Pacific Chorus Frog questions

[Moonfall]

I got my first PCF recently and want to ask some questions. Any other tips you guys have are awesome, too.

Does she need another frog for company? Will she breed with a male? See below, haha.

What if she is going to lay eggs? It's breeding season and she was in a pond. What do I do if she does? I don't need a bunch of frogs, a few, sure, but not however many she could lay.

Do I need to do anything special for her in terms of heat/humidity, or will misting and keeping her area moist work?

Lily turned brown overnight. What does that indicate?

Will a diet of mostly crickets work? How many and how often should she be fed?

Will plain, boring old dirt from our garden work as substrate? I am wanting to set up a vivarium type cage, maybe plant some plants, too.. I am going to put in a pond if I can make it work.

How big of a tank does she need? She's in a small one now, but I have a ton of different ones and also can buy a tall one if needed for her to be happy!

Obviously, I havn't done much with PCFs before.. they are different from White's, so I'm all new to this and doublechecking lots of things.

[Moonfall]

I have another couple of questions, also bumping my topic.

How long do PCF live for?

What sorts of plants should I use for her tank? I am tempted to go dig up my yard and put a few hardy weeds in there for her to play on. She lived near here so they would not be abnormal for her.

I'm setting up a pond/drainage for her tank because they look cool and I want to give it a go. I have put small stones for the drainage layer. They are glass, and sanitary. Can I use window screening for the middle layer? I have it on hand and it would allow water to drain but not dirt, and prevent my froggy from going down into the stones and getting hurt.

How large of a tank should I give her?

[Leefrogs]

I have no idea about PCF. There is a care sheet to left coloum. Turning brown is stress if she was green. A wild frog will probably need the largest cage to be even slightly happy.

[Moonfall]

I looked at the sheet, these were just questions I had after that.

Her color fluctuates, it's interesting. She turned lighter green today when she was near the window getting more light, but darker when I re-did her habitat with dark substrate and put her in a less bright area.

She seems to approve of the set up I made her.

It's a drainage-style "pond", like many of you use for vivariums. One end has an open area for water, the other, an "aquifer" under it for water to drain to, and then dirt above a screen, a hide, and a big *** weed that she likes to sit under.

She ate, and she's been pooing. These guys poo fairly often, more than my white's tree frogs did. ut everything is moving smoothly, she seems to be less stressed than one would think, she just kinda hangs out in or on her flowerpot and wanders around sometimes.

[Moonfall]

BUMP. Still needing some answers to my questions. (;

Lily's doing very well, though! She's active, healthy, and she eats eagerly. She likes to sit in her water and climb on the stuff in her cage, her color is currently an olive-like green and she blends in with where she is sitting very well. I'm running to the store later to get some stuff for her set up, I'm hopeful that they might have some hardy plants I can get and I might buy a tall terrarium that opens at the front. I have always wanted one like that, and if I'm going to go all out and try to keep live plants and stuff running, that sounds like a good idea. Depends on the cost, though!

I will post photos of her set up when I get it finished.

[Tony]

You can set them up like pretty much any other tree frog. They do not need to hibernate, so you can use tropical plants and keep them indoors year round. I would not advise bringing in soil from outside, it is not likely to harm the PCF but it would increase the risk of cross-contamination to your other frogs. I keep my group in an 18 x 18 x 24 Exo Terra, at a minimum I would recommend a 20 gallon aquarium or 18 x 18 x 18 Exo/Zoo med terrarium. If you are interested I could also give you a quote for a custom terrarium at whatever size you want, just shoot me a PM.

[Moonfall]

Lily is my only frog right now, so contamination is not a concern. I looked at the store, they were charging $60 dollars for USED, very small terrariums, it was irritating. Some had scale on the sides and staining and they still contained bedding and stuff from previous inhbitants, right down to the water dishes. I would have had to totally bleach it out and stuff. The new ones were even more money. I will look online for a less expensive place to get one, or at least to get a new one for the same price.

