How can I not kill it while I learn? Very basic information request

[ibycus]

Oh and what about UV lighting recommendations?

[ColleenT]

what you will learn is- the frog is cheap/free, the vivarium costs a fortune. well put him a Quarantine tank for now, use papertowels on the bottom as substrate for now. let them be damp but not wet. buy crickets at the pet store- no bigger than the space between his eyes. i dust my crickets in a container i dump a few in and 'shake and bake' them. cover them and let them crawl into the enclosure. only one or 2 until you know he's eating. crix can chew on frogs. dark quiet area for a while. in the meantime, read all you can about them and their care and find a nice setup, or release him if it sounds too overwhelming.'

i am not a fan of kids having reptiles and amphibs. so much can go wrong, and handling them stresses out the animal. if the kid was to have it, i would not allow him to play with it. it would have to be taken care of by an adult who could monitor the situation.

[ibycus]

Hi Colleen,

Thank you for your reply. You can rest assured that I know the requirements of keeping this guy happy/healthy are going to be more than just sticking him in an old aquarium with some dirt and water!

Its not so much about 'hey the frog is free' that we're going for, but more about igniting a passion in a kid who really needs something to be passionate about. A big part of the interest is that this guy was found in nature. (otherwise they would pick one up at the pet store with much better documented requirements).

When I was in school I did some labs on 'care and feeding of exotics' (snakes, bearded dragons, red-slider tortoises), so I know enough to know just how much I don't know about the specific requirements of these guys. Most of the so called 'care' guides I can find don't really cover what you need to know to actually care for them. I'm hoping, given this guy is a local, and not some rainforest refuge, his care requirements won't be *too* onerous.

I'm not sure about sourcing crickets of the size you mentioned, I've certainly never seen them for sale--doesn't mean they don't exist, just I've not seen them around. I'm wondering about blood worms? Any thoughts there?

Things I still need to find out:
1. A diet he will eat. I suspect this might be one of the harder requirements to meet, given that he is wild caught, he may not recognize some of this stuff as food.
2. Moisture requirements (% humidity, depth of any water, etc).
3. A diet that will be balanced for him long term.
4. UV lighting requirements? (Does he need any special UV lights? I suspect he does, but can't confirm).
5. Long term substrate?
6. Filtration systems?

I've reached out to the local zoo veterinarian (who is an acquaintance of mine) to see if he can help me out with some of the specifics (I imagine they have some in captivity at the zoo).

Dale

what you will learn is- the frog is cheap/free, the vivarium costs a fortune. well put him a Quarantine tank for now, use papertowels on the bottom as substrate for now. let them be damp but not wet. buy crickets at the pet store- no bigger than the space between his eyes. i dust my crickets in a container i dump a few in and 'shake and bake' them. cover them and let them crawl into the enclosure. only one or 2 until you know he's eating. crix can chew on frogs. dark quiet area for a while. in the meantime, read all you can about them and their care and find a nice setup, or release him if it sounds too overwhelming.'

i am not a fan of kids having reptiles and amphibs. so much can go wrong, and handling them stresses out the animal. if the kid was to have it, i would not allow him to play with it. it would have to be taken care of by an adult who could monitor the situation.