New too owning Rn

[BArnold]

Hi everyone,

My title on this is supposed to be New to owning RETFs, not sure if I'm doing it right.
I received my RETFs on Feb 20th and am still learning a lot of what I should and should not be doing. I have done a lot of research and read a lot of your guys' posts and there are quite a few controversial opinions still. I would love to express my concerns and get input on how I am doing so far.

Frogies
I have three babies, at least one boy and one girl, but no idea what's what. One is bigger than the others and is the one I am sort of concerned about, she (I think a she because of her length) seems very skinny, and slightly odd colored, aside from normal color variations. I have never seen them soak, and for the first time saw her soak today when I transferred them in order to clean their tank. When I put her back is when I noticed her looking odd, but in the temporary tank she looked brilliant lime green. So I am not sure if she got nervous, I have been on here paranoid, looking at diseases and reading up on everything and now I am scared my frogs have red leg or something :-/ I feel like a worried mother. Anyway...
The second frog has some white spots on him, or 'birth marks' as I found out, I thought at one point that he had oodium (spelling?), but they have never changed, so I came to the conclusion that they are nothing to worry about.
The third seems small. I worry that he isn't getting enough to eat. But he had plenty of opportunity tonight in the temp cage. So who knows.
Every night I try to sneak up and see if any are soaking and they never are... So let me explain my habitat.



Habitat
I have a 12x12x18 Exo-Terra terrarium. In it I have half water and half land. I originally bought different live mosses, then noticed bugs despite checking it and rinsing it. So I got nervous and took it all out in case something harmed the frogs. I do not have a water bowl, because of the whole half water thing, I figured they would soak in there, there is a blue LED light underneath the water and river rock. I have a fake hanging plant, and two live ones in the water as well as some driftwood for them to perch on. Until tonight I did not have a filter and probably didn't change the water as often as I should have. I mist them a few times a day. When I do spray them directly they lift themselves up into the water I am spraying, if they are awake. They don't seem to mind it. Anyway, so tonight I changed the set up to all water bottom (river rocks and LED light underneath), added a filter and a hose running water up the back and trickling it down the background. The light is more for a night light because the frogs are in my sons room, but it barely gets used. The temperature is a steady 74 degrees F. And the humidity varies. If I notice it getting low I mist everything, so between 60 and 80. I put a wash cloth over part of the top screen because I was misting a lot everyday and sometimes wouldn't notice the humidity was low until it was in the thirties. I am thinking about getting a few little fish just so they can help keep the water clean. I feel like I am doing things too advanced for my stage in frog raising, but I like the set up I have and would like to figure out how to keep things more effective.


Health, Feeding etc.
Other than what I have already stated during the day they all look great. Nice lime green color, orange toes, and a white/blueish belly. At night their colors change. I am going to attach a picture as to why I am concerned they may have red leg. But the more I logically think about it the more I think they may have been just freaked out because I moved them, the only other time I have held them is when I originally put them in the habitat, otherwise I have always cleaned it while they sleep during the day. I felt like I wasn't getting as good of a clean as I wanted so that's why I chose to do it while they were awake this time.
I was putting about 50 small dusted crickets in at night every few days. Some escape, some drown and some find their way behind the styrofoam. I buy the gut loaded ones if I don't have time to let regular ones eat. But if I do I typically feed them carrots. I got flightless fruit flies once, the frogs didn't eat them, instead they laid larvae in my habitat, so I had to clean that and all the drowned corpses out. I read to put the crickets in a glass bowl, which I may try now that I have an all water bottom. I can rest it on the rocks and hopefully I wont have so many drowned crickets. The first week they didn't eat, which I found was normal. I also thought they sent an albino one by mistake because the color was so light, but then it turned green and found out it must have been cold and stressed from shipping. They all poop normally, it is normal looking, only a couple times it has looked mucusish. They barely eat in front of me but they aren't shy to poop and pee. I don't know if I have included everything, but I hope so.

Also, is it normal for them not to make any sound yet? If i had to guess I would say they are a couple months old. They haven't fully developed the color on their sides, it is slowly coming in as time passes, so I figured maybe they don't have strong lungs or something yet.



If anyone has helpful tips please feel free to share. Thank you.

[MsBlueRose]

I like the set-up idea you have in place. I would not add fish though. Fish, snails,and some other critters carry parasites that are harmful to the frogs. I used to have snails in my old habitat but after learning the can pass on trematodes to the frogs, I quickly removed them and treated my frogs and whole tank for the pests just to be safe... It sounds like you are doing everything right for your froggies, though they need a more constant humidity range for their species. I keep a folded towel over my exo-terra and it holds in the heat and humidity perfectly. I have never had RETF, I keep Grey's so I can't say for the rest of the care, but it looks good from what I have seen from other people's posts! I also hand feed all my frogs just to make sure they all get the right amount and no one gets left out. You might want to try hand feeding them if you think they are not getting enough food. It takes them a little time to get used to it, but in time they will take it from you and from that point on they will show interest in you every time they see you thinking it is feeding time, lol. Good luck with your new group!

