Clown Tree Frogs

[Wolst21LT]

Im thinking about getting some clown tree frogs in the next 2 months and i heard their care is basically the same as red eyed tree frogs. is this right?

[Kurt]

For the most part. Unlike red-eyes, clowns are not readily bred , so finding captive bred stock will be difficult at best. What you need to watch out for are gastrointestinal parasites in wild caught frogs. Frogs should be treated with fenbendazole and metronidazole by a vet for this.
Once established they are hardy frogs, but you need to get them over that transition period. I was going to try and start a breeding population in my own collection, I already have an established pair, so I bought a second pair. They died within a month of purchase. Needless to say I have only the previous two, not enough to breed, unless I am extremely lucky and have both sexes already.
Clowns are almost as nocturnal as red-eyes, so you won't see much activity from them. Also they don't get very big, about an inch or so in S-V length.

[Wolst21LT]

ok thanks. there is a site called bigappleherp.com. i live in boise idaho so there arent any reptile stores near by so i have gotten a few things from this site such as a pair of red eyed tree frogs and a ball python and they seem to be healthy. they recently put an advertisment for buying clown tree frogs. in the description they have "captive bred babies born at our faculty" so i am assuming they are ok to buy. u should check the site out. they also have a shipment garuntee and an automatic reptile replacement if a DOA occurs. the animals they have given me are healthy.

[John]

I've checked that company out before. They say they breed a lot at their facility but frankly I don't believe it when it comes to the amphibians. At best I would think the amphibians were captive bred by someone else and then acquired by that company. But as Kurt said, captive breeding Clown Treefrogs is very rare indeed.

[Kurt]

Well, I just looked at their site and it says "We DO NOT under any circumstances sell wild caught reptiles or amphibians", yet they stock several species that are not generally bred in captivity. Frogs like gold treefrogs, Polypedates leucomystax, green treefrogs, Hyla cinerea, barking treefrogs, Hyla gratiosa, fire-bellied toads, Bombina orientalis, red & black walking frogs, Phrynomantis microps, and of course your clown treefrogs, Dendropsophus leucophyllatus. Also it says this with every frog they sell "Average Size Shipped (Captive Bred Babies Born At Our Facility) - 1" to 2". The pictures of P. leucomystax and P. microps are of thinned out frogs and that just screams out to me "WILD CAUGHT"! Another thing, they are very expensive, their prices are more than double than what I have paid those frog species.

So sorry to rain on your parade. If you do order from them, I would really love to know the results of the fecal float. If it tests positive for gastrointestinal parasites, then you can almost gurantee the animal was wild caught.

[Wolst21LT]

okay thanks guys.
well do you think i should buy the clowns from there then?

[Wolst21LT]

okay sorry that post was to john, not to you kurt

[Wolst21LT]

i will try to find a better place but my red eyed tree frogs are as healthy as can be. eating well and are active at night. but you are right i agree that some of the frogs look a bit thin. but i will announce it on this forum if i do buy them from bigappleherp

[Kurt]

Red-eyes are regualrly captive bred. I have a bunch of tadpoles and froglets that I bred.

[Wolst21LT]

yes i am aware of that and i didnt want that to sound like i was making an assumption on the clowns because the red eyes were healthy. sorry about that but my point was the shipping is not a problem in terms of health for the frogs

[Kurt]

I will agree with you there. My point was they aren't all that great and there are dealers that are. Check out the testimonial section here and at Caudata.org. You can also take a look at the Kingsnake.com classifieds - http://market.kingsnake.com/index.php?cat=14 You will find many a dealer there, you will be able to compare prices, and then come back to the forums an inquire about their reputations. Good luck in your quest for clown treefrogs.

[Wolst21LT]

thanks a lot kurt ill post any updates i have on them

[John]

Actually I forgot to mention that I looked into that company about a year ago and I read some unflattering reviews - it seemed like it's just a guy putting up the front of a honking big pro company.

[Wolst21LT]

so basically.............
sorry i couldnt quite understand

[John]

Basically don't believe everything you read, especially when it's written by herp vendors. And buyer beware.

[Wolst21LT]

thanks for the advice john.
i kind of got the idea on bigappleherp because they have the same description for every amphibian so i had done enough research to tell that some things are a bit weird

[Kurt]

You're welcome. Some dealers that have good reps are Glades and Black Jungle. They are both long established companys with reputations to protect.

[Wolst21LT]

blackjungle is only poison darts isnt it? ive known about that site since i started keeping frogs haha.

[Kurt]

They are mostly darts, but they are also breeding a few treefrog species and they have a few newt species as well. When I was there in June they had some marbled newts I think they are hoping to breed. They also had some Cynops and Tylototriton for sale. They are breeding red-eyes, as well as loads of darts. I believe they also breed powder blue reed frogs, but I am not sure of this. Their faculity is quite impressive. Loads of heavliy planted terrariums, a green house, a room just for tadpoles, a room just for fruit flies, and so on.

[Wolst21LT]

i really do hope to have poison darts soon, but i dont only keep frogs. i have a variety of snakes as well, so its a lot of work. but i will probably have the money late fall/early winter. another place i found that was good in keeping poison darts is a site called Ohio dart frogs and fish i thinks its only one guy but he sells fish as well and man he has some really creative vivariums.