Gray tree frog from bold to reclusive

[Kesha2]

Hi all,
My sweet bold silly boy, Sunny, has become very reclusive around me since I returned from an eight day vacation last Friday. He had always been uninhibited being out in the open around me prior to the vacation. I have his lights and environment automated so he should not have experienced any bad temperatures or humidity levels or anything like that. I follow the care sheets to a t. My husband misted him morning and night, changed his water ponds and fed him each night, and picked up poo. He has always been shy around my husband and now he's treating me the same way. I switched from free feeding to bowl feeding a few days ago and that first day I did that he came out and didn't run away so I thought I was making progress, but now he won't come out until I leave. Is this typical behavior after a week long absence? Do you think he'll come back around? I am going to add something else for him to climb on today if I can find something. I'm hoping that'll get him excited and pull him out of his shell again. I miss his fun little personality so much. Any ideas? Some friends of mine who know nothing about frogs say he needs a friend or a mate. I'd prefer not to get another frog but I want to do whatever would make him a happy frog again. He really seems like he's fine otherwise. I think I'm the one suffering, not him. I wonder if he forgot who I am or what.
Please, give me your honest assessment.
Thank you

[elly]

That's strange, but maybe he'll just get used to you again. My larger frog wouldn't even take food from me after his first trip to the vet. It took about a month, but he got better.

Frogs usually aren't social animals, I doubt he's lonely.

I'd watch his eating habits carefully and wait two or three weeks to see if he gets better. It could very well be a physical problem. What kind of water do you use? Are his crickets gone when you check on them?

Also, when do you leave? During the day? At night? Mine never come out before 6pm no matter what.

[Kesha2]

Thanks for the reply, elly.
I mist and fill his ponds with Deer Park spring water and use Aquatize in his pond water.
I'm usually gone during the day during normal biz hours.
I start feeding him around 7:15 pm. I'll put one loose in the cage to catch his eye and then another one or two in his bowl. I wait about 15 minutes and come back to see if he's come out and then add another four or five to his bowl. He always eats all his crickets (dusted with calcium six days a week and multivitamin once a week). The thing is that he used to eat them in front of me and now he hides until I leave and then eats. Nevertheless, he eats and poos like a champ and I worked from home yesterday and he was calling. I don't think he has any health problems physically, but he's obviously less comfortable when I'm around than he used to be. I used to talk and sing to him at mealtime and for a little while after and he'd chill on a saucer or climb around or take a soak after he ate, unbothered by my presence. I miss watching him and his cute little personality because he is usually hiding from me now.

[Dace]

Ask your husband if anything happened while you were gone- like handling, or escaping while the cage was open, or any other potentially stressful event.

In any case... grays are generally very friendly frogs. Once he gets over this and puts 2+2 together that you disturbing the enclosure = food, he'll get excited and jump to the front of his tank when you approach.

[Kesha2]

Thanks for the reply Dace. My husband couldn't find him and got freaked out worried the frog had somehow gotten out and rearranged some things looking for him. That's all I know about. He's never tried to escape and we don't handle him. I hope you are right.

[Kesha2]

He's gotten some major upgrades to his digs. He's still not as friendly toward me as he always was before I went on vacation. I've been back a couple of weeks now. I gather this is not a common experience. He was such an outgoing frog. I've been a little heart broken but I'm being patient. My friends say he's acting like a teenager now. His health is good. He just doesn't want to hang out with mom anymore. It's hard to take. I keep trying bribing him. Bigger enclosure. More leaves, more hides. More things to climb on. I feed him six small crickets every night. Should I feed him less? Maybe he isn't coming out because he isn't terribly hungry. Any other ideas, please?