Frog Care Guide
directory
The green tree frog (litoria caerulea) is
fastly becoming a popular pet in our homes as it is a pretty
easy pet to look after if fed correctly and housing is cleaned properly every
few months depending
on how many frogs you have in your tank but lets not forget other species
like the white lipped tree
frog (litoria infrarenta) and the red eyed green tree frog (litoria chloris)
they to are becoming more
popular with the frog enthusiest but they are a bit more active than the green
tree frog but will calm
down in time if handeld more frequently . Well the reason i am doing this
web page is to try to answer
all those questions we ask but can't seem to find the answer's we're after
and the basic care and
maintenance of Australian frogs .Lets start by selecting your first frog a
few things to look out for
and to avoid ,the first thing i will do when buying a frog is place it on
its back and see how fast it
corrects itself if it is slow to get back on its feet i would strongly avoid
this frog, check their eyes
for a creamy dark colour usually caused by a cut or abrasion this sometimes
does'nt heal,or if they
are thin or act in an abnormal way, if the frog(s) shows any of these symtoms
dont buy it or any
frog that is in the same tank as they to could be sick but are'nt showing
any signs yet.and dont
just pick out the best one there and check it for symtoms, check all the frogs
out and if all
looks good you can purchase your frog(s).
Housing your frog!
Well now you have your frog(s) you will need a home for it and you
should have this ready before you buy
your frog. The fish tank is the most commonly used
form of housing for your frog it provides great viewing of your frog(s)and
is easy to clean
the best way to set your tank up is to drill a hole in the bottom of your
tank(you can get this done
at any glass shop) having a hole in the tank helps in easy draining and getting
rid of any impurities
or bacteria that builds up in the tank or you can just use large rocks in
your tank as a form of
land and use branches for them to sit on if they wish and fill the tank with
a small amount of
water and syphon it out when cleaning this is not the most picturess way to
set up a tank but it is
easy to clean for example i have a five foot long by three foot high tank
setup(see below) which I
have put eight one foot long bricks in the bottom as land and placed plastic
logs and plants and a
castle in the middle and a few branches for decoration and the back wall is
a water fall made from
a large sheet of 1 and half inch thick styrafoam which i coverd with sylocon
(black is best to use )
spread it out evenly and then cover it with small fish tank rocks, I use a
small water pump to
carry the water to the top of the waterfall .
Water!
Water quilty is important make sure you remove any chlorine or chloramine
from the water with
a water ager, or let the water stand in a bucket in the sun for 3 or 4 days
this is really important for
tadpoles and there development, but I will get into that in the tadpole section.
Water should be
changed every week depending on how many frogs you have in the tank and how
big your water
contianer is, the reason for this is or a few reasons for this is the frogs
like to use the bathroom in
there water which fouls it and the ph levels go crazy which is not good for
the frog (s) as they drink
by absorbing water through there skin so basicly when it looks like it is
getting dirty change it!.
Food!
I feed my frogs a varitey of foods Crickets, woodies(cockaroaches), flys,
mealworms, I only use
mealworms monthly just to fatten them up a bit, you can also feed them small
mice if you want to
I dont feed mine mice because im worried they might get worms or parasites,
I fed some of my
magnificent tree frogs (litoria splendida) a peice of steak by dangling it
in front of them and I had
one die from parisites whether this was because of the steak I dont know either
way I wont be doing
that again, . you can feed them just about any insects from around the house
minus the stink beetle.
I also sprinkle calcium and multi vitamin powder this helps with there bone
strength and health.
Lighting!
Frogs need a good source of UV-A and UV-B rays you can buy these fluros from
most pet
stores they need this from morph to adult so they dont get rickets which is
a deformaty in the
back legs and spine ,also make sure you have a screen lid or a or some way
the light can get
into the tank without having to go through the glass, as the UV-A and UV-B
rays can't penatrate throught it.
Heat!
Most frogs love warmth especily the green tree frog keep the temperture at
25-30c-77-86f during
the day and you can drop it at nite if you want. I have left a frog out side
through winter and it
got down to as low as 3c at nite and he lived througth it fine wether he was
happy or not I
dont know and I dont recommend this I just forgot about him having 16 green
tree frogs you can
over look one every now and again. I usally heat my tanks by putting a heater
in the
water, or you can get a green party
light and use that if you want.
Tadpoles!
Tadpoles should have a nice sized pool or container to grow in this will help
in the water staying
cleaner longer,you should do an ammonia test every second day if you have
lots of tadpoles and
the water is looking a bit dirty (sometimes my water would look dirty and
I would do a test and
it would be fine other times it would look the same and the test would show
high ammonia levels)
so keep an eye on your water quality, tadpoles are a browney coulor and can
grow from 45-100mm
they complete metamorphes in about 4 to 6 weeks if the tempreture is kept
from 25 to 30 c ,I feed
my tadpoles boiled lettuce most of the time and a bit of gold fish flake,
food you
can also buy alge disks from most pet stores.
Breeding Season!
Breeding season for the green tree frog starts around september and can go
through till
febuary depending on the amount of rainfall and temperature .the male frog
will start croaking
he is calling for the female this is there mating call and one way of knowing
if you frog (s) are male
or not as only the male croaks and the females dont, once the male attracts
a female he hops onto
her back and grasps her under her front arms tis is called amplexus, the female
will start to develop
eggs inside her and when she is ready the male will start to squeeze the eggs
out and he will fertilize
them as they are pushed out onto the water the eggs that get fetilized will
sink to the bottom of the
pond the eggs are a brown pigmented coulor and will hatch in about 40 to 50
hours do not move
them untill they are freely swimming and dont start feeding them untill this
time to.
Distibution!
The green tree frog is found in,South Australia, Northern Territory. Western
Australia ,New South
Walse, and Queensland..!!!!
Genral information!
When handling your frog(s) wet your hands with cold water this helps them
from absorbing any
residues from us .Dont ever use fly sprays or any aresole spray cans for that
matter around your
frog(s) I had a friend who couldn't work out why all his frogs kept dying,with
a bit of thinking and
narrowing down we worked out it was the fly spray he was using so he learnd
the hard way why
not to use these things.. if you see any ill frogs in your setup move them
to somewhere on there
own and clean your setup really good ,and I advise against smoking around
your frog(s) they can
absorb the smoke as well I dont know wether or not they can die from this
or not but it surely
cant be good for them if its not good for humans .In most states of Australia
you need permits to
keep frogs here is a list of National parks and Wildlife Commisions. If you
want to
know how and if you need a licence or permit ..
|
ACT
Licensing Officer Phone(02) 6207-6376 |
NSW
National Parks & Wildlife Service Phone (02) 9585-6444 |
NT
Parks & Wildlife commission Phone (08)8999-4795 |
|
QLD
Department of Enviroment & Heritage Phone (07)3202-0200 |
WA
CALM,Wildlife Protection Phone (08)9334-0292 |
SA
Enviroment & Natural Resoures Phone (08) 8204-8702 |
|
TAS
Parks & Wildlife Service Phone (03) 6233-6556 |
VIC
Game & Wildlife Licensing Unit Phone (03) 9412-4992 between 9am-noon |