Observations on captive Pseudacris triseriata

[SludgeMunkey]

A few folks have pm'ed me about keeping these little frogs. Sadly, I am new to frog keeping, and am learning as I go along. Some of the advice I offered a while back via PM's has since proven to be slightly different from what I stated. There does not seem to be much information on captive care of the adults of this species.

In this thread I will basically keeping an open journal on habits, feeding and behavior I have observed. Please add to this information if you have any. These little guys are very interesting and active pets.

Please forgive me for not using metric, I have to get this stuff typed out before I forget it, doing conversions slows me down too much, and a hillbilly farm school education makes it very hard for me to think in metric...

Here is what I have so far, please keep in mind these are all personal observations.

Habitat: In the wild, habitat type seems dependent on ambient average temperature. In cooler temperatures (45-65ºF) these frogs prefer to be in the water. Warmer temperatures with high humidity (above 50%) and they become semi-arboreal and terrestrial. Early in the year (March in Nebraska), when there is still snow and ice, males begin calling in permanent ponds and continue to do so into late April. Calls are heard around the clock! All calling is done while in the water either from submerged plants or at water's edge.


By summer, the frogs appear to be absent from the breeding ponds and adults and new morphs (started seeing morphs that still had tail stumps end of June to early July 500 yards+ from water) can be found in areas of tall grasses and low bushes during times of high humidity (like after a storm) as far as a mile from the ponds. No calling has been noted. Just after sunrise on days of heavy dew they are abundant.

I have recently found over a dozen specimens in my lawn, which I have not bothered to mow in a month... I have seen a few in my lawn in the mornings, but was so startled to see them, I was unable to catch them.

It appears that these frogs prefer heavy grassland type vegetation when terrestrial and marshy ponds during the breeding season. They most definitely travel during the cool wet parts of the morning, and after heavy rains in all temperatures of the summer months. (temps are in the mid 80s to low 90s right now and these little guys are everywhere even in mid afternoon!!!

Temperature difference has similar effects in captivity. My initial specimen stayed primarily aquatic when temps were below 60ºF. (enclosure temps 65-71 ambient) Once I fixed my HVAC ducting and the basement temperature increased to 70ºF ambient from 58-60ºF ambient, these frogs promptly moved from the water to the tall cover plants provided in their enclosure. In fact, I have not observed them in the water at all since the temperature increase. (Their enclosure now sits at 72-76 ambient)

I have since modified my enclosure to better suit their habits, though a small aquatic area is still provided. In fact, I built a floating substrate using floral foam covered with a thin layer of topsoil and moss. Grass seed was planted in the moss. Semi tropical ferns are also provided for cover. The addition of some of my PVC logs, made from 5/8 and 3/4 inch diameter PVC pipe are readily used as hides by all specimens.I added river rock through out to keep the floating substrate in place. Water depth is one inch.

Feeding: What don't they eat should be the question here. Small crickets and leaf hoppers are consumed with gusto. Inchworms and small cutworms appear to be favorites. I have been using a butterfly net to sweep tall grass, and these little frogs go nuts for anything that moves, except ladybugs and stink bug neonates. Wax worms are rejected. Small phoenix worms are eaten. Fruit flies are eaten with gusto. Anything over 1/4 inch in length has been ignored, with exception to inchworms of small diameter.

Activity: These are highly active frogs most of the day, they seem to hide from 0300 to about 0900. Other than that they are actively hunting. They are definitely stalking type predators. In truth, they remind me of very small leopard frogs in there hunting and eating habits. Currently, artificial lighting for their enclosure is rigged to a photo cell scavenged from a driveway floodlight. Their lighting follows actual sunrise and sunset very closely.

[John]

Excellent work Johnny. I hope you keep us informed.

[SludgeMunkey]

More information, some of which expands on the other days post:


Hides: Literature states that these little guys hide terrestrially just about anywhere they can fit. I can confirm this to an extant. Both specimens prefer to hide in "burrows" in the moss and around the plants in their enclosures.

The smaller of the two prefers to use one of three "burrows" each day, often moving to the next one shortly after feeding time. All three of these hides are merely spaces between the patches of moss.

The larger specimen prefers to hide deep in the base of the one type of fern I have in there (not sure of the name of this plant, it was unlabled at the time of purchase)

Both animals use all four legs and a sort of "jumping jack" motion to enlarge their hides.

Feeding: No long retractable tounge here. These guys eat in an identical way to bot Bombina orientalis and Rana pipiens. That is, they pounce and gulp.

This leads me to believe one must be VERY careful in choosing a substrate. Given their small size, the usual safe substrates of coir and sand are most likely a hazardous impaction risk. I am using live moss and river rock. The potting soil the plants are in is tied up in pantry hose and wrapped with live moss held in place with fishing line.


Food Preferences: I have been experimenting over the last week and have discovered these guys prefer Drosophila melanogaster sized foods, although tiny inchworms and caterpillars are definitely their favorites. Wood Lice of both types found here are readily accepted also, however they must be under 1/8th of an inch long. these frogs appear to prefer to eat more of smaller insects than a few larger ones. They will eat crickets up to 1/4 of an inch, but they struggle to do so and will take smaller foods over the larger if given preference.


Night Lighting: After observing them in total darkness a few nights in a row using consumer grade active IR goggles, and then comparing their activity against blue "night lighting", I found these frogs are much more active with a night light. (I am referring to those moonlight simulator bulbs from pet stores here. I had one left over from my chameleon days, so I tried it out.) The bulb was kept far enough away that it did not affect enclosure temperature at all. My gut tells me these guys may be more active under a bright moon, but I have been unable to confirm this with personal observation....yet.

[Ra]

wonderful information, thanks. I'll get a nice little 20 gallon woodland terrarium with a small water pool ready in preparation for these rainy days when i hope to catch one.

[SludgeMunkey]

Small update on feeding:

As I develop more and more notes, and have gotten my specimens to the point they let me hand feed them (they literally will climb into my hand to feed on what I have in there!), I have found that small woodlice are definitely one of their preferred foods. I did a bit of experimentation by sequestering each frog in a deli cup. In each cup I added : one 1/4 cricket, one 1/8 inch woodlouse, three fruit flies, a 1/4 beetle and a small inch worm.
In every case, each of my 4 specimens devoured the wood louse first, followed by the inch worm. Beetles and fruit flies were ignored in favor of other foods. The crickets were all consumed last.

Also, these guys like "tree holes" (for lack of a better term). I Placed a few 3/4 inc PVC pipe branches I made in their enclosure. With in 48 hours all specimens had moved into these branches which are filled with soil two thirds of the way to make interesting little moisture retention hides.


In October, I am planning on putting these guys through a brumation period (Along with my Bombina orientalis) and try my hand at captive breeding them.

[Tom Highum]

Amazing Notes

[SludgeMunkey]

Thank you!

A quick update on photoperiod effects:

As the days get shorter and the nights longer, all specimens are becoming much more aquatic again. I am still using the photocell circuit to control their lighting. It appears this is working very well for the planned October brumation period.


I have not observed any wild specimens beyond a few feet from water since our night time temperatures started dropping into the 50's.

[SludgeMunkey]

I was observing my specimens this morning in complete darkness. (I decided to get out my nightvision rig) All three specimens were exhibiting luring behavior with all of their toes, very similar to various Bufonidae.

I dumped the goggles and got out a flashlight. I then added some D. hydei to their enclosure. As expected, the tow wiggling increased in the presence of food animals!

I tried to take video as the position they sit in to do this behavior is rather unusual. It is rendering now, so I will see if I was able to catch the detail...

Will update with video or drawings once the sun comes up.

[John]

If memory of phylogenetics serves, hylidae are much closer to toads than they are to frogs. Of course, memory may not be serving.

[Kurt]

I think you are corrent in that.