red eyed green tree frogs

[Chris1]

ive decided to get some red eyed green tree frogs in memory of a friend of mine who wanted them for ages but died recently.
does anyone have any links to some good care sheets, recommended books or anything?

i know from keeping beardies that theres good info and bad info out there, so i figuered frog lovers could direct me to the best info available.

also, do i need a licence for them?
i have the normal reptile one, (class 1?...the non venemous one)
would that cover frogs, would i need a different one, or no license @ all.
i was thinking of getting 5 baby frogs, is that a good or bad number?

i breed roaches @ the moment, from what i've read they do eat roaches, would i need to breed crickets as well? and what about mealworms?

any help would be greatly appreciated,..


Chris.

 

[sparticus]

yep you need a seperate frog license...

 

[JasonL]

Yes you need a Amphibian Lic for them, they are class 1, they need to be kept around 25 - 28 deg, and humid.

 

[Zanejb]

roaches are fine, crickets might add some variety but i recommend you only feed mealworms to larger frogs and only every so often as the shell is hard to digest. Red eyes are amazing and love them. 5 is a good number is you have the room. any good books for frogs will so just remember red eyes need some humidity, they need lots of climing space and they are apparently a little dificult to breed but a good frog book will give oyu tips anyway.

 

[JasonL]

I would say they are easy to breed, they even multi clutch, the problem is they morph very small and it's alot of work.

 

[Zanejb]

Red eyes are awesome frogs i love em lol

 

[Chris1]

thanks everyone!

so if i use a layer of gravel, topped with a layer of charcoal, topped with potting soil, topped with leaves, bark, plants and stuff to climb and bury a water bowl in that so the waters easy to change daily will that be fine?
does the water need to be filtered/dechlorinated or is tap water ok?
are there any plants i should avoid?

do they need a thermal gradient, or should the whole tank be heated?
what level of UV do they need?
like a reptiglo 8 tube or something less intense?

do they make alot of noise?
how often do they eat and poo?
how often do the tanks need cleaning?

do they only eat insects, or will they nibble the plants in their tank?

would a 3 foot fish tank be to big or too small?
from what i've read they only grow to 6.5cms,..or are there specially designed frog tanks that hold humidity in better?

i'm really looking forward to setting it up, sounds like its gonna look really nice!

thanks again,...Chris.

 

[angel_saza]

ok.... i've sort of answered your questions in order of your asking them.

Dont worry about so many layers. Omit the charcoal, it stops 'working' after a few months anyway. There's a few ways that you can set up your tank:

1. Having a drainage level, i'd recommend hydroton clay balls rather than gravel because it's lighter.

2. Installing a false bottom so there is a reservoir of water underneath the substrate.

If you are getting a tank custom made i would also suggest getting one or two drainage holes put in. It's makes cleaning much easier as you can just flush water through the substrate.

To separate land/water areas you could put in a glass divider or just build up the substrate on one side.

Use dechlorinated tap water.

To heat the tank a simple aquarium heater, set to 27-28 degrees,in the water is perfect. The warm water evaporates just enough to make the air warm and humid. To help control these two thing, just put a piece of glass or similar over the flyscreen lid.

A 2% UVb light is sufficient. I curently have a Sylvania Reptistar 5% fluro running, and my frogs and live plants both seem to be happy.

When sexually mature, males will usually start calling. My green tree frogs will only make noise when i play a recording of their call.

Spot clean every few days. If you have live plants and your tank is set up with enough suitable micro-organisms the poo will just break down naturally into the soil.

Frogs are insectivorous. Juvenile frogs should be fed daily. If you can get ones small enough, woodies are ok, but i'd spice it up a bit and give them flies and small crickets too. When they get older, feeding can be reduced to every 2-3 days, depending on how active your frogs are.

Like with herps, tank size is the bigger the better! Keep in mind that tree frogs like to climb, so a tall tank is a must. My glass tank is 60cm x 30 x 45, only because of a lack of space and a few other constraints. Looking back, i'd probably get my tank slightly wider, maybe 45-50cm and a little bit taller, probably 2ft tall, and 3ft long.