I'm going to temporarily move her into a ten gallon I have, she's in what I think is a 5 gallon currently, and hopefully can get a really neat cage for her soon. I've always, always wanted a really neat Vivarium and now I have the resources to get one, and I will do it!

This is what I want for her-
http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products...rium_small.php

I'm annoyed at the fact that despite the sheer number of tanks I have, none are like this, since this is the kind I have been oogling for so long.

How cheap do you think I can find something like this for? I have limited funds, but I'm hopefully getting a job soon and that will up my income a little bit.

[lnaminneci]

Moonfall,

I have had my PCF's for almost a year now. They will change color with temperature and for camouflage as well, this is normal and not necessarily due to stress as in other frogs. They can be anywhere from bright green, dark forest green, tan, dark brown to almost black. And I have seen all of mine change to all of these colors....

Do you have a picture of your PCF? If it is a young froglette it may have a creamy white neck whether male or female, as it matures the males will get a very distrinctive dark neck. Two of mine that had creamy white necks and I was sure were female, suddenly changed to VERY male. Dark or spotted throats and loud croaking. If you do have a female, most likely she does not have eggs.

I like to give them varied diets. They like crickets, fruitflies, and waxworms (sparingly on the waxworms b/c they are fatty, it's like a froggy candybar!) The crickets should be no bigger then mouth width on your frog. Coat them with calcium and vitamins at each feeding. If she is a young froglette feed her daily pinhead crickets and fruitflies, older frogs can eat less often.

One PCF will be fine in a smaller tank, as they are small frogs. If you prefer a larger tank to set up with plants, and I say if you can go larger, Do It! The Exo Terra 18x18x18 I found on Josh's Frogs with free shipping! http://www.joshsfrogs.com/exo-terra-...-shipping.html you can also check your local petstores for low prices as well.
You can check out my albums as well for set ups, and in the Vivarium, Terrarium & Enclosure Discussion there are great posts and set/ups there too!

Hope this is helpful for you. Let us know how she is doing. Lily is such a cute name, we would love to see pictures!

Enjoy her, I love these little frogs. They have great personalities and do well in groups, they are very social and non-territorial.

~Lesley

[Moonfall]

I have a couple of very cruddy and blurry pictures, but I'll share them anyway. She was also all dirty from chasing crickets. I'm going to try to get better ones soon, hopefully with better lighting. Maybe she'll even sit still and let me hold her- she's been getting better about handling, especially since today she got something stuck in her mouth with a cricket, and I helped her get it out- she seemed to approve.

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._4905146_n.jpg

http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._4974591_n.jpg

I'm really hoping to come across another one of these little guys soon, I will probably keep it as a friend for Lily if I do. I feel a bit mean taking them from the wild, though. Even if my having them means they get regular food and care, I wonder whether they would prefer to be wild or not.. My boyfriend caught Lily for me when he dug up the pond she was living in, leaving her without water, and brought her here, and of course, I wanted her, but do you think they are happy captive, and is it cruel to get them from the wild?

[Tony]

PCFs are very hardy and readily adapt to captivity. Most, if not all, of mine started feeding immediately after capture and showed no signs of stress.

[Moonfall]

So you don't think it's cruel to keep them? I really don't want to be unfair by catching a second frog, but if you don't think they will mind, then I might.

Has anyone had a chance to look at the photos of Lily? Male or female?

[JJohnsen]

Moonfall,

I've had problems with the moral implications of keeping Pacific Chorus frogs as well. :/ My friend caught one after she almost ran her over in the street, in our city. I took her in, feeling it was better than putting her back where we found her, and my research said that these frogs should not be relocated because they can spread some sort of disease and wipe out other unaffected populations. So, yes, I have a frog now. And i love her to death but she has been very intent on escaping. LOL. And I feel bad but there isnt much I can do about it now. I am also curious about the opinions of others, because I feel I need validation. lol Plus, I want to get her a tank mate because these frogs are happier in groups.

[JJohnsen]

Moonfall,

I found my tank on craigslist without any trouble if you have access to their services where you live!