Help! Baby Grey Tree-frog not growing!!

[Jayzie Greenfrog]

Hi, I recently got 6 baby Grey tree-frogs, 5 of them are growing at a tremendous rate but one, who always was the smallest, just doesn't seem to be growing! At the moment it seems happy enough, is active and feeding although it doesn't seem to get as excited about food as the others do! Should I be worried, is there anything I can do? Or do I just have to except that not all babies are going to make it? I welcome any advise, please!

[MsBlueRose]

It might just turn out to be a small frog. It is true that not all the baby frog make it in the wild and even some captive bread. But with a protected home and proper nutrition it may live to be a happy adult after all. Just make sure it is getting a proper vitamin supplement (make sure they all are actually) and she might be ok. Pics would be adorable I bet! Let us know how it does, so long as it is active and eating I would think it's gonna be fine. Just make sure his brothers and sisters that are out growing him don't eat him if they get to much bigger than the poor little guy...

[flybyferns]

Hi, I recently got 6 baby Grey tree-frogs, 5 of them are growing at a tremendous rate but one, who always was the smallest, just doesn't seem to be growing! At the moment it seems happy enough, is active and feeding although it doesn't seem to get as excited about food as the others do! Should I be worried, is there anything I can do? Or do I just have to except that not all babies are going to make it? I welcome any advise, please!

Minimize his disadvantage.
I think I would separate him from the others for the time being.
As the others grow faster/larger--he will be in constant competition for his food only making matters worse.
Make dinner an 'easy' catch for him

Sometime the little guys turn out to be the toughest of all!

[MsBlueRose]

Minimize his disadvantage.
I think I would separate him from the others for the time being.
As the others grow faster/larger--he will be in constant competition for his food only making matters worse.
Make dinner an 'easy' catch for him

Sometime the little guys turn out to be the toughest of all!

Lol, yep; he may be the best one out of the whole clutch! And I agree, separating him from the group and making sure he gets proper calcium and vitamins/minerals will give him the best chance. If there is even one that is small enough to stay with him, let them stay together. Grey's are social frogs and I am afraid that pulling him from all his brothers and sisters might depress him and make him stop eating. I would not want to make things worse for him either. One of my Grey's (Buddy) is especially demanding when I feed them and he is a good bit bigger than the other two especially the little girl. He is not big enough to eat her, but he does take the food right out of their mouth if he can get away with it, so I always make sure to supervise their feedings. I actually hand feed all my frogs now. Since they have no teeth I am not worried about them accidentally biting me, and they do all the time when I have them all out together and they think they are getting fed. It is gonna be different hand feeding Leopard Frogs, lol, I can't wait til' my tads grow up!
Sorry, rambling again. Gotta try and stop that, lol! But it sounds like you are on the right track. I would love to see pics of them! I am going to post some pics of my Grey's and my Leopard Tads as soon as I get my cable for my camera, I had to order a replacement... I am going to post a pic of my 55 gal setup for the Leopard's, too. I love Grey's, they are my favorite frog! I wanted to raise my Grey's from tads too, but did not get so lucky with them. I did manage to get two froglets though. One will be 3 this year and the other will be two. I wish I knew how old my big male is...

[Jayzie Greenfrog]

Hi, thank you for your wonderful replies, i at least feel reassured I am doing right by him. I seperated him soon after arrival leaving the next smallest with him until last week when I was forced because the larger one had come on so well to move it in with the others where it appears to have settled well. Unfortunetly this leaves 'Tich' on his own which as you say isnt ideal! We are feeding and dusting well, I have found that wax moths are a great enticement for reluctant grey frogs and ones who need that bit extra but unfortunately Tich is too small for the ones I have at the moment. A couple of months back I had forgotten to feed my culture (I have one on the go permantly) and as a result I ended up with some really small moths which would have been ideal but the present batch are too large even though I tried to produce small ones!! So we are feeding brown and black crickets. I tried fruit flies he wasnt interested just as he isnt interested in hatchling locusts and the smallest curly wing flies although I wondered if the latter two were a bit large for him. I also have some bean weavils but no one seems to like them much! Is there any thing else? I have tried taking pics but only have the ipad so they arnt the best quality and nothing shows how small Tich is but from nose to vent he measutes 1.5 cm his brother and sisters are all around 3cm, the one who was with him probably 2.5 or so. Here are the pics sorry if you end up having to view from the side I havent worked out how to turn things round!



The first pic is of one of the adults, the 2nd has the larger brother and sisters I think only one is out of shot but they were all there and the last shoes Tich.

[MsBlueRose]

They are adorable! You are doing well with their upkeep. Just make sure you are giving them vitamin/calcium dusted feeding A LOT. The adults only need it once every few feedings, but the little guys need it nearly every feeding. Keep feeding him daily and he will be ok. The size difference seems to be simillar to my adult male and female, My largest and smallest in my colony. My male is a good 2.5 almost 3 inches long and the female is only half his size at maybe an inch and a half, 2 inches if she is completely flat on the glass, lol. But even though they are a great deal different in size, they have no problems living together. I was surprised when my female tried to eat my smaller males foot and refused to let go of it, but other than that I don't have problems like that with them. If he seems to be lonely, put him back in with the others and just make sure he is safe. If you are worried that they are gonna eat him, just don't leave him unattended with them and feed him alone to ensure he is not a snack for the others and that he gets ALL of his food. Good luck with the little guys!

[Jayzie Greenfrog]

Thank you, I have made a note of your very good advice. I had a couple of very small moths tonight (Uk time) I have given them to Tich even though were still slightly large for him, fluttering insects usually do it for these frogs.
I have just looked and cant see them in the tank so hopefully he just had his first moths, (we always let them hunt moths as they so love to do so and I dont think left overs would hurt - although left over moths? I dont it likely!! Thanks again for your help regards Jay

[MsBlueRose]

I am glad he is doing well, I am sure you guys will get along fine with him. Summer is coming and he will have quiet a wide selection of flying insects to choose from here soon, so long as you don't mind hunting them down for him. I like surprising my colony with moths and varius flying insects too, your right, they love the hunt! And I am glad I could help even if just a little. Your very welcome!

[Jayzie Greenfrog]

Thought I would post an update little frog is still thriving just not growing I have a ( not very clear) photo which might help show his size in terms of scale. (I am so sorry it is on its side if anyone knows how to turn them round then I would love to know). The bowl he is on is no longer than 3ins and about 1.5ins wide, it is also no more that 0.5ins deep! Hope that helps give an idea of his size.

[MsBlueRose]

Thought I would post an update little frog is still thriving just not growing I have a ( not very clear) photo which might help show his size in terms of scale. (I am so sorry it is on its side if anyone knows how to turn them round then I would love to know). The bowl he is on is no longer than 3ins and about 1.5ins wide, it is also no more that 0.5ins deep! Hope that helps give an idea of his size.

Wow, he is tiny! I do hope he grows a little bit bigger at least, it may take him a while to have another growth spurt. But I sure he will grow a little bit more at least. My Kermit was only about 3 cm when I got him. He grew so slowly we did not even notice him growing... It took him over 2 years to become adult sized. He is still my smallest male, but he is with in average size for a Grey. He is now about 2 1/4 inches, which if I am correct is about 6 cm. He grew slowly, but he did grow. Ofc, I would not have minded if he stayed tiny, I loved his adorable Bright lime green color that never changed when he was a baby! Now he is only that color about once or twice a week. I never did figure out why he did not develop the black outlines around his patterns, but I like the gold out line better anyway. Good luck with the little cuttie pie! Just keep giving him dusted insectes as often as you can and he will grow when he is ready.