Glass Tree Frog Care

Glass tree frogs are named such, due to their semitransparent skin, mainly on their belly, which allows for the viewing of some of their internal organs. There are over 100 different species of the glass tree frog. Type of species will determine just how much of the organs you will be able to see. On some species, you will also be able to see their bones.

Glass tree frogs are not only Nocturnal and arboreal, they are also riparian, meaning they live near streams. It is important to put a great deal of planning and care into setting up their captive environment, so for this reason, I would not recommend this frog to a beginning frog keeper.

Housing Your Glass Tree Frog

If you want to keep your Glass Tree Frog happy and healthy, you should try to simulate their natural habitat as closely as possible, as shown in the following video:

The size enclosure you choose should be based on how many frogs you intend to have. You should allow 4 gallons of space per frog as their average size ranges from 1 - 3 inches. This will give the frogs plenty of space without being on top of each other. The height of the enclosure should be one and half times the width and depth of the tank. A 12 x 12 x 18 would do fine for 1 -2 frogs and an 18 x 18 x 24 would do well for 3 - 4. Whatever tank you decide to use, be sure it has a screen top. Proper ventilation is extremely import for glass tree frogs.

In the wild, glass tree frogs live near running streams, though they are not semi-aquatic frogs, they do spend a small amount of time just sitting in the water enjoying the moving current. To simulate their natural environment, you will need to have a pump, filter or waterfall in order to simulate a running stream. Limit the stream to 1/3 of the bottom space.

2/3's of the bottom space will need to be land area. This can be achieved in several different ways. In my opinion, the best way to do this, is to install a divider between the water and land, using plexi-glass and aquarium sealant. This will make it much easier on you when it comes to maintenance. Another way would be to use large rocks to divide the land and water, with some type of drainage layer under the substrate on the land side.

Substrate

For substrate, I would recommend using plain old dirt or garden soil, that can be purchased at any home supply store. Be sure to buy organic, fertilizer and pesticide free soil. In order to help keep humidity levels up, cover the soil with moss. I suggest a pillow moss. If you choose to use sphagnum moss, be sure to smash it down flat. Glass tree frogs hunt by pouncing on their pray. Though they are incredibly accurate, you do not want to risk them getting the moss caught in their mouth along with their food.

Humidity

Glass tree frogs are native to tropical area,s therefore require high humidity in their captive environments. Humidity levels should be kept in the range of 70 - 80%. Having a running stream in the enclosure will contribute to the humidity levels but will not be enough to maintain the proper range. In order to keep the humidity levels up, you will need to mist the enclosure a couple times per day.

Lighting

In order to maintain a healthy ecosystem, you will need to provide day/night cycle for your glass tree frogs. 12 hours on and 12 hours off is a good place to start. Depending on whether or not you choose to have live plants in the enclosure, will determine what type of bulb you will need to use. Be careful not to use a bulb that will overheat the enclosure. Glass tree frogs do not require any special heating. They are fine at room temperature, provided the temperature in your house remains in the mid 70's.

Furnishings

Due to their arboreal nature, glass tree frogs require plenty of branches, vines and plants to climb on. Whether you choose live or fake plants, be sure and provide broad leaf plants. Glass tree frogs like to sit on the leaves and spy out their prey from above. You will also need to include some foliage on the ground level as well. This will provide your frog with some security. A small cork round works well for a hide as well.

Diet

Glass tree frogs, despite their size, have very large appetites. When they are babies and juveniles, they will need to be fed fruit flies, a lot of fruit flies. As they grow, they can be fed size appropriate crickets. Size appropriate meaning, no larger than the space between their eyes.

In Conclusion

Glass tree frogs are very fascinating creatures but, do not expect to see much of them. They are very shy and typically only come out when all the lights are out. You might get lucky every now and then and see them come out at dawn to start hunting but, if they see you, they will quickly find a safe place to hide.

Vietnamese Mossy Frog Care Sheet

Vietnamese Mossy Frogs are experts when it comes to camouflage. Due to their coloring and unique skin texture, it can be difficult to see them when they are chilling on a tree or in vegetation on the ground near a stream, because they look like a clump of moss, especially when they have their eyes closed.

These frogs are relatively rare and can be hard to come by. If you do get lucky enough to locate some, you will pay an average of $100 a piece for them. They are actually a protected species in their native land of Vietnam.

Mossy frogs spend a lot of time in one place but at times can be very active as well, especially at feeding time. They sometimes remind me of a cat getting ready to pounce on a mouse. I've seen them jump from the top of one end of the tank, to the bottom at the opposite end of the tank to get a cricket!

As long as you understand their needs, the are not very difficult to care.

Housing Your Mossy Frog

If you want to keep your Mossy Frog happy and healthy, you should try to simulate their natural habitat as closely as possible.

The size tank you choose should be based on how many frogs you intend to have. You should allow 4 gallons of space per frog as their average size is 2 - 2 1/2 inches, and they are rather active at times. This will give the frogs plenty of space without being on top of each other. The videos below show a 20 gallon long tank that houses 5 frogs.

Tank Maintenance Video

Mossy Frog Care Video

Mossy frogs are semi-aquatic and should be supplied with both land and water of equal parts. Your land area should slope down into the shallow water side of the tank in order to make it easy for the frogs to make their way out of the water. The water side of the tank should be no more than a few inches deep. The frogs prefer to sit in water with a moving current, so you will need to have a pump, filter or waterfall that will simulate a running stream.

In my tank, shown above, I chose to split the land area and the water area into equal parts. In the center of the tank I installed a plexi-glass with aquarium sealant to divide water from land. For the land side, I installed a false bottom for drainage purposes and a layer of organic dirt and some moss. 

The left side of the tank, the water side, has a filter and waterfall in the back that creates a current that flows around to the front of the tank and a piece of Mopani wood to slow the current before it get to the land area. This gives the frogs the choice of calm water or current.

The tank the videos above is a great setup for juvenile frogs because, the juveniles tend to spend the majority of their time up off the ground when they are not in the water. The adults tend to migrate more to the land and water areas. For this reason, you will need to plan on providing a larger, longer tank for adults.

Water Quality

Be sure to only use distilled water or tap water that has been treated with a water conditioner such as Reptisafe. 

These frogs tend to do better when you do partial water changes, rather than draining the tank and refilling. Simple use and aquarium vacuum once a week to remove half the water, then replace.

Temperature and Lighting

Mossy frogs do not have any special requirements as far as temperature and lighting. They are perfectly fine with room temperature. I chose to provide lighting simply for esthetic reasons.

A couple things to keep in mind if you plan on using a light; be care not to use a light that is going to raise the temperature more that a degrees or two, you don't want to overheat your frogs, and only install the light along the back of the tank or over the end of the tank that you will not be feeding the frogs at. If they stare into the light while hunting their prey, it could damage their eyesight.

Filter

In order to keep the water fresh and clean, you will need to install An in the water filter. Mossy frogs prefer to relax in  water with a current. Most filters you will find are rather tall, so it's simple to add some rocks in front of the filter so the water flows down and creates a current. The steeper the rocks are, the faster the current. Be care though, you don't want a current that is so strong the frogs can't sit still in it.  

Referring back to the photo of my tank, you can see the method I used. I stacked the large flat rocks to create a running waterfall, then I installed a piece of Mopani Wood to obstruct the water flow before it reached the land area. Mopani wood works very well in this type of tank because it is heavy and will just sit on the bottom of the tank, rather than float.

Tank Furnishings

You will want to provide at least one hide for your frogs. Sometimes they just want to have a little privacy. In my tank, there is a climbing log on the land side that is hollow, so it serves two purposes, one as a hide and two, as a climbing log.

Mossy frogs do like to climb and they seem to enjoy pouncing on their prey from above, so you will need to include plants, vines and logs for them to perch on.

Diet

The Mossy frog diet will mainly consist of small crickets. Make sure the crickets you provide are no larger than the space between their eyes. This will prevent a possible choking hazard. Offer 3-4 crickets per frog, three to four times a week. A couple of times a month, you will want to provide a different food source for variety such as, wax worms, earth worms cut into small pieces and black worms. The worms will need to be fed from a shallow dish. Do not drop them into the tank or water.

Supplements

Your frogs are what they eat so be sure to provide them with good nutrition. You can dust their insects with a high quality nutritional supplement or you can gut load the insects with a highly nutritious diet such as Fluker's High-Calcium Cricket Diet  which is what I use.

In Conclusion:

Vietnamese Mossy Frogs are a bit complex to set up but, once they are set up, are relatively easy to care for. With the proper maintenance and diet, they will provide you with many years of enjoyment.

White's Tree Frog Care Sheet

The White's Tree Frog, aka Dumpy Tree Frog, makes a great frog for beginners if you are looking for a pet frog that can be handled on occasion. These frogs not only tolerate some handling, but will actually become accustomed to it. As with most frogs, their skin is rather delicate, be sure to wash your hands thoroughly prior to handling and again afterwards.

Though the White's Tree Frog can be inactive for long periods of time, perfectly content with sitting like a bump on a log so to speak, come feeding time, they can be quite amusing, when chasing their prey around their enclosure.

Housing Your White's Tree Frog

The White's Tree Frog typical adult size is between 4-5 inches so they do require a fairly large enclosure. They will do fine in a horizontal tank but would be much happier in a vertical tank, as they do love to climb. If you are planning on having only one frog, a ten gallon tank would be suitable, but consider a Fifteen Gallon Tall tank instead. This will give the frog the extra height for climbing, without taking up anymore space. Because of the size of these frogs, you should allow a minimum of 5 gallons of space per frog if housing multiple frogs.

Temperature and Lighting

The White's Tree Frog temperature should be 75-85 degrees, with 80 degrees being optimal for daytime, then allowing the temperature to drop to the mid 70's for nighttime. This will simulate a more natural environment. The simplest way to achieve this would be to place a Heat Mat on an exterior side of the tank or a low watt light bulb.

Many people will tell you these frogs do not require any special lighting but, it is my belief that all amphibians will benefit from UVB exposure. I would suggest using a low wattage UVB Bulb on a 12 hour cycle, meaning 12 hours on, 12 hours off. If you choose to use a UVB bulb, depending on the bulb you choose, you may be able to eliminate the need for a heat mat. Using a Timer is a good option for achieving the proper lighting cycle.

Substrate

When choosing a substrate for the enclosure, you should use a fine particle substrate such as, Fine Coconut Fiber or Fine Particle Soil. This will eliminate any impaction problems should the frog accidently ingest it when feeding. These frogs can get a bit aggressive when hunting their prey, so you want to give them a soft substrate to land on so, it's not a good idea to line the bottom of their enclosure with gravel or rocks of any kind.

Humidity and Water

Humidity should be kept no lower than 50%. This can be achieved my misting the enclosure a couple of times a day and supplying a shallow water dish. If the humidity drops too low, having a water dish in the enclosure will give the frogs a place to go if the humidity does drop. The water should be no deeper than the frogs shoulders and should be changed and the bowl cleaned daily. Only use spring water or de-chlorinated tap water using a product like Reptisafe.

Furnishing

The White's Tree Frog loves to climb so be sure to supply plenty of Logs and Plants. If you plan on using live plants, be sure they are sturdy enough to handle the weight of the frogs otherwise, they will not hold up and you will find yourself replacing them.

These frogs are fairly bold and should not require any actual hides. If they feel the need for some privacy, they would prefer to hide amongst the leaves of the plants. It's better to use the floor space for logs or Cork Rounds for climbing.

Diet

The main diet of the White's Tree Frog should consist of crickets and earth worms. To vary their diet, you can offer wax worms, super worms and meal worms occasionally. Young frogs should be fed every other day and adults 2-3 times per week. Only feed what the frog can eat in 10-15 minutes and remove any uneaten prey after that time frame. This will help keep the enclosure cleaner and you won't have to worry about the uneaten insects annoying your frog by crawling on it or biting it.

In Conclusion

In captivity, these frogs generally live 7-10 years, so be prepared for a long term commitment if you choose to bring one home as a pet. Remember to have all of your supplies before hand and set your enclosure up prior to bring home your frog. This will ensure you have your temperatures and humidity correct and it will help your frog adapt to its new environment for easily.

African Dwarf Frog Care Sheet

The African Dwarf Frog is a rather interesting little frog, that is low maintenance and easy to care, which makes it an excellent choice for a beginning frog keeper.

They are aquatic frogs that will spend the majority of their time under water but, they do have lungs, which means they must surface for air, much like a dolphin or whale. Some other features about this frog you might find interesting is, they do not have any teeth, a tongue or ears. They use their sensitive fingers and keen sense of smell to find their food, then stuff it into their mouths with their hands.

The African Dwarf Frog color varies from a light brown to an olive green, and some may develop dark spotting on their back. They range in size from 2-2 1/2 inches, so they don't require a large aquarium.

Housing Your African Dwarf Frog

As small as these frogs are, you can comfortably house 2-3 frog in a 10 - 15 gallon aquarium, allowing one gallon of water per frog. You never want to fill the aquarium all the way to the top though. Remember, they need to surface to breath, so make sure you leave a couple of inches between the lid and the water surface. Another thing to keep in mind; these frogs are slow swimmers, and spend a lot of time on the bottom of the tank, so make sure you don't make the water so deep that they can't make it back to the surface to breath.

Be sure you have a tight fitting lid on the tank, to prevent the frog from escaping. They do have the ability to climb short distances on glass.

Water Quality and Temperature

For the moment, think of these frogs as tropical fish. They