Dumpy tree frog? What am I doing wrong?

[Crobbins2009]

I bought some dumpy tree frogs a couple of weeks ago. After reading I realized that the setup the lady had them in (which I also bought) was totally wrong. I bought them a small exo Terra setup, and since two of the babies have died. The adults that were a bright green are dark brown most of the time now. I am worried that I am doing something wrong and more will die if I don't fix what I'm doing wrong. So here are my questions.

Are these even dumpy tree frogs? I think that they are, but I want to be positive as this is the care that I've been giving them.

Is there something wrong with my setup? I've been keeping humidity around 50 to 70 percent and twmp around 75 to 85 Fahrenheit. There is about an inch of clay balls on the bottom that is covered by coconut substrate. There is enough water in the bottom to cover the clay balls but not the substrate. They have a uvb light which I was leaving on for 8 hours a day and a heat pad thing stuck to the back side ( which they never stay on).

I feed them once every two days. I take them out of the tank and put them in a plastic tote and they eat about 2 large crickets each. The one baby I have left will eat 4 or 5 pinheads or knats.

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated!!

[Mr Leopard]

Hi,

I'm not an expert, so hopefully someone else will confirm, but I don't think those are dumpy tree frogs. Their skin looks rough/bumpy like a gray tree frog's.

Edit: If you were to tell me these frogs were captured in my area, I'd call them gray tree frogs even without a clearer picture, but we only have 10 species of frogs around here, so there may be something I'm missing that would identify them as something else. Them being gray tree frogs would explain the color change. They change color according to the background. I've never seen a really dark shade of brown, but they can change between gray, brown and green... useful colors to hide in a tree.

[Mr Leopard]

I can't help you much with regards to care because I'm new to frog-keeping, too, but here's the link to the care sheet for gray tree frogs: http://www.frogforum.net/content.php...e-and-Breeding

[Crobbins2009]

Sigh. They do look like gray tree frogs. I'll take more pics torrow so maybe someone can help me be more sure :/ I don't think the girl I bought them from had any clue :/thanks for the help already though!!

Hi,

I'm not an expert, so hopefully someone else will confirm, but I don't think those are dumpy tree frogs. Their skin looks rough/bumpy like a gray tree frog's.

Edit: If you were to tell me these frogs were captured in my area, I'd call them gray tree frogs even without a clearer picture, but we only have 10 species of frogs around here, so there may be something I'm missing that would identify them as something else. Them being gray tree frogs would explain the color change. They change color according to the background. I've never seen a really dark shade of brown, but they can change between gray, brown and green... useful colors to hide in a tree.

[wriggles]

That's unfortunate =( They definitely don't look like dumpy tree frogs, in fact I wouldn't be surprised if they came from your neighbors bird bath lol. Our local pet shop is pretty pathetic when it comes to frogs too...

Unless your house is freezing cold I'd definitely turn off that heater for starters, 85 is pretty hot. If the top screen is covered, uncover it so the frogs get decent air flow.
How many frogs were in there? If the larger frogs see the babies move around, they're going to jump at them thinking they're food and could injure/eat them.
They would really appreciate more perching/hiding spots as well, it's a bit bare in there.
Make sure the water level doesn't get high enough to wick into the coco fiber or it'll get waterlogged and cause potential bacterial infections.

Other than that, they could have parasites or some other pathogens killing them. The owner could have been filling their water dish with unsafe city water as well, though I'm not sure how fast that would cause death.
Turn off the heat for sure though...

[ericbrookey]

I am not an expert by any stretch but I thought of a couple things..

There is about an inch of clay balls on the bottom that is covered by coconut substrate. There is enough water in the bottom to cover the clay balls but not the substrate..

Do you have a way to remove the water from the drainage layer or is it just sitting stagnant covered in coco fibre? Hard to tell from the pic where the water level is sitting or how damp the soil is. Is there a mesh layer between the balls and dirt to keep it from falling into the drink?

Agree that water wicking could be a concern but tank is fairly new, correct?

I feed them once every two days. I take them out of the tank and put them in a plastic tote and they eat about 2 large crickets.

I imagine they could be fed without being removed and causing unecessary stress but that's just an opinion. I'm definitely not an expert on gray treefrogs. Maybe more branches and some plants to make their home feel more "homey" and keep them a little cooler as mentioned already. They can survive the colder months just fine it appears.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

[elly]

Sorry, no advice to add, but I'm shaking my head because your seller clearly had no idea what she was doing.
I mean...I suppose gray tree frogs could be called "dumpy" because they're usually kind of plump but...

[Mr Leopard]

If you haven't already, I encourage you to get back to the seller to let her know that she had misidentified the frogs and that the care she was giving them was not appropriate for this species. That might avoid similar situations in the future.

I'm also guessing that these frogs were wild-caught. If you feel up to it, and you think she's actually doing this to make a profit, I encourage you to let her know that engaging in the trade of wild-caught animals is wrong. It might even be illegal for her to sell that specific species where she lives.

[irThumper]

Definitely Gray tree frogs. You need to talk to Amy (Lilypad) on here. She's the resident Gray expert! Here's the FF care sheet for Grays http://www.frogforum.net/showthread.php?t=353