Help- I think I have a new frog?

[Furlabun]

So I'm sitting in my bedroom and all of a sudden this frog hops out from under my dresser.

I would like to keep it. I've always wanted a frog. In fact, I've been researching pacman frogs and white's tree frogs for months before it. But before I decide to keep it, I need help identifying it so it'll be happiest.

He/she/it is a good jumper with sticky feet and a diamond shaped body. He's about 1.5-2 inches and it's widest part is between its pairs of legs. His lips are brown and his top is bright green like a lime only cooler. xD He has a pale belly and his feet aren't webbed. Also, he's got a yellow stripe between his belly and his top, starting at his mouth and going a bit to his hind legs. He's got black eyes with gold lids that close horizontally like a human's. He also has a visible eardrum.

I think it might be an American Green Tree frog. If so, is it a baby? They get up to 6 cm, right? So is it???

[Jace]

Not that your description isn't helpful, but a picture would be even better. Any way you could post one for us??

[Furlabun]

Now I can! Sorry, didn't have time last night.




Sorry about the quality. I don't have a great camera. I'm pretty sure, now that I've looked at him, that he's an American Green Treefrog, but I wanted to be sure....

[Jace]

It does look very similar to my AGTF, but it is a bit hard to tell. Hopefully another member can confirm. They have care similar to a Gray Treefrog, and we have an excellent care article on this Forum regarding them. Males of the Green Treefrog have very loud calls....my boy wakes me up frequently at all hours of the night, and get the rest of the house going, too! Troublemaker that he is....

[charlamanda]

Your camera is as wonderful as mine...not! He/she is very cute, even through the graininess. Try to focus the camera at a distance then bring the camera closer, it works with my camera. As I push down on the button to take the pic, with a digital camera, it does an autofocus. When it focuses at a distance to where it is finally crisp, bring it a little closer, then take the exposure. Hopefully this may help you to get a better picture. Love to see more pics..good luck!

[Tony]

That is an American green tree frog, the white stripe down the side is a dead giveaway.

[Furlabun]

HELP! I'm worried! My frog changed colors!

So I get home last night and his cage is a bit dry, but there's a little moisture in it. But I take a peek at him, and he's fat and sassy and all happy, but then I realize that he's a darker green! What does this mean?

I think it may have something to do with the humidity, right? His cage dries out fast. I have a mesh screen on the top. How can I keep the humidity in where it needs to be?

Oh, but he's eating well. Is it two to three crickets every day for juveniles, or three to four? They're small, so...

[Tony]

Color changes are normal, green tree frogs can vary from bright green to dark brown and anywhere in between.

[Furlabun]

Hi everyone! Elvis turned back to lime-green. And he's been eating. A lot.

Now it's time to clean the tank! His tank was set up all cool like, with a log-like thing I bought from a Petsmart, a fake plant, and a fake vine, a cool rocky water dish, a piece-of-junk thermometer (working on getting that fixed...) and Repticarpet.

So to clean everything I pulled it all out of the tank and put Elvis in his temp tank (which he did not like. I did what I could to make him comfy but he was not happy. It wasn't good for either of us, really.) and look it over. Everything was fine, except for the log- when I pulled it out, the bottom of it was covered in mold! White, short, fuzzy mold! I had washed everything before putting it in his tank, so... I didn't put it back in. Instead I washed everything with a distilled vinegar solution and hot water, and rinsed it, and then rinsed it with distilled (dechlorinated) water. Then I put everything back (except that log) and put Elvis in.

He seems fine, and ate, but he's back to dark green. Is it a stress thing? I get that they do change, but I'd like to know why.

Is there a better way to clean his tank? What do you all do?

Uhm, his tank smells a little even though I just washed it... should I be worried?

Should I not spray down his tank every day like I've been doing? I think that's what caused the mold on the log... But I read they need a moist enviornment?

Please help!

[Jace]

Glad to hear that Elvis is doing good. They do change colour because of stress, so being moved from his main digs to a temp tank and back again probably got him grumpy. Luckily, a couple of mistings and some fat juicy crickets, and he'll be a happy frogger in no time.