[BArnold]

Luckily I saw your response before I got fish. I also put a towel over 3/4 of the top and the humidity is very consistent now. Before I was paranoid about them having red leg because they were very pinkish but now their colors are becoming very vibrant and they vary from bright green to brown to purple even. I am so in love with them. Since I wrote this post I have changed their set up to all water and have installed a small filter that brings the water up the back so it trickles down over the leaves like rain. It took me a long time to figure out how to do it. The frogs love it and I don't have to mist the tank now. My biggest problem now is the crickets drowning themselves. If the frogs are hungry they will jump in the water if the dead crickets are moving with the current but I have to fish them out rather soon after they down or they get all boogery looking. I also now have two gray tree frog tadpoles. They freak me out. I always think they're dead. But everything is going great with them, I'm very pleased and my paranoia has gone.

[MsBlueRose]

Lol, I know what you mean about the tadpoles! They sit so still some times, it is freaky, lol. I wish I had Grey Tads! I love my Grey's. If you don't mind me asking, where did you get your grey tads from? I am glad my idea worked for you and your humidity has balanced out. I had to take my towel a bit further back on my exoterra. The humidity has gotten really high thanks to the spring heat. I don't have my AC on yet and I don't want my Grey's to get too hot. It has been really warm and humid in their tank lately. Your Red-eyes sound fascinating. I would like to own a pair one day. But for now I already have five frogs counting my tads, and they are gonna be big eaters after they morph so I need to hold off in getting any more for now. One thing though, be sure you are adding a small amount of calcium and vitamin supliments to the tadpole's water. If you don't do this they may develop poor organs and not grow up very healthy. I have heard it can even kill them if they don't get proper nutrition. If you have time, I would love to see pics of the Red-Eyes and of the tads! They sound so cute! Good luck with your little frog family! Best Wishes to you and them!

[BArnold]

I am a frog fanatic now. I have discovered clown tree frogs and tiger legged monkey frogs and I want them. I wish I had more space because none of the species can be housed together. But I will probably figure something out. I have tried to upload pictures. I will have to get on the computer to do it tomorrow. I love how they have gotten comfortable with me, one of them comes up to the glass and states at me and another will chirp at me when I click at him after he's full. They each have their cute little personalities and they are so cute together. They hop on each other and don't care sometimes they sleep next to each other but usually they each have their dedicated spot everyday. I barely hold them except to move them to another tank when I deep clean. I think that gains their trust cause they don't like to be handled. But I'm excited to expand my collection.

[MsBlueRose]

I have read in many places that frogs don't like to be held, but my greys sure do. They will pace the front of the tank waiting for me to open it sometimes. And once I do open it they will jump out onto my arm or shirt and crawl up to my shoulder where they like to sit for hours while I watch TV. If one of my cats gets to close they will jump up and bite the cats nose, lol. The cat freaks out and runs off, not to return until I have put away the frog, lol. ANd btw, if you are having problems with feedings because of the water covered bottom, you can always take them out and hand feed them. They actually like it, just sit them in a tote or a bowl that is high enough to keep the crickets from jumping out easily and then add the crickets. By doing it this way, you can also ensure that each frog is eating, and getting enough to eat as well. I feed my frogs every two to three days depending on how much they ate last time and they all know when it is time to eat. They love it when I come to get them and feed them. They get all excited and start looking for bugs as soon as I pick them up, lol. Just some food for thought though, you can feed them as you wish. But the calcium and vitamin dustings will wash off if you continue to feed them in the tank. At the very least I would tong feed the in the tank if you don't want to handle them too much. Then you can still make sure they get the proper amount of food and are still getting the vitamins and calcium you dust the crickets with. Good luck and I hope your next attempt at putting up pics goes well, can't wait to see them!

[BArnold]

I am excited for the grays to grow because I think they are more pet-like as far as handling. But the red eyes are very delicate and susceptible to disease so I don't like to hold them or move them so I don't stress them out. I think that is why I was so paranoid when I first got them because all my research talked about all these diseases they can get. Also thanks for the tip about putting supplements in the tadpole water. I didn't see that in anything I researched.

Will post pictures on a few hours when I get off

[MsBlueRose]

Cool, I can't wait to see pics! And yes the Greys are much more open to handling. My grey's love to be help, except for the female. And even she has her moments when she just wants attention! Yur very welcome on the suppliment suggestion. It is very important, I am surprised you did not find it in any of the research you did. There is just not enough info out there on proper frog care if you ask me...

[BArnold]

I can't figure out how to upload pictures. For some reason it isn't working.

[MsBlueRose]

First, go to the pictures link at the top of the page. Click on it and select add albums. Create and album and then select edit album (it is either that or add pictures, i forget) but it is at the top left of the thread page once you create the album. Since you have an album already, you can just go to my albums and select upload pictures. Once you are in the area you can add pictures to the album by uploading them from your computer to the site directly. After you upload the picture drag the picture to the bottom portion of the area that the picture first appears in and select done. Once you click done it will take you to a list of larger images of the pictures you just uploaded and selected for you album. You can add text to the picture there. Once done, don't forget to select save at the bottom of the larger images. Once you have selected save, the images will forever be saved to your album until you decide to delete them. I forgot to save the pictures I added to the album several times at first and could not figure out what I was doing wrong... No one helped me figure it out so I kept trying, lol. I have it down now. Good luck dear! : )


Sincerely;
MsBlueRose