Red Eye Tree Frog Not Eating!

[Dreamz]

Hello all I'm new to this forum. I recently purchased a new retf but am worried about her not eating. Today is the 6th day she hasnt eaten. I have tried to leave her alone as I know they are stressed out upon moving to a new environment but am beginning to worry because it has been so long since she last ate. Yesterday she didn't even move from her spot even at night. She isn't very lethargic as she moves when I wake her but all she does is sleep. Her tank has been setup so it runs between 70-80 degrees and the humidity between 30-40%. I have it running lower humidity because I am afraid of bacteria growing with higher humidity. I included some pics I can post more if needed. What can I do!?

[irThumper]

The humidity you're keeping your Red-Eyed Leaf Frog at is considered a proper range for the "dry cycle". This is when frogs would be gearing down (non-breeding season) and would not be likely to eat or move around much. I'd bump that humidity up-- one source I read says ideally humidity should range between 60-90% (the upper level being right after misting), and another source says not to maintain them at higher than 80% or you could get health problems. I'd say 60-70% would be a fine average. These guys need plenty of ventilation, so be sure not to obstruct ventilation grids or the screen top. You can keep humidity up just fine by misting a couple times a day and providing a large enough water dish. For temps 75F-85F is ideal during the day and should cool down 5 to 10% at night.

(Info source: Tree Frogs, A Complete Guide to Arboreal Frogs by Devon Edmonds. Published by TFH, 2007)

Your froggy looks good to me, by the way. Not too skinny, and nice and healthy.

Have you checked out the care sheet on here for RETFs? Frog Forum - Red-Eyed Leaf Frog/Red Eyed Tree Frog Care - Agalychnis callidryas

[irThumper]

PS: These guys LOVE big leaves, so I'd provide more in the way of those for him. I'd also watch out for loose moss, it creates an impaction risk if a frog grabs some with a feeder insect and accidentally ingests it

[Dreamz]

Thanks for the reply irthumper. So you think it's the humidity that's causing her to not eat? I blocked off some vents so the humidity is now sitting at 70%. She's a fatso now but is six days normal to not eat? Im not sure when she last ate so it's at least six days from when I puchased her. I think I may try a feeding dish for the next few days so the crix can stay covered in powder and maybe make it easier to hunt them . Also I purchased a fogger would you suggest running that all day? It stays pretty moist and around mid 70% humidity with the vents all uncovered.

[irThumper]

Thanks for the reply irthumper. So you think it's the humidity that's causing her to not eat? I blocked off some vents so the humidity is now sitting at 70%. She's a fatso now but is six days normal to not eat? Im not sure when she last ate so it's at least six days from when I puchased her. I think I may try a feeding dish for the next few days so the crix can stay covered in powder and maybe make it easier to hunt them. Also I purchased a fogger would you suggest running that all day? It stays pretty moist and around mid 70% humidity with the vents all uncovered.

At her weight are you sure she's not eating? Do you count the crickets when you put them in the tank? A feeding bowl would be a very good idea at this point I think, crickets are notorious for getting back behind the false backgrounds and dying off :/

Just make sure you don't block off too many vents as RETFs need very good ventilation. TOO much humidity can be as bad as too low. I think I'd go slow and check a few different things as you go along. Try just misting with the vents all unblocked first, if that keeps her between 60-70% then great, if not then move on to the next thing to try... too many changes will be stressful on your frog too.
Probably would hold off on the fogger for now until you see how well the humidity does with just misting a few times during the day. Humidity naturally goes up at night, so I probably would leave it off in the evenings if you do use it.

I'm hoping a RETF expert will chime in here as I am not an expert on them by any means; I don't own any, so am giving advice based on research...! :P

[trentolio]

hello welcome to FF i also just bought a red eyed tree frog and had the same experience my frog hadnt eaten in 5 days i got so worried that i force fed him one cricket after that he started hunting on his own also, the humidity should be at least 70% if not higher frogs tend to do better at higher humiditys id recomend force feeding one cricket because red eyed tree frogs can die after 7 days of not eating best of luck ,trent

[irThumper]

hello welcome to FF i also just bought a red eyed tree frog and had the same experience my frog hadnt eaten in 5 days i got so worried that i force fed him one cricket after that he started hunting on his own also, the humidity should be at least 70% if not higher frogs tend to do better at higher humiditys id recomend force feeding one cricket because red eyed tree frogs can die after 7 days of not eating best of luck ,trent

Some frogs can tolerate higher humidity (like Darts) and others, like White's, can handle lower humidity. RETF's, according to my research, should do perfectly well at 60-75%, but above 80% for great lengths of time are not recommended. The source says they spend the majority of their time in areas of the canopy where they get plenty of air flow and so do not have highly concentrated areas of dense humidity. Air flow helps to regulate it, so you don't want to be sealing up all the vents and socking the humidity to the enclosure.

I disagree on the force feeding. She's only had her 6 days and that's not a long enough period of time to be worried about the frog enough to force feed; I would only do that in an extreme emergency or with an emicated (sp?) frog, which Dreamz frog obviously is not. Force feeding is just going to cause more stress, and stress is a killer of frogs

[Dreamz]

I setup some crickets in a small glass bowl before I went out to dinner and still nothing . Thanks for the info Trent. Because she is kind of plump atm I think I will hold off for a little with the force feeding. I know how delicate these little guys are so worst case I'll try that. As for the humidity I really have no other choice than to block off one screen (there are two screens up top and a grill in front so it's not completly blocked). Even with multiple mistings throughout the day I can only reach around 30%. I just used a little plastic wrap to cover the one screen. I puchased some usb fans that I tried running but I find they are drying the tank out too much. I'm planing on getting a mistking soon so I can have more added that way. Also I've seen her sloughing twice. is there any nutritional value to that? Again I appreciate all the advise any more is welcome!

[LilyPad]

Typing on my phone so apologies for any typos. Humidity needs to stay up there, I have about 3/4 of my screen top covered during the winter while running the creramic heat emitter. 70-80 degrees is a pretty broad range, get a thermostat so you can maintain some stability, instability will stress them. Cover 3 sides of the tank to give her some more comfort, possibly more of the tank. I only had about 50% of one side of the tank open while giving my reds time to adjust. Fix all of that and give her time to adjust.

Read this also -
Frog Forum - Red-Eyed Leaf Frog/Red Eyed Tree Frog Care - Agalychnis callidryas

[irThumper]

GREAT pics! Love that shedding one, lol :P 30% is definitely too low, so you do indeed need to do something to bring it up :/ the fogger might just be your best bet after all.

(Where are all of our long time RETF experts on here...??)

[Dreamz]

Just wanted to update you guys. So after 10 days she has finally eaten. Yesterday she ate 3 out of five I placed in her tank and I just watched her eat another 4! What a pig!!! Much thanks to irthumper and Amy your advice really helped! So relieved she is finally eating.

[irThumper]

Awesome job! Could be too that she was just waiting after a good shed. Congrats!