I've heard that the important thing in setting up a Tree Frog tank is that the tank should be tall as oppose to being wide since tree frogs like to climb. Is that true? I've also read that it makes very good coffee table pet since their tank can be tall and decorative, not bulky and wide. What are the basic setup for a tree frog tank? Can you mix different tree frogs species? I wanna say no ... but I would love clarification. I would love to start getting tree frogs but the ones I saw on Petco and Petland looks malnutritious and in bad shape. Any advise?
tree frog tanks *should* be taller than they are high. remember, tree frogs are almost completely arboreal. they are meant to climb and they love to do it. i would NOT recommend keeping different species together of *any* herp - especially amphibians. different species almost always eat each other, poison each other, stress each other out, take each others' food, injur each other, dominate over one or the other, take too much habitat space away from each other, or otherwise cause the habitat to be less than it should be. tree frogs are also easily stressed and most of them will eat anything that fits in their mouths. BAD idea to house different species together. i definately would not get one from a pet store. head to your next local reptile show. there should be breeders there who can help you out and they will be far more likely to have healthy animals. tree frog setups: first of all, do NOT use gravel! it seems like we have someone on here every few months with a toad, frog, or salamander that has an impaction because it swallowed gravel. only use large river rock, plain topsoil, or coconut fiber bedding. tree frogs also need lots of thick, sturdy branches to climb on and lots of fake or real plants. philodendrons, air plants, bromeliads, ferns . . . there's tons of good plants. check out blackjungle.com for some plant ideas. fake plants work well too, though. since you've never had a tree frog before, i would *highly* recommend a white's tree frog. they are one of the most fun and hardy frogs out there. they have great personalities and are the easiest tree frog to care for. most tree frogs require pretty special cages, but white's can be kept in a fairly simple tank. they are also a lot more handleable than other tree frogs. one adult male should have at least a 20 gallon extra high tank. one adult female or two adult males should have at least a 29 gallon extra high. american green tree frogs are great little guys, too, but they can rarely be handled. if you're not really into handling the frogs, an american green would be a good choice. you could house 1 or 2 in a 10 gallon tank with basically the same setup as the white's tree frog. red-eyed tree frogs and most other tree frogs aren't really for beginners. i don't even think that *I* am ready for one of them yet! they are very sensitive to water conditions and to the humidity in the tank. read as much as you can and let us know what you decide! good luck!
Great Thanks! Problem is I've never heard of a Road Show (I'm from NYC!). ANy help as to where to find postings of road shows around NYC? Any breeders wanna help?
*breathes deeply* This may take a while to type. Ok...first i need to know the species of tree frog you are asking of but i can give you a basic set up. The tree frogs you see in Petco are most likely Green treefrogs, red-eye tree frogs, or whites tree frogs. If you want something easy to care for then i would get the green tree frog. I have 2 green trees and 1 jade tree frog. They are all in the same enclosure because they grew up together and are best buds. I just cleaned the tank and it is a 10 gallon long, you could have a tall, and the set up is this: Small sized Repti-Bark for the terrain. 1 live plant on the left side. And right next to it is yet another fake plant. Then the water bowl. My two greens hang out on the top corners or leaves of the plants and my Jade is a plant/ waterbowl freak. They eat crickets that i gut load before and then dust with cricket stuff and plop in about 9-15 crickets until my frogs run out again. After they are all gone i'll give them a week+ to relax then i give them more. During the winter they do well with an undertank heater. If you want a light over them make sure it isn't a heat lamp. Keep the water bowl clean...no crickets or stray bark peices. When handling them to move from a dirty tank to a clean, wet hands with chlorine free water and nudge their behinds until they walk or jump onto your hand. Then gently carry them to the new tank. Place them where their old relaxing spot would be and they will go exploring or sleep the day away. Mist the tank 1-5 times a day to keep them wet. And if you need any more info than just ask.
hm...it works great for me. I only use the large kind for my snake. What do you mean by dusty? Like household dust? I may not be the one to help with the problem. :? :wink:
no not house hold dust just like debree , its hard to describe.just the risk of the animall swollowing a peice of bark.
Hm...........I'm going to be thinking on that bark problem for a while. Maybe i should switch. Hm........ *sigh*
plain topsoil, coconut fiber bedding, or a mixture of both is the best substrate for most frogs and toads. digestible, realistic, doesn't easily grow mold, doesn't cause choking/impactions when swallowed, cheap and easy to replace, etc. large polished river rock works well, too, as do medium-sized peices of flat rock. any kind of gravel, sand, woodchips, etc are pretty bad for most herps.
what do you mean make sure it isnt a heat lamp? this is what i plan to raise the temp. in my terrarium
heat lamps aren't all that bad, i'm not sure why skippy advised not to use heat lamps. as long as the heat lamp is outside the cage and as long as it doesn't make the cage too hot, it should be fine.