Go for a glass tank, it's holds in the humidity better and you can put it a background and/or sidegrounds (background on the 2 sides of the tank) to help hold in the heat better.

I know i've written alot and it all seems a little mixed up, but if you still need some help, the regulars on www.frogs.org/community will help you out! There's some really great threads on there about setting up tanks and we all love to put up photos of our tanks and how we set them up

 

[Chris1]

Thanks so much Angel_Saza fro soem very helpful info!

i love the idea of the 'false bottom' with an aquarium heater,..and holes fro easy cleaning!
i'm gonna go with that,.

so the 3 foot long by 2 foot high by 50cms would be ideal fro 5 adults,..i'll be gettting them as babies so i have a while till i'll need that so i can get it made,..may as well make it perfect if i'm gonna do that,..

cool, maggots/flies are easy to come by and i can buy crix occasionally cos i hate them and dont wanna breed them and the roaches i have are all sizes, i only use the big ones fro the dragons so that'll be easy...!

that site isnt working @ the moment, but i'll try again in the morning,..

thanks again,..Chris.

 

[angel_saza]

Sorry, i typed that wrong. Try this.. http://frogs.org.au/community/

Even if you went for a 4ft tank! That'd look real nice. That would take the volume up to 360 litres.

 

[grimbeny]

Hint:

Make the tank ultra escape proof, small and even large frogs will get out of anything.

 

[Chris1]

hehe, good stuff, that one works,..thanks!

hmm,..any tips on escape proofing?
tight fitting lid with flyscreen?

 

[angel_saza]

I HAVE THE PERFECT FROG PROOF LID!!!

Photo's attached.

The frame is stained timber, to match my stand, and it is routed about 1.5cm along the bottom. The rim of the tank sits in here. The two 'panels' are like window flyscreens. I put in the powdercoated metal flyscreen stuff. My uncle makes security doors and windows so he made the lid for me. Did a great job too!

The lid closes with a tight fitting catch.. it's hard to explain.

 

[Chris1]

that looks awesome!

what a great uncle,..i might have to attempt a dodgy copy!

 

[angel_saza]

Here's some more photo's of the lid, just so i can explain it a bit easier. I took the photo's from the underside of the lid.

There's a photo of the type of hinge i used for the flyscreen door that opens 90 degrees. It's approximately 2.5cm long. There's a total of 2, one either end of the door.

The latch is 2 pieces. The bit the holds the bit in place is 4cm long and the other bit is 2.5cm.

It was a bit tricky to show the routed edge because of the stain being so dark on the wood, but there's 2 photos, from 2 different angles. It's just a right-angled edge routed out of the main part of the frame.

 

[Chris1]

thanks angel_saza!

with fotos like that, how can i go wrong!
(well, easily, but thats my lack of handywomanness,....!

hope i'm successful cos they look great!

 

[Zanejb]

thats fantastic that top i might have to make one of my own too lol. yea tank size is everything and go for as many natural plants as possable it stops smells and breaks down the poo and so on. also i change half my water every week and i change the whole water supply once a month (i know people that do it more often but i havent had any troubles at the change rate i use) and last but not least feed the frogs at night. i find that feeding them at nigth occupies there time and i keep a small night glo bulb above the tank (only 15w) so i dont use bright lights that could disturb them. frogs are great easy going animals lol one of my all time favourites (im not joking my mum reminds me of when i got my first frog)

 

[MannyM]

Sad to hear about your friend Chris.

I'm going to have to definitely come around when you get the red eye enclosure up and running. I love them, and have considered getting a few for a little while now. There are some fantastic Exo Terra glass enclosures available, which are made for geckos and frogs, or Extreme Pets have a nice Frog setup available, with built in rear waterfall. My mum loves frogs, so i'm considering going some Green Tree Frogs or Red Eyes soon too... although with the lack of time I have, I think it's best to wait till life dies down

Let me know how it goes. Hope you're well.