The Barking Tree Frog Thread + My Story

[DogRetepCow]

Hey everyone, I've been looking over the forum and it seems like these awesome frogs have mainly gone unnoticed so I thought they deserved some recognition. Does anyone have any Barking Tree Frogs (Hyla gratiosa) or has anyone kept them in the past? Here's my unfortunate story regardingmy experience with a barking tree frog (it will be painful to read, but bear with me):

I had one for two days before he died, sadly, although it was a great learning experience. A few months ago I was given an American Green Tree frog (Hyla Cinerea) as a graduation gift from my girlfriend in a small 5 gallon horizontal tank. At the time I had little adequate knowledge on how to care for frogs. My girlfriend and I decided to go back to the pet store from which he came (a Pet Supplies Plus in Buffalo, NY), to get my new buddy a caged friend. I now realize that it was a horrible pet store that housed their animals inhumanely, though I was ignorant of this fact at the time. We went to the terrarium where they kept frogs. They must have had 15 or so young American Green Tree Frogs housed in the same short, absurdly crowded vertical terrarium! To make matters worse there were also about three nearly fully grown Barking tree frogs (Hyla gratiosa) housed in there! And this was the living environment where my newly acquired beloved AGTF had come from! In fact, my girlfriend told me that when she picked out my AGTF, they actually had a bullfrog in the cage at the time as well! We were worried whether or not it was okay to house different species together, let alone species of significant size differences. We were also worried about the danger of bigger frogs eating smaller frogs. The stupidly inept staff assured us it was perfectly fine to house American Green tree frogs and Barking tree frogs together, and I stupidly accepted their word and bought a barking tree frog. My girlfriend and I were still a little worried and tried introducing my barking tree frog to my significantly smaller American green tree frog, and they showed no interest in each other. We cautiously introduced the barking tree frog (Willis) into my American Green tree frog's (Crover) tank, and they ignored each other, minding their own business. All seemed well. Two days later Willis died abruptly. The pet store manager stubbornly refused to give me a refund and it wasn't a good experience. I graduated from college a few days later and moved out of state to my parent's new house. Since then, I started doing extensive research online to research the needs for my surviving pet, soon found this website, and quickly realized what an idiot I had been. I bought a 12x12x18 Zoo Med vertical tank for Crover, relocated him to the new terrarium, did much research, and asked you guys some very novice questions. As a result of this experience, my interest in frogs and other amphibians has flourished and I have willingly spent countless hours in my free time over the past few months reading and learning about frogs (this website has been an invaluable asset). My interest in reptiles has escalated as well, and I've enjoyed reading, studying, and learning about a variety of reptiles and amphibians. I've always had a strong affinity and interest in animals, but I wanted to thank you guys on this forum for re-kindling my passion to learn, read, and embrace the joy of keeping pets, and the beauty of animals in general. My passion with animals had laid dormant for a while, buried some time ago from school and life in general, I guess. It was the right time to be sparked again.

About a month ago I got a job at Petco (don't worry-the store I work at is a good, professional store that keeps and treats our animals humanely and is staffed with knowledgeable, passionate people- a far cry above the particular Pet Supplies Plus dump from Buffalo I encountered), and I have come a long way from just a few months ago. I continue to learn new things about amphibians, reptiles, and other animals daily (and my list for desired future pets increases). Never again would I purchase or accept an animal without first doing extensive research beforehand, regarding its needs, commitments needed on my part, etc. So yeah, that’s the moral of the story. I wish I had known back a few months ago when I first got my American Green Tree frog, what I know now. Thankfully, my AGTF (Crover) is still alive, healthy, and as far as I can tell, happy. I don’t know if he was captive bred or while caught, and I do worry about the longevity of his health, due to the harsh conditions he was kept in at the pet store. I plan on upgrading his terrarium soon to a Zoo Med 18x18x24 vertical tank, along with getting two new American Green Tree frogs for the upgraded tank in the very near future. I was very lucky that my Barking tree frog, Willis never harmed or ate a very vulnerable Crover a few months ago, when they were housed together for a couple days. Let it be a lesson to anyone thinking of housing different species together. Sadly, Willis croaked, but it was a good eye opener for me. So in memory of my deceased buddy, let this be the Barking tree frog thread. Hyla Gratiosas are rarely discussed on this forum it seems, so if you have any Barking Tree frog stories, post away.

[John]

The pet store was definitely to blame for the Barking Tree frog dying like that. Barking Tree Frogs are like articulated American Green Tree Frogs. I like them a lot and in the past I kept them for a few years. They have such an interesting call too. From a pet point of view, I would take Barking TFs over Greens any day of the week, although Gray Tree Frogs win the battle of the US tree frogs in my opinion.

I'm really glad to hear the rest of your story though. It's very heartening to see you weren't deterred from the hobby by that initial tragedy. I am also glad your Petco is a good one. They're not all that well staffed but I have seen a few that are.