Tripod

[mel]

So glad to have found this site.

I have lots of questions and am in need of guidance. I had not intended to take on a frog as a pet but due to a Tragic Lawnmower Incident (that's what my family calls it now) we have welcomed Tripod into our fold. (Quick summary: husband ran him over and picked him up to find his right leg hanging by a piece of skin. We removed it and nursed him back to health.)

A couple of trips to the pet store later, we think we have him (her?) set up well enough but I want to make sure I'm doing everything right.

He (she?) is very small, only a little more than an inch in body length. We lined his/her enclosure with frog moss (the kind that comes freeze-dried) and have kept things moist. Initially, we tried feeding him/her crickets but it took a good four or five days after the "surgery" before he/she started eating. We are now giving him/her 3 or 4 crickets a day.

Clearly, a major question I have relates to gender.

I also have no real idea of what kind of frog this is. We figure it must be a tree frog but that's as far as we've gotten. I also want to make sure I am giving him/her everything necessary and that the current enclosure placement in the kitchen window is okay.

We live in Sherwood, Oregon - which is about 20 miles southwest of Portland.

Any help you could offer would be hugely appreciated.

Here are a couple of photos for reference:

[Jace]

Welcome to the Forum! We have a lot of great people here who are dedicated to not only their frogs and toads, but also to helping others take good care of theirs. As unfortunate as the Tragic Lawnmower Incident was, I am pleased to hear that you tried-and succeeded-in healing this little frog back to health. I have never actually tried to help identify a frog before, but from the pictures, I would have to say it looks like you have a Pacific Chorus Frog. Let's see if I get two thumbs up from the rest of the Forum! I recently became the proud owner of two of these frogs myself, which is the only reason why I am willing to go out on a limb and give it a try. The setup you have looks more than adequate. These little frogs do like to climb sometimes, so anything that would allow them to get off the ground (like an adequate stick or driftwood) might be appreciated by him/her. If your little one is a Pacific Chorus Frog, you can tell the sex by whether it has a dark throat or not. If it does, it is male. If the throat is pure white, you have a girl. The males can be quite vocal, but the sound is amazing. Pacific Chorus Frogs are great little frogs. Just to be sure, I hope someone else will either confirm or deny my identification. Either way, you have a beautiful frog. As for the placement, just be careful the frog is not getting direct sunlight or huge temperature variants. If you haven't already, invest in a temperature strip and a humidity indicatior and you shouldn't have any problems. If it is a Pacific Chorus Frog, NW Amphibian Rescue, another member on the Forum, has lots of experience with these guys and has been a great (and patient!) help to me. Cheers!

[Jace]

One other quick note: the moss you have is great, but does look to be overly wet. When I first set up the enclosure for mine, I had the moss too damp and it fostered mould growth. I had to clean it out and start over. Now, I mist once a day, and the frogs seem to be happier with it being a bit drier on the ground, even though it "rains" daily!

[Paul Rust]

Not much I can add here, Jace nailed it !!!!! Love the name, that is great lol. It is a Pacific Chorus Frog, Pseudacris.regilla . The setup looks great. I would not keep it in the window as it could overheat in direct sunlight. You will need to get supplements like Herptivite and Reptical to give it proper nutrition. You just dust the crickets with it. Good luck with it and it does look good and healthy. It will only get about 2" as an adult. Looks like I need to make a care article for these little guys.

[Jace]

Not much I can add here, Jace nailed it !!!!! Love the name, that is great lol. It is a Pacific Chorus Frog, Pseudacris.regilla . The setup looks great. I would not keep it in the window as it could overheat in direct sunlight. You will need to get supplements like Herptivite and Reptical to give it proper nutrition. You just dust the crickets with it. Good luck with it and it does look good and healthy. It will only get about 2" as an adult. Looks like I need to make a care article for these little guys.

I would love to see an official care article for these little guys. All the info I found on the internet had such a wide range that it would be nice to have something informative all in one spot.

[mel]

Wow. So much great info! Thank you so much.

It looks like Tripod is definitely a boy. His throat is dark and yes, he is pretty vocal. What does it mean when he croaks? Is he hungry or lonely? The times of day that he croaks are pretty inconsistent.

I moved him out of the window and we'll find something for him to climb on. Thanks for the tip about the cricket dust.

The moss probably looked overly wet in the pictures because we had just put it in. I'll be sure to keep it a little more dry. How often should I change out the moss completely? The woman at the pet store (who is a frog owner) said that frogs tend to poop in their water but mine hasn't done that. He just seems to go anywhere so I am worried about the moss getting gross.

You guys are awesome. Thank you so much!

[Paul Rust]

I would love to see an official care article for these little guys. All the info I found on the internet had such a wide range that it would be nice to have something informative all in one spot.

I finished a care article and emailed it to John. If he likes it maybe we will see it here soon.