Giant Waxie Monkey Tree Frog Identification

[Dj Quick]

Hello,

Today we purchased a Waxie Monkey Tree Frog, and were surprised when we heard it was not just a normal WMTF.. Could anyone verify the type this is? And if it is different, would the care be different as well?

Here are some pictures (excuse the iphone quality):









And this is what he is being kept in currently:

[poison]

Bicolors And welcome

[Lija]

welcome to the forums! yours is a beautiful female giant waxy monkey frog, Ph. bicolor.
they need a company of their own and huge vertical tanks, yours is no good for her. you want at least 3'x4' for 2-3 frogs with a very good ventilation and hot spot for a day about 91 and for a night around 80. UVB is a must! at least 5.0. they do need a bit higher humidity then sauvagii, 40-60 % is about correct range, nothing more then 60, i would keep them at about 40-50% meaning just a little spray once a day at night when lights are off. you need to cover 3 sides of your tank with something that is not see through. fish tank background will work perfectly. for my sauvagii during regular season i use 3 lamps ( same for bicolors), one UVB ( goes 12h on/off), day heat lamp 6-8 hours/day in mid of UVB cycle and night heat lamp ( blue or red) for all night as soon as UVB is off.
make sure you wash your hands very very well before handling for a frog sake and especially after ( really well) for your sake.
that frog is one of recent imports, she is WC, you gotta do deworming, - ask your vet for meds, or email/phone Dr. Frye , he ships meds to any US address, his contact info in a sticky thread.
have fun, they are awesome frogs to have.

[Dj Quik]

ok sorry for the late response, my girlfriend was the one who originally posted this thread, and she forgot her password, plus she messed up my user name so i guess it worked out alright.

anyway, regarding the frog. although this is not what we had intended on getting into, she will not be neglected. the tank pictured is being used for quarantine, so it will not be permanent, however if there is anything i can do to change the current set up i would love to know, i have added a uvb and i will get some better plants and add a background. she has been sitting on the ground since i got her which i'm assuming is not common so it is either due to being stressed from a new home or from the lack of a proper setup. in a month, when she is done with quarantine, i will have a custom built enclosure of the appropriate size and soon after i will be looking for another frog. i love working with not so common reptiles so this frog is very welcome in my collection.

also im not sure if poison has posted this or not but i guess he was jealous of my awesome frog so he went out and copied me and got one as well.
he likes to follow in my footsteps

[Lija]

hahaha, Poison, would you please post a pic of your beautiful boy and his awesome set up please lol

for your tank if it is temporary i would do following:
take everything up and place it on a side so it is vertical, then papertowels on a bottom or felt carpet, then different sized branches, some plastic plants, cover 3 sides for her to feel safe. i would attach somehow lamps so they would shine through mesh from a top of the side, but not from the top, as some glass is filtering UVB.

by the way if you want to get her a company you better do it now, i doubt they will be available later, as soon as all imported frogs are sold, they're gone until the next year hopefully, but might be not available next year too.

who else do you have?

[Dj Quik]

ok i will do that, do you have any pictures of good examples of a set up for these guys?
i will search online for another but i dont know how much luck i'll have, i found this one at an expo.

the other animals i keep are
0.1.0 Argentine tegu
1.3.0 leopard geckos
1.1.0 woma pythons
1.1.0 bearded dragon
0.1.0 colombian boa
1.0.0 leachanius
0.0.1 blue tongue skink
0.0.1 gargoyle
0.0.1 hognose
0.0.1 black mexican king snake
as well as a few species of tarantula, 2 guinea pigs and 5 dogs.

[poison]

also im not sure if poison has posted this or not but i guess he was jealous of my awesome frog so he went out and copied me and got one as well.
he likes to follow in my footsteps

Hey, whos the one who showed you them? You know ive been wanting waxy's for a long time.

[earthtiger]

yours is a beautiful female giant waxy monkey frog, Ph. bicolor.

Curious, what makes you think that it is a female.

[Lija]

Curious, what makes you think that it is a female.

males are smaller, they call, during breeding season develop nuptial pads and most importantly their head shape is different from females.
to illustrate i use sauvagii, same principle apply:

nuptial pads


head shape - note the line going down from nose to the chin, males have more developed chin, while females have less developed one and the line goes straight down

male:


female


see the difference? exactly same applies to bicolors

[earthtiger]

Hi Lija,

males are smaller,

Yes I know, but on the posted photos, there is no frog to compare with ore anything with known size to compare with and to tell, how big the specimen is in fact!

they call

Yes, but not a very useful feature if you want to sex a frog from a photo!

, during breeding season develop nuptial pads

Yes, but we don’t know if the frog on the photo is in breeding mood and on the posted photos I can’t see the thumbs to see, if there are nuptial pads or not – can you?

and most importantly their head shape is different from females.

[…]

see the difference? exactly same applies to bicolors

hmmm... that is IMHO a very tentative sign. In some species it does apply very well (e.g. with my Agalychnis annae, it is very obvious), but in others not and there seems to be always exceptions. With Phyllomedusa bicolor I don’t have the experiences with. I have checked some photos of pairs in amplexus and for me it is hard to tell the differences.


Also with Phyllomedusa sauvagii, in some specimens it seems to be very obvious, in others IMO not.

Let’s test it:
What gender do you think does this specimen have?






...and since it is more likely to get a Phyllomedusa bicolor male than a female in the pet trade (much more males than females are imported, because they are easier to collect) I have my doubts resp. I would be more cautious to say, that the specimen above is a female.

Kind regards,
Martin