New member from Colorado, with lots of questions.

[LaydeeAly]

Hello all! I'm Aly, from Colorado. I have 2 cats, a dog, 2 fish, a bunny, a blue tongued skink and recently was given 3 frogs from a gentlemen in the military who comes into my work a lot and knows I'm a big animal lover. He was being sent over seas and wanted to ensure someone actually cared for and love them so I said yes of course. I have a white lipped tree frog, chubby/Asian painted, and a dumpy/whites tree frog (and by all means please correct me on names if I am wrong). They all have different enclosures, and while I truly believe this gentlemen had his best intentions I don't think everything is as it should be. I would like to build them each something custom that will give them the space they need and also fit into the space I have. I would like to give them exactly what they need to be happy and healthy froggies. All are full grown, eat well, and the dumpy is very vocal. LOL

My first question is. What should their daytime and nighttime temps be? Do they each need a huge difference in temp, or would I be able to keep their enclosures fairly close together?
How can I help insure the correct temps especially at night during the winter as it can get very cold here.
How often should I feed them?
How exactly do I gut load the crickets?
Should I feed them other things besides just crickets?
Do they need special water like aged or distilled?
What kinds of things should go into the enclosures?
What kinds of live plants are safe for each species?
Any other information you can think of to give me would be very much appreciated.

Thanks, Aly

[N3XU5]

Hello LaydeeAly,

I am also a Colorado native, and a frog owner.

[Mentat]

Hello and welcome to FF Aly! Well, let's start with the tree frogs. For the White's we have an excellent care sheet: Frog Forum - White's Tree Frog Care - Litoria caerulea . For the White Lipped you can pretty much set up the enclosure to same parameters, but have bit more leeway with temps from 80-85F during day with a drop to 75F at night. Ventilation is more important than humidity and both of them can handle 50-70% humidity. Usually one evening spraying will suffice. You want to make sure their water dish is cleaned and water is replaced daily with dechlorinated tap to frog's chin depth. If your local tap is hard and leave water marks on glass, can use distilled water to spray enclosure; but try to avoid spraying frogs. Enclosures can be next to each other. To keep temps at night you can use ceramic heat emitters (last longer) or infrared bulbs connected to a controller like a thermostat. Heat pads can also be used on enclosure side; but be aware they are inefficient when used that way. If needed for observation, can use a daylight bulb or 2.0 (tropical) UVB compact fluorescent bulb.

For tree frogs you have various options for the substrate. If going with shredded coco, mix it with dechlorinated tap until slightly damp, so it clumps in fist but does not drip water. Other possibilities are damp clean towel rags, damp paper towels, water, or ABG soil. Since these frogs are large; if going with live plants recommend strong ones like Monsteras, Philodendrons, or similar.

Feeding frequency is dependent on frog's age. If young and growing can feed daily, if full grown couple times a week is enough. Insects (crickets, Dubia roaches, etc.) should be same size as distance between frogs eyes. Growing frog food should be dusted with CA/D3 2X and vitamins 1X weekly on different days with skip day in between. For grown adults can reduce that to monthly. Whites tend to overfeed so use the frogs supratympanic ridge as an indication of overfeeding (if it starts to get thick and cover eyes cut back on number of feedings or food offered). Can gut load crickets with carrots, lettuce, oats, and veggie fish food flakes. A good trick is to get small 2 in. high glass bowls at dollar store and have them learn to eat from them. That way you can monitor their food intake easier.

For the Asian Chubby Frog you can follow the info in this care article with couple modifications: Frog Forum - Pacman and Horned Frogs - Ceratophrys - Care and Breeding. Day temperature should be 68-78F with a slight drop at night and humidity of 70-80%. A 10G tank is fine for one frog. A layer of 2 in. deep shredded coco is good for substrate. Provide a water dish filled to frogs chin and a small hide. Can add to their diet un-dyed night crawlers (Walmarts sport section or bait shops) cut same as frog length from pointy end. All the notes regarding water, substrate, and feeding tree frogs above apply for Chubby too. Hope this gets you started and good luck !