Adopted a Tree Frog, Got Some Q's

[Jolenels]

So I adopted a tree frog from someone who was just done and was going to let it loose outside (I live in Canada, you can imagine what would of happened to that poor frog!) so I took him in. It's a red eyed tree frog. Cute as can be, I mean, who can say no to that face???

Usually before taking on a new pet I do tons of research, but this was sudden so I am researching as I go. But I still have a few questions.

He was fine for a few days but now he is cycling from bright green to almost black. Someone said it was stress. Both the heat and humidity are where they should be. He isn't being disturbed, he is eating well, he is noisy as all get out at night, and he is active at night. How else do I lower his stress level? I also have both sides of his tank covered in green paper as per someone's suggestion and the back is faux rock.

His terrarium is too small. This I know. I am looking to upgrading in size and making it a vivarium but I'm worried if he is stressed a move will make it worse. I have a local frog expert (he is actually moving to Colombia soon to continue on his frog research) who is willing to help me set up the perfect viv with fantastic plants he home grows for his own frogs.

As well, we think he is male because he calls at night and we were told only males call. We were hoping to add another frog or two when we upgrade (we can't do this if he is stressed though) and if he is male we need to introduce females. But I don't want frog babies, though the local reptile/amphibian shop informed me that if it happened they would take the eggs, raise them until they could be sold, and then either return them to us or buy them from us. The guy who runs it used to breed leopard geckos and frogs but now breeds boa's. He is properly set up for such a task where we aren't. I've heard that frogs are hard to breed and I've heard they are easy. If they are next to impossible that's fine, but if it's like rabbits....well Gru (the frog) is going to be a lonely guy forever.

As for holding. We were told never touch him by a few people. But how do I get him out to clean the cage then? I have no plans of touching him often. I am just scooping the cage right now to minimize stress.

I have tons of reptile experience but this frog is new territory and I want him to live the rest of his life in froggy bliss

[ColleenT]

i have not had red eyed tree frogs but i have Greys. they enjoy real plants. can you find a small pathos plant to put in the tank? you can leave it in the pot. This helps with hiding and humidity. right now you need to find a care sheet and get the temps right, and the humidity right, and then see if the frog can relax a bit. but i would move him to the larger enclosure as soon as you can get it ready. lots of places to hide. This will help the stress levels. use a small clear deli cup with a lid to scoop him in and catch him to clean the cage.

[irThumper]

Sometimes you simply have to handle a frog, like to move them, to examine them, and when it's necessary to medicate them. Purchase some blue nitrile powder & latex free examination gloves, or the clear kind they use at deli counters. I wouldn't use the deli cup because these guys are all legs and jumpy (especially if he's full sized) so you could risk damaging his eyes or limbs even if you are careful. Cupping him in your two hands gently is safer & faster.

Quite frankly it sounds to me like you're spot on with everything. If he's active (without being crazy trying to escape), and certainly if he's eating and calling, these are all good signs. I don't know about how often RETFs change to dark, but I know White's tree frogs change color all the time, and it doesn't always mean something is wrong. I have a frog who is pale blue-green when she sleeps during the day, and at night she turns a dark purply-grey color. I have another who is chocolate brown all day long but when the lights go out he turns olive green. Another frog, who is usually a nondescript green, turns brown day or night seemingly when she is ticked off... lol. But Martha is a grump, so...

Sounds like you are on the right track. Keep an eye on him and come to learn what is "normal" for him as time goes on... if activity, eating (remember to dust those feeders with Cal/D3 and mutli vits once a week on opposite days!), poop, soaking, & shedding are all happening and he's not just all hunched up looking miserable and refusing food things should be fine. It would be a good idea to grab a fresh poo and have it tested for parasites too. The thing about this is fresher is better, so I'd see if you can find a vet office that can do this in-house instead of sending out to a lab-- IF they will do it without seeing the frog, which can be tricky. You do not want to have to haul an otherwise normal frog in to a vet just to have a poop test run... if it comes back positive for something you might not have a choice, so you can get meds, but a good vet will let you birng in a photo or video of the frog, imo.

You can look up Dr. Frye on here too, I believe he does fecal tests through the mail? (anyone?) but again the fresher the better as it helps prevent false negatives.

Keep us updated on Gru!

[Jolenels]

We unfortunately do not have a vet who deals with these type of frogs. I'm not even sure where they bought it from as no where in town even carries them! Our local reptile specialty shop said that they are considered so exotic that it's a lot of work to get them in. He is looking in to seeing if he can locate a grown female for us as the only supplier he knows of would have babies. I can get white eyed tree frogs and up until last month dart frogs (they were just named illegal) and a few other species, but not red eyed tree frogs. I have a picture of how dark he went but when I try to upload it it says format not supported, and I don't know how to change photo formats, or else I would show you guys the original colour versus the stressed colour. Can you gut load with vitamins? I feed him before I turn the light off for the night but he likes to stalk his food for quite some time so by the time he actually eats the cricket and stops looming over it all the powder is gone. It's just a waste. I do gut load with carrots. Can I douse the carrots in the powder? It is going to take us a few weeks to set up the larger enclosure. Unfortunately we hadn't expected the extra cost of a frog and with the economy how it is the mortgage has to come first! We should be able to have him in a new tank within a month at the most though, hopefully sooner!

[irThumper]

Dart frogs are illegal up there?? Dang...

