Pacific Tree Frog

[MeLissaS]

I am new to this forum so I am hoping there is someone here who can help me obtain some information.

I have owned a Pacific Tree Frog for nearly one year. Up until now she has been a voracious eater to the point that I had to stop feeding her every two days and started feeding her every three days because she was getting to big to hop around and was kind of waddling.

Here is my concern and my question, she has not eaten more then TWO meal worms in the last month. I do mean TWO total. She seems to be in a form of hibernation and is barely moving about most days.

I have two habitats for her, one is mostly water with a couple of plants and some dry land and the other is mostly dry land with a water dish and a couple of plants plus a medium sized tube for her to hide in.

When she started shedding her skin around the middle of August I attributed her lack of eating to that process, she also started avoiding her large water area and sitting on the land so I moved her into her drier habitat and thought that maybe the move had upset her so that was shy she still hadn't eaten anything.

We are going into our fifth week now, is this common during shedding and partial hibernation or should I be concerned?

Thank you in advance for any help that might be provided.

[Jace]

What are her temperatures? Humidity? Was she already an adult when you got her? A picture might help us figure out what is going on.

[MeLissaS]

I keep the temperature in the house around 65 - 75 F depending on the time of day. I mist her habitat a minimum of twice a day, though I tend to mist a bit more if I notice that she hasn't moistened herself in her water dish.

I found her nearly a year ago while working, she was hanging on the glass of the store I managed in a very busy parking lot with no ponds or lakes nearby, so I took her to the local pet store and got her all set up to be a pet. I have had no issues up until now with her activity level or her eating.

Like most frogs she does seem to be more active at night, though she will move around during the day. I will try to coax her out so that I can snap a picture of her.

[Jace]

A picture would really help. I have 7 Pacific Chorus Frogs, and as a rule, they love their food! It is a definite concern that your little one has not eaten very much in a month. It sounds like the temps are right. I usually only mist mine once a day, but I always make sure they have fresh water in the dish. Could you also include a pic or two of her current home? That might help as well to figure out what is going on.

[MeLissaS]

I have been trying to get a picture of her, but I can't seem to get the right light. I will keep on trying. I placed her into a Firebelly habitat that I purchased at Pet Smart. I modified it so that she has an equal amount of dry land and fresh water. I change her water daily using non chlorinated tap water. As I stated, I have not had this issue with her before, generally I have her waiting expectantly to be fed. I feed using a pair of tweezers so that I dont' have to touch the meal worms, ewwww and she normally positions herself under the opening so that she can take the first one off of the tweezers before it even hits the ground. Then I generally give her an additional two which she will eat fairly quickly.

When she started to show signs of hibernation all of the information I looked up said that they like to bury themselves while they hibernate so I moved her into a critter keeper that I have so that she had almost all land and a water dish. She moved into the tube I had placed in there and didn't move much for about two weeks. Once she started showing signs of being active again I moved her back into the Firebelly habitat.

I did try feeding her again tonight and she is showing signs of stalking the food, though she has not eaten any of it yet.

[Jace]

I have had my one PCF for a year and have never hibernated him. He is active and calling most nights, and since I have added a female, even more so! What is your main source of food? Mealworms are not a prime source of diet...and too many can lead to impaction because of their hard shell. Mine get a main diet of gutloaded crickets and once a week get two mealworms each. And sometimes I skip a week with the mealworms.

[Paul Rust]

If she was captured as an adult she might be going into torpor (a short semi hibernation) They hibernate in the wild and if she was a few years old when caught she may be wired to do so. I would recommend feeding her crickets as the main food supply and mealworms as treats. I have bred many hundreds of these for re-introduction projects and every one of them seems to have it's own attitude and schedule. Especially the females

Welcome to Frog Forum

[MeLissaS]

I had been feeding her a main diet of crickets with meal worms as a special treat, but she seemed to prefer the meal worms and was letting the crickets just take over the enclosure while waiting for me to feed her the meal worms, so I switched her diet to mostly meal worms and crickets as a treat. It sounds as though I need to switch back. I have owned a number of reptiles over the years, but this is my first amphibian so I am learning as I go.

She does seem to have quite the personality.