have a UTH, but instead of warming up my tank, but it merely warmed up the air on the outside of the tank. I wasted 30 bucks and who knows how much I added to the electric bill. >_<
I've never tried tong feeding because Gert's so small. I know larger frogs take to it well, but I'm concerned the tongs would somehow damage her bitty mouth. With my last frog, I was able to grab the cricket by the leg and wiggle it in front of his nose. I haven't tried that yet with Gert.
And would a 3-5 degree drop really have that much effect on a frog? o.o