Really new to frogs please help

[Kel1104]

Hi Everyone,

i am a newbie owner of a white tree frog. It is the first frog i have ever had. I just got it on Sunday and i wanted to see if i can get any help/feedback. i have been reading posts here of all kinds for a while regarding the species and experiences of people and finally decided to get one. i now come for some feedback/help as i have read so much information that im not sure which way to go or what to try. so as i mentioned before, i just got it on Sunday. i have attempted to feed it crickets but he does not seem interested at all. its of course now 5 days in and i am a bit concerned. I am housing it on an exo terra 18x18x18 cage. i am using a combination of a bit of coconut and moss as substrate. I attempted to feed for the first time the next day i had gotten it just to give him some time to i guess acclimate to the new housing and i have tried each day ever since but no success. my temperatures range anywhere between 77F and 81F during the day and climbs down just a bit at night to 75F. my humidity hovers anywhere between 60-70% throughout.

At this point i have attempted to feed him outside his cage as well but no reaction to the crickets that way either. is there something i should change or watch out for? could this be stress related or needing more time to acclimate to the enclosure? Am i doing anything incorrectly?

As there are so much more knowledgeable people on here, any feedback, suggestions and/or ideas is greatly appreciated as i am getting concerned. i would think from all i have read and seen that they are good eaters but i am having no luck.

[Herpin Man]

First, it's not uncommon to go a few days without eating, especially in a new environment. Secondly, there is no advantage to feed outside the cage. In fact, attempting to do so is likely to annoy the frog. Are you handling the frog? You shouldn't be.
I would leave the frog alone, drop a few crickets in just before you go to bed, and see how many are left in the morning.

[Kel1104]

First, it's not uncommon to go a few days without eating, especially in a new environment. Secondly, there is no advantage to feed outside the cage. In fact, attempting to do so is likely to annoy the frog. Are you handling the frog? You shouldn't be.
I would leave the frog alone, drop a few crickets in just before you go to bed, and see how many are left in the morning.

Thanks herpin man. Its a bit comforting that its not unusual for these frogs. I do and have owned snakes and lizards foe the past 8 years which have done the same when i first get them. I just wasn't sure if with the WTF it would be the same.. i will drop a few crickets tonight and see how that goes.

[Bynny Ribbit]

Hi Kel! I own a couple of WTFs and they're wonderful, I hope your little cutie warms up to you after acclimating better. For now, letting him have some space is okay as long as he isn't super skinny. How big is he and how big are the crickets you've tried to give to him?

Secondly, there is no advantage to feed outside the cage. In fact, attempting to do so is likely to annoy the frog. Are you handling the frog? You shouldn't be.

If someone has things in their terrarium that can accidentally be ingested by the frog (such as moss) or they have more than one frog, removing them to a separate container for feeding can be beneficial. This way, you are also sure about how much they are eating and can be 100% positive that any dusted insects are consumed and the supplement doesn't get rubbed off. I started doing it after finding a plastic leaf in one of my WTF's poop years ago, not to mention I noticed a weight disparity between the two of them. I now prefer tong feeding, but would still recommend feeding in a separate container if tong feeding isn't an option.

Each frog has their own little personality and tolerance for handling. Some can be quite shy and want to be left alone, others will jump into the glass when they see you in excitement for food and don't mind being handled briefly. I would actually recommend handling a frog periodically if only to inspect them and make sure there isn't anything amiss with them. It can be important to catch small things early when it comes to frog illness and injury.

[elly]

if your frog's too shy to come out and eat, it probably won't take to tong feeding just yet. You can try putting in a bowl with steep sides about 2'' plus tall and putting crickets in that. That way you can leave the frog alone to get food but the frog won't be in danger of eating strings of moss along with the crickets. Coco fiber usually passes right through, but large chunks of moss can stop a frog up.

[Freckles24]

I think Elly's advice is pretty solid! And it would be super easy to keep track of how many crickets are missing.

[Kel1104]

Hi Everyone,

first thank you all for the suggestions and responses. i wanted to give an update. so as herpin man suggested i dropped a few crickets to see what comes about next morning. my main concern was that they would hide among the substrate and moss and he would not see them. i did not find any of them in the cage with the exception of one which was dead by this next morning. i actually did the same last night but in this case i watched as i was still curious if he is eating. some of the crickets went right to his hiding spot and i actually saw him eat so i think we are on the way. Taking the suggestion about the possibility of the moss causing an issue i took out most of the moss leaving the coconut fiber substrate and just a bit of moss scattered to continue maintaining the humidity along with the aid of misting the cage.

@elly thank you for that suggestion. would he find/know that food would be in this bowl? im afraid he would not know or see them? he is definitely still shy so hopefully at some point he will take it with tongs as that way i know exactly what he consumes.

[Freckles24]

Hi Kel! I own a couple of WTFs and they're wonderful, I hope your little cutie warms up to you after acclimating better. For now, letting him have some space is okay as long as he isn't super skinny. How big is he and how big are the crickets you've tried to give to him?


If someone has things in their terrarium that can accidentally be ingested by the frog (such as moss) or they have more than one frog, removing them to a separate container for feeding can be beneficial. This way, you are also sure about how much they are eating and can be 100% positive that any dusted insects are consumed and the supplement doesn't get rubbed off. I started doing it after finding a plastic leaf in one of my WTF's poop years ago, not to mention I noticed a weight disparity between the two of them. I now prefer tong feeding, but would still recommend feeding in a separate container if tong feeding isn't an option.

Each frog has their own little personality and tolerance for handling. Some can be quite shy and want to be left alone, others will jump into the glass when they see you in excitement for food and don't mind being handled briefly. I would actually recommend handling a frog periodically if only to inspect them and make sure there isn't anything amiss with them. It can be important to catch small things early when it comes to frog illness and injury.

I so agree with this. I have a lot of decorations in my tank and my WTF has a gimpy eye so I worry that the crickets would hide from him. I think he likes tong feeding because then he can be lazy and I like it because I can make sure he is getting enough.

[Kel1104]

hi Bynny Ribbit thank you for your feedback. as far as his size he is small in my view but again from what i was told where i got him he is young. the crickets i have been feeding to him are 1/2" and i have been throwing in 4-5 crickets. i will post a pic of him and maybe i can get some feedback if im feeding the appropriate size and quantity.

[elly]

Oh! Glad that helped.
If the frog's actually moving around the tank in the night there's a good chance he would investigate the bowl sometime in the night. If he looked over the side and even got a glimpse of movement it would probably grab his attention because that's how frogs are. There's less of a chance of him looking in the bowl than just finding crickets randomly around the tank, but there's still some chance he'd hear something or look in the bowl. (a few crickets might escape the bowl also. They're bad at getting out of things by jumping straight up, but I've seen some of them actually do that.)

Edit: I bowl-fed the frog in the picture, but then he was very energetic and curious.

[Bynny Ribbit]

hi Bynny Ribbit thank you for your feedback. as far as his size he is small in my view but again from what i was told where i got him he is young. the crickets i have been feeding to him are 1/2" and i have been throwing in 4-5 crickets. i will post a pic of him and maybe i can get some feedback if im feeding the appropriate size and quantity.

The general rule for food size is nothing bigger than the distance between their eyes. It doesn't have to be exact, I often only cut a worm in half before offering it to my WTFs, but they're adults and the worms are nice and soft, heh. For a growing little one, probably want to be on the safe side and don't let them eat too big before they're ready.

elly's idea for the bowl is a really good one. As for noticing them, it shouldn't be a problem since frogs are really good at seeing movement, especially since crickets move around a lot.