Unfortunately, because these frogs do like a higher humidity, if you are misting constantly, mould will grow. When I first got Rongo and his brother, I was misting twice a day, thinking that if I let the humdity get below a certain point, my frogs would die. However, not only was I having issues with mould, but my frogs were not all that happy either. So, I covered part of the mesh top with Saran Wrap-taped it down a bit to keep it in place, and now mist evey other day. Yep, the humidity still fluctuates, but it would in the wild, too. Best of all, I have no mould and Rongo is now a much calmer frog.

I would regularly do spot cleaning-ie. removing any poop found; wiping down the sides of the tank; removing a plant here or there and cleaning it, but I hold back on complete dismantling and sterilizing of the tank unless a few months have passed or a situation calls for it (like a massive mould outbreak or a sick frog). However, what you described doing is pretty much how I would do it. Either way, it's stressful for the frog, so make sure you have everything ready to go before you start. I can do a complete clean in under 20 minutes, and the less time your little one is out of his main environment, the better.

What do you mean by his tank smells? There are good smells and bad smells-earthy smells are good; rotting/mould or left over vinegar smells are bad.

Another question for you: do you have a drainage layer in his tank? If not, the next time you feel his tank needs to be completely done, add one in. That way, the water has a place to drain too, allowing certain pieces such as your log to dry, but keeping the moisture in the tank to evaporate and help with humidity.

Hope this helps. If you have any further questions, I will try and keep up on this thread or just PM me and I will try to answer as soon as possible.

[charlamanda]

Just a thought, Jo-anna covered pretty much everything you need when I take all the froggers out for a cleaning I put them in their dinning room container and feed them crickets and or wax worms during that time and they are completely unphased by the whole thing. This may be a way to destress and or distract the frog from what's really going on and they are happy to be moved to eat!LOL Hope this helps and best of luck

[charlamanda]

Oh a few more ideas. I use diluted bleach for cleanings, every few months because my froglets were taken in from the wild(my yard and pool) and may still have some parasites. Just a cap full or two per 1 gal of water.(this is also the way to detox your fruits and veggies!LOL so it's fairly safe if done correctly) Just make sure you rinse down everything well and don't use it on anything that's porous. The smell seems not to linger as badly as vinager or possibly using to much vinager in the water. I don't think you really need to do to much sterilizing that often unless there is a problem, so just frog safe water is fine for regular cleanings, but I think Jo-Anna covered this!LOL Anyway mine change colored more than I change undiesLOL and seem to show their best colors when they are eating, not to worry unless they stay real dark or real pale for a long period of time, which may indicate a illness or other problem.
I also get lil fuzzy pooplets around the tank too, not to worry there too, like Jo-anna said with all the humidity and misting mold is unavoidable. I just scoop it out as needed until I clean the entire tank. BTW you can also use diluted bleach on living plants (very diluted and rinse with water only when you really need to, like for illnesses, etc.) and also can bake the log to disinfect if need be, as long as it is real wood, there are directions for that on this site if you need to in the future(again if there is an illness or infestation of some sort.
I have a mesh lid on my 10 gal too and I am using plexiglass on half the top. I don't know what's availible where you are , but I got mine at Home Depot. They will cut the plexiglass down to the sizes you want. (My male bunnies spray, when they are teenagers, so I got big sheets of it cut down and covered the sides of their cages to prevent it from getting all over the place. I am using the scrap peices to cover the frogs and it's helping to keep the humidity much more stable than without it.) Hope this additional info helps, but I think Jo-anna covered everything pretty well

[Furlabun]

Well, the smell is earthy, so I guess it's good. I'll remember y'alls advice next time! I already got the saran wrap on it. I'd been spot-cleaning, too, way before when I got him, so hopefully it'll turn out for the best.

I noticed something though. He keeps turning dark green- gray green. He won't go back to lime green. He used to, when he was lime green, hop up into the plant and hide. Now he just gets to the top of the bio vine and sits there, or he'll sit on the bottom of the tank or hop on the back glass. Is this okay? I'm a little worried that he doesn't seem as hoppity. How many crickets should he been eating? Three to four?? Two to three?? I usually give him three small ones... I'm so worried that I'm doing something wrong... I'll try to get some pics.

I took the log out. I can't get the mildew/mold (black spots?) off...

[Jace]

If you can post some pics, we will have a look at him. Mine is a constant olive green, but he is active, eating and so I try not to focus too much on what his colour is. Rongo will usually eat 3-4 small to medium crickets every other day. If he has any left over, I remove them and give him an extra day of no food. By the next feeding, he eats them all,