Format not supported... hmm, I would make a post about that here: Forum Questions & Workings

Well there is a calcium spray, which should take care of the cal problem, but I don't believe it has D3 in it... I would go ahead and sprinkle Reptocal with Cal/D3 on some cricket food, or an orange slice, about 12 hours before you feed them to him. On another day of the week I'd do the same with vitamin powder. Feeding fresh vegies that are high in vits to the crickets can help too... carrots, yam, sweet potato & kale are all good. My crickets love original Cheerios, and I gut load them on Fluker's dry high calcium cricket chow.

[deranged chipmunk]

Retf will change color for no apparent reason. They actually have different colors they use to blend in. As you said, he eats normal and is active, so he doesn't sound ill. Keep in mind that they are nocturnal (which I am sure you already knew), so the bulk of his activity should be after lights out.

The calcium spray is garbage. Either gut load or dust the crickets. As far as adding another frog, no worries about breeding if you introduce a female. They need to be cycled through seasonal changes and placed in a rain chamber to breed. They aren't like darts that wi just breed at the drop of the hat. Speaking of darts, I'm guessing you live in Alberta, since that province just recently outlawed darts. But you can get mantellas though, they are legal. Stupid governments lol

How big is the current enclosure?


Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world ~ Nelson Mandela

[Jolenels]

I am in Alberta lol. Our local shop (CE for further reference) has some dart frogs still in. He has removed them from sale but not because any authority has told him too but because he just happened to catch wind of the new law. We aren't sure if it's a grandfather law or not yet, so he still has the frogs just not for sale. And they are beautiful!! I would own one in a heart beat if it was legal.

The current cage is tiny. Like 12 X 12 X 9. He has lived in it for the first year of his life so I hope he will be fine another couple weeks. I could upload a photo, if I could get it to work grrrrr. The one I am looking at is 18 X 18 X 18 and the person I am buying it from will include a live plant bundle that is tree frog safe. I'm not sure if I need bigger though if we are looking at introducing a new frog. I'm still not quite there in research. We already own a tank that big, but the mesh top was damaged. We repaired it but we had the leopard gecko in it so we weren't concerned about making it super tight...I'm not comfortable putting something in it that can climb walls lol.

I do have go out and get more vitamin supplements because he just came with a smidge and I ran out. Right now he has me a bit concerned as he seems to be breathing fast. I never noted his breathing before but this seems fast regardless. So I'm keeping a close eye today on the levels and him.

[irThumper]

...The calcium spray is garbage.....

Ugh, now I find out! Not that I've even used it yet... Oh well, good to have a heads up!

[deranged chipmunk]

Yeah, the law is very obscure, to say the least.

An 18 cube would be ok, but an 18x18x24 would be a bit better if you can swing it. Once you add drainage and substrate, that 18h will be more like 12h. And it will give you a bit more room for a tank mate. I wouldn't put more than 2 in an 18x18x whatever height.


Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world ~ Nelson Mandela

[Jolenels]

2 is the max we want. Just someone for him to hang out with haha. We were looking at getting a second leopard gecko but that process is much more complicated then a second frog. This all depends on whether he lives or not. I never realized how complex these little critters were! Like I mentioned, he is breathing fast and he seems more....blobby....but I'm not sure if maybe he is just perched differently. So now I am on frog watch.

My only issue with going bigger is space to keep it haha. We have a hamster (my daughter does) that is in a 30 gallon. A gecko in a 60 gallon, the frog would be in a big tank too. So finding him a place would be something to seriously consider.

I do wish we had a vet that would look at him to ease my worries. I have a habit of rescuing animals when it's already too late.

[Jolenels]

[deranged chipmunk]

Hey! A pic! Nice! What a little cutie!! He definitely looks healthy and alert


Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world ~ Nelson Mandela

[Jolenels]

Thats what he looked like now he looks like this....a bit blobbier then before

[Jolenels]

and he got this dark!

[Jolenels]

Tapatalk keeps crashing so it took 6 tries but I can get photos!! If it fixes itself I may just add my gecko forum on here

[deranged chipmunk]

Looks normal. check out pics from either heatheranne or flybyferns. I do believe one of them posted the dark colors of their retf.


Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world ~ Nelson Mandela

[deranged chipmunk]

Tapatalk keeps crashing so it took 6 tries but I can get photos!! If it fixes itself I may just add my gecko forum on here

Tapatalk is touchy lately. It is effective, but occasionally, there are issues.


Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world ~ Nelson Mandela

[irThumper]

He looks great!

[Jolenels]

I actually think he may or may not have just shed..... The other day he was doing this weird mouth thing where he opened and closed it repeatedly. I was a bit freaked out so I added it to my 'list' (I keep a paper where I jot down things I need to look up when I have the time lol) and just looked it up and it could be shedding? He was also sitting in his water right around that time too. He eats his shed? That's nice. That's what the gecko does but it's much more noticeable and she sheds for two to three days. Will his appetite change with a shed? Should I feed him less or more? The gecko doesn't eat before or right after she sheds lol, and that's all I have to base this off of right now! The white dots are normal right? They just need to stay the same, and if they change then it's an issue? If they do change is there something I can do since I have no vet in my area to help?

Thanks for all your guys help! Research is great but hearing it from voices of experience is even better!

[irThumper]

Yep, he's a sheddin! Feed him the same, he will take what he wants. Far as I know those dots are just RETF freckles and perfectly normal