Basic questions about RETFs

[Aaronk]

Hello guys,

I'm new to taking care of tree frogs but I just purchased two baby red eyed tree frogs. I've done a bunch of research and I set up a great terrarium for them. But I have a couple basic questions that I cannot find on the guides.

One thing I commonly read is you need to mist the frogs and the terrarium multiple times per day. And it also says no supplemental lighting is needed. From owning Reptiles I know that without a heat source the misting will not evaporate and turn into mold. So what do you do? Here in Texas room temp in my house is a perfect 78-82.

Also when I received the baby frogs they were both brown which concerned me. After a day they are starting to turn green so maybe it was just stress?

Also should I mist at night so they can drink? The heat lamps are off then and I'm concerned about mold and bacteria growth . I always mist during the day to keep humidity up.

These are truly beautiful and intriguing creatures and I can't wait to watch them grow.

Oh also if I use uvb lightning during the day to I still need to provide a d3 supplement unlike lizards.

During the winter is it best to provide the blue night light for warms or the infrared?

Sorry questions keep coming up.

Thank you so much in advance.

Aaron

[Diver]

Hi Aaron, here's an up to date care sheet which I hope answers your questions:


Captive Care of the Red Eyed Tree Frog (Agalychnis callidryas)


Below is a brief summary of the techniques used to ensure your Red Eyed Tree Frog leads a healthy and happy life under your care.

Purchase:
The first and arguably most important step! It is absolutely VITAL that you ensure the frog you are buying has been captive bred. There are many breeders of this wonderful amphibian and purchasing a captive bred animal will mean you have a frog who is used to living in a vivarium all it’s life and will fare far better than one that has been removed from the wild (during it’s breeding season!), shoved in a box and shipped from one dealer to the next to get to you. Wild caught frogs die in huge numbers during shipment, carry all manner of diseases and parasites (which will spread among captive collections) and the trade is now quite unnecessary when there are so many quality captive bred examples available. If the supplier of your frog doesn’t know for sure that it was captive bred, don’t buy it!

Housing:
Bigger is better! If we base sizes on the popular Exo Terra glass vivarium, while a 30x30x45 cm is fine for juveniles, they will quickly outgrow it. A Red Eyed Tree Frog can be approaching adult size as quickly as 6-8 months of age. The 45x45x60 is suitable for an adult pair or trio. These are very active frogs!
The decoration of the interior is important. Ideally we are looking to recreate as closely as possible the habitat in which these animals live in the wild, there are no plastic plants there! While we might be convinced a fake plant looks authentic, there’s no fooling a tree frog. These creatures have evolved a close relationship with plants over millions of years, they sleep firmly attached to the underside of leaves forming a moisture-saving posture with their thin-skinned undersides in contact with the leaf. There is evidence that this helps the frog maintain it’s hydration and even that there is some gaseous exchange of oxygen and CO2. Red Eyed Tree Frogs need real live plants! Broad leaf vines such as Pothos and Philodendron are ideal and can be purchased from specialist suppliers to ensure they are free of pesticides and fertilisers etc. They can also be bought from garden centres but great care must be taken to thoroughly wash the leaves and soil to remove all traces of contaminants.
As far as substrate is concerned, I prefer a natural, bio-active approach. Basically, a drainage layer is topped with soil and orchid bark, living in this are creatures such as springtails and woodlice which dine on any waste and mould keeping the vivarium clean. There are now specialist companies that supply substrate in the bio-active philosophy and much information can be found online.
Add to this some clean branches and you have a natural environment for your frogs that beyond some basic spot cleaning is largely low maintenance meaning you can leave you frogs to get on with their natural behaviour with minimum disturbance. Handling frogs causes them great stress and should be kept to the absolute minimum!

Heat, Light and Humidity:
Ideal temperatures are 26-28C during the day and 23-24C at night, this can be provided by bulbs, ceramics, vertical heat mats or heat cable on the outside or simply a temperature controlled room.
UVB of around 5% should be provided. Frogs need vitamin D3 in order to absorb calcium, this is best supplied in the way they get it in the wild, from sunlight. Bulbs which emit the same UVB as sunlight are available and should be used, despite these frogs being strictly nocturnal, they sleep out in daylight and as a consequence receive sunlight and therefore UVB. Without calcium and vitamin D3 frogs develop nasty conditions such as Metabolic Bone Disease and without UVB their behaviour is noticeably less natural and their colours less vibrant.
Humidity should be maintained between 60-70%. Using moist natural substrate and live plants does most of this work for you, a light misting of treated or distilled water twice a day will keep the levels right. One of the biggest mistakes people make with this species is keeping them too wet. Plastic plants and sterile housing encourages people to close off ventilation and constantly spray the enclosure to keep up the humidity, the resulting large amounts of sitting water encourages bacteria to grow and bacteria kills frogs. There should not be streaming condensation on the walls of the enclosure, good ventilation is required and if anything err on the side of dryer rather than wetter if in doubt.

Food and water:
Red Eyed Tree Frogs will take a variety of fast moving prey, the best staples are crickets and locusts. All prey items should be gut loaded and dusted with calcium/vitamin preparations. Various gut loading fruit and veg can be used, I always include kale (high in calcium!) and carrot, with various others depending on what I have, but always organic to be sure of no pesticides. I also use a dry staple such as ‘bug grub’, the bran that crickets and locusts come packaged with is not a suitable gut loader.
A water bowl needs to be provided and the water changed EVERY DAY with fresh, treated tap or rain water, a product such as ‘Reptisafe’ is a good water treatment. Tree frogs drink by sitting in water and often it’s the first thing they do every night when they wake up. If the water is contaminated with fecal matter, dead crickets etc., the frogs will take this bacteria-loaded water into their bodies with disastrous results.

In conclusion....The Red Eyed Tree Frog is a wonderful and beautiful amphibian to keep, and only needs to be given the right conditions in captivity to thrive. Enjoy!

[LilyPad]

Hello guys,

I'm new to taking care of tree frogs but I just purchased two baby red eyed tree frogs. I've done a bunch of research and I set up a great terrarium for them. But I have a couple basic questions that I cannot find on the guides.

One thing I commonly read is you need to mist the frogs and the terrarium multiple times per day. And it also says no supplemental lighting is needed. From owning Reptiles I know that without a heat source the misting will not evaporate and turn into mold. So what do you do? Here in Texas room temp in my house is a perfect 78-82. Depending on the ambient humidity, I mist anywhere between 1 and 3 times a day. Doesn't hurt to have a heat source connected to a thermostat though. It will only turn on when needed and will keep your temps stable.

Also when I received the baby frogs they were both brown which concerned me. After a day they are starting to turn green so maybe it was just stress? Were they shipped? When I received mine, they were a dark dark green from having been shipped in a dark box. At night, they turn dark, during the day, they brighten up.

Also should I mist at night so they can drink? The heat lamps are off then and I'm concerned about mold and bacteria growth . I always mist during the day to keep humidity up. As long as your humidity is correct, you will not grow mold or bacteria. Except, you will probably have a growth of white mold as your tank cycles. Having microfauna like springtails and isopods will help take care of that. Watch your actual humidity, rather than just the amount of times you mist. Keep a water dish in the vivarium with treated tap water that is changed daily. If they feel the need for further hydration, they will go there.

These are truly beautiful and intriguing creatures and I can't wait to watch them grow. They really are! I used to think they were boring, shy frogs. Until I got my first two! Now I'm hooked!

Oh also if I use uvb lightning during the day to I still need to provide a d3 supplement unlike lizardYes, it is still good to provide a D3 supplements.

During the winter is it best to provide the blue night light for warms or the infrared? I use a ceramic heat emitter on my red eye tank. Doesn't kill the humidity as easily and doesn't put out any light. 2 of my reds will not wake up even with the smallest amount of light.

Sorry questions keep coming up.

Thank you so much in advance.

Aaron

Keep asking, we're happy to help !