I have baby grays! What should I do next?

[teslas intern]

So I have two tanks. One is full of water and tads, the other is a transition tank that is half sand/coco fiber, with some bark for hiding, that has the most mature tadpoles in it. And as of right now, two baby tree frogs!!! One is on land, the other is on the glass!!! Just in case I miss one, I have a piece of Styrofoam in the tadpole tank, so they can climb on that. They could also climb on the Hornwort slash scum I've been feeding them, which sticks out of the water in a few spots...

Anyway, collecting my thoughts here so early in the morning, my plan is to get fruit flies tomorrow. If the pet store is out, how long do I have before I need to feed these guys? I assume a few days until the tail is absorbed. I guess I need general advice on rearing gray treefrog froglets, I've never done this before... Most of them will be released right away, the rest will become pets for myself and my friends... Also I have an LED light on the tad tank, with that melt my foam and release chemicals? I've not known them to get very hot, but I figured I'd ask... Thanks!

[Cliygh and Mia 2]

Sounds like what you are doing is good, and if the pet-store is out of fruit flies, I would order springtails and other small invertabrates

[ColleenT]

remove most of the water, they need to be moist, but not wet. have some hiding places, and make sure the lid does not allow the fruit flies to escape. i have used fabric to seal a tank to keep the flies inside. Good luck. my baby Greys did not eat for 5 days after they became froglets. mine ate pinheads. They are so cute at this stage.

[teslas intern]

OK, I'll drain the transition tank. I do have some tads in there who don't have front legs yet, right now there is about two inches of water, so I think I can lower that and still keep these tads happy. Should i start a third tank with a water bowl for the fully transformed frogs? The cloth is a good idea! I also have some pinhead lateralis, but I'm worried about them being too big initially... Both the froglets were on the glass this morning! Can springtails climb glass? They might make a better feeder than fruit flies... Also how long can I feed them before I need to release them for the excess tads that I won't be keeping? State law says 30 days, but since they are new I figured sooner would be prudent, but I don't want to turn them loose on an empty stomach either... Thanks guys!

[ColleenT]

you need a tank with no water for the babies. they will drown. it happened to me. Once they have their arms and the tail is resorbing, take them out of water. mist the tank with dechlorinated water. You will have to keep them separate. the ones with no arms obviously need water. Springtails are a good meal, but they can and will eat pinheads if you can find them. springtails don't climb the tanks as far as i can tell. don't worry about the state coming after you. it's not going to happen unless a friend reports you.

[teslas intern]

I think I'm all set. I have a tank with moist substrate but no standing water for the babies, a transition tank for them to climb out, and obviously a tank with regular tads in it. How often should I mist them at this stage? They haven't taken food yet...

[Frogger27]

How do you know they were grey tree frog tads when you found them?


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[teslas intern]

Well they looked kind of like them, but I didn't know for sure until they started transforming...

[hydra311]

You're gonna have losses. It's a cruel fact. No matter WHAT you do. I tried for 4 yrs. to raise them and was not until last year I had success. But even then, a good many losses. 130 got released and 5 spent the winter with us because I REFUSED to let them go after the first cold snap hit. They got turned loose the day after Mother's Day this year. The trickiest part is the transition between the back legs and front legs coming in. Bare in mind now... I'm working with HUNDREDS of these suckers! The eggs are laid in hard shelled kiddie pools and it's not until they start getting pretty good sized and 'pudgy' I start separating. As soon as they start sprouting back legs they go in a plastic dish tub filled about halfway with water. DISTILLED or chlorine removed! As soon as I notice the back legs getting bigger and stronger looking I move them to another container with maybe 1/2 to 3/4" of water. That's when they start to kind of 'shrink' and look like they have 'chipmunk cheeks' because the front legs are getting ready to pop out. I also put a rock or something they can climb up on just in case one gets overlooked. As soon as the front legs pop out they go to another container that has maybe 5-6 smallish flat rocks with less than 1/2" of water. Tree Frogs are NOT good swimmers even fully grown so if they are in to much water they're going to drown. I try to make sure that they can 'hop' along the bottom but still get their head above water to breath. I also have a screen over this container because usually it's only 24-36 hrs. if that long before they start climbing the sides. The rocks give them something to sit on when they decide to hop out of the water too. I usually wait until the tail is absorbed and then move them into a container (kind of like a 'critter carrier') but with a small jade plant ('trainer tree') and small dish with just a tiny bit of water and the Eco Coconut ground cover. I also put a piece of VERY fine mesh tulle between the container and the lid because those little suckers are crafty! They can squeeze through those small vents!! Then from that point on I keep the container misted and they start getting fed the flightless fruit flies. After about a week or so I transfer them to the "Big Frog Nursery" which is a larger vivarium type container. Lather, Rinse, Repeat with the misting & fruitflies and I do still have a shallow dish of water in there that they do like to hop in and out of from time to time. After a few weeks in there and I know they're ok it's off to find their Mom's & Dads! I had 13 waiting at the top of the container this morning ready to be transferred to the first 'nursery' and there's probably gonna be at least 5 more by morning. I will say that doing it like this cut the mortality rate I was having by about 80%!

[crazy]

If yours are not fully morphed yet I would also be careful when transitioning them as when my Grey's morphed I had one try to climb the glass lost its footing on the side except for one toepad and did not have a very good time afterwards. This was when the little guy still had a little bit of its tail left but it was almost completely absorbed. Sadly it did not make it after that. The rest survived though and they are doing well.