Grey Tree Frog Questions - Overfeeding/Hibernation/Terrariums?

[Ketaped]

I'm afraid I've got a lot of questions ... some are related, some not. I'm an experienced reptile keeper, but new to frogs.

I have 7 grey tree frogs (raised from wild tadpoles) of various sizes (from 1" to nearly full adult size) in a 29 gallon tank with a screen lid, a bunch of silk and plastic terrarium plants and a soaking pool. The substrate is cocoa fiber. They get fed (or were getting fed) gut loaded and dusted crickets dumped into the tank every 2-3 days.

First question -- I noticed when the frogs were very young they seemed to get very fat and very thin almost overnight so I was trying to feed them every day. In the last month or so they just got fat and never got thin. A few look like normal frogs, but a couple are so fat they look like swollen ticks. Clearly I've overfed them. Should I stop feeding until they lose weight? Should I separate them when I feed so they don't eat more than a set amount of crickets?

Second question -- it's gotten cold in New England, I know if these guys were outside they'd be hibernating. Inside they're being kept in the coolest room of the house, and they've clearly slowed down (just like the leopard geckos they live next to) but they're not hibernating (they're still stuck to the tank walls, moving around now and then). Should I force hibernation, or is it ok to just let them do their thing until spring, feeding them if they look active?

Third question -- Cleaning their tank is a production. I'd love to set up a proper terrarium for them that's more or less self sufficient. I've found a lot of resources for setting up a poison dart frog terrarium, but not much on the greys. The dart frogs I know need much more humidity and heat. If I'm looking for some simple to care for, hardy terrarium plants that will survive in the tree frog's temperature/humidity zone, what should I look for? I've got a black thumb when it comes to plants, so something that's hard to kill is good!

Looking forward to shared wisdom!

Thank you,

Jen

[Jace]

Hey, Jen, welcome to the Forum. Sounds like you are doing very well with your frogs so far. I, personally, do not have Gray Tree Frogs, but we have an excellent caresheet to the left that might help you answer a few of your questions. In the meantime, let me take a crack at some of your questions:

1. Young frogs have high metabolisms and fast growth, so they need that extra food to kep them going. Seeing them fat and then skinny is entirely normal. However, as you've noticed, once they reach adulthood, we have to adjust their food so that they don't become obese. I raised 5 Pacific Chorus froglets, and while they were small, they were fed every day as much as they could eat. Now, being almost full grown, they are fed every other day (3 times a week) 3 crickets each. I would still offer your chubby frogs food every other day, but only one or two crickets of appropriate size until they slim down some. If necessary, separate them to ensure that is all the food they are getting for the time being!

2. I have never hibernated any of my frogs or toads, but I know that some Forum members do in order to keep their frogs on a natural cycle. This is especially important if you plan to breed down the road. If breeding is not high on your list, it would be a personal choice between you and your frogs.

3. The setup for my PCFs is very similar to what you have. I find this setup to be easy to maintain, but I know there are a million other options out there. There are a lot of members who have a secret talent in doing setups and hopefully someone out there can help you. Check out the Vivarium section of the site as we highly encourage pictures to help out everyone! Best of luck!

[Ketaped]

Thanks for all the info. I did look at the care sheet before I posted anything, and was pleased to see I'd been doing things right, by and large. I did browse through the vivarium forum a little, and was very impressed at some of the gorgeous set ups people have made. I think I might just have to bite the bullet and experiment with live plants and substrates and see what I can fail to kill, and maybe buy some more springtails.

I actually don't want my frogs to breed, if at all possible, because the grays lay SO many eggs, I just don't have the resources to care for them all -- these guys were born in my late to be opened pool cover last spring. That's far more in the way of gallonage than I can provide for froglets and tadpoles, and I can't bear the idea of killing the eggs before they hatch. I was thinking about making separate tanks for the males and females once I could tell them apart, but I don't know if that wouldn't just cause more stress for the males, being stuck together without any females to help mitigate things... I haven't been able to find anything about that on the 'net so far.

I'm also curious, I know the grays can change color, and mine clearly do -- but they don't seem to have any rhyme or reason to it. None of them have been any shade of green since they were tiny tiny froglets, even though the vast majority of their tank is shades of green. They all seem to prefer various shades of gray, from very dark to nearly white. Does this imply that they're stressed, or the temperature isn't right? I was under the impression from everything I've read so far that they typically try to match their background, and thus /should/ be green at least some of the time.

Thanks again!