Gray tree frog question

[KP]

Hi,

Sorry if this is a repost I am new here and think I might have messed up my first attempt. Anyways my son has a grey tree frog (it’s in his room, I take care of it) that I think may be attempting to go into hibernation. We have had it since May and it has always had a great appetite. It would aggressively chase down crickets as well as take them from tongs. Towards the end of August he began to slow down and only ate one or two crickets per week, mostly from the tongs. For the past couple weeks I don’t believe he has taken any crickets (maybe one that I can’t find in the terrarium). I have started putting crickets in a glass bowl in the tank and have not had any disappear for a the few days I have been doing this. The change in appetite occurred along with a drop in temperature/humidity in our local area (mass). I am unsure as to whether or not I should continue to heat the terrarium or let it stay a bit cooler over the winter months. With the lamp on the tank hits about 80-82F and drops to about 68 at night with the lamp off. The frog is an adult male that was caught during the opening of a neighbors pool. He is housed in a 12x12x18 terrarium with coconut fiber substrate and plenty of stuff to climb/hide in. Diet has been 2-3 crickets 4 or 5 times a week dusted with calcium powder every couple feedings and vitamins once per week. He is still moving around at night and is usually sitting on top of his hide until the lights come on. He also is still visiting his water dish a couple times per week and pooping (solid brown). He looks a bit thinner now than over summer but I wouldn’t say he’s skinny. I appreciate any advice, thanks!

Your assumption about him trying to cycle through the winter is correct. At your latitude he's going to start moving into his winter cycle right when you said you started noticing his changes. The temperature and humidity should be as close to what you'd have right there in your area during the mid-summer months as you can simulate. If it doesn't typically get to 82 farenheit there you should keep the high end cooler than that. 68 is as low as you should go just to keep him warm enough at night to not push him toward winter sleep.

Since he wasn't taken into captivity until after his first winter cycle he's now adapted to going into full hibernation/brumation which will make it a little more challenging, but not impossible for you to keep him slightly more active during the fall/winter/early spring months. The main thing to keep in mind is that his habits are attuned to the angle of the moon and the sun throughout the year and you really can't fool him about that without an elaborate conjob like that used to keep chickens laying all winter long. That requires some failrly expensive technical lighting and more to do it right.

Assuming you're not up for that, here's how you get him to keep from fully brumating this winter:
The first things are ambient temperature and humidity of his tank. Aside from what you're already doing with that you should mist him with chemical free water, also not distilled water as it leaches the minerals out of their bodies. How fast the tank dries out after each misting should determine how often and how much you mist but daily or every other day should be enough making sure to mist him directly but gently in the process. That'll stimulate him.

Things to know that differ from hibernation are that in order to brumate they actually eat less and less as you noticed and they also dessicate which is that they dry out almost completely once they find a suitable "hibernaculum"-the place to hibernate, to the point where if you found one outside you'd think it was dead. Misting and providing a bowl of fresh water kept clean regularly will entice him to not try to hide and dry out. I have one Gray who tried to bury himself, dry out and brumate this fall but I dug him out of the potted plant dirt and he's back in the land of the living now good as new. It was a close one.

When it comes to food he'll still eat only a fraction of the amount and frequency he will eat during fully active seasons so don't let his overall disinterest in food worry you until the sun gets to or past its equinox next spring.

His activity you describe is a good level to try to keep him at for the winter but if you maitain all these conditions he'll be sleeping for as many as 5 days at a time, sometimes only waking to move or change positions, or take a prolonged soak in the water bowl. When he gets to that point he's good to go for the rest of the winter until the solstice. After the solstice he might start getting very gradually more active. Supplement dusting at the same ratio relative to how much he eats is equally as important as it is during his most active months.

Hope this all helps.
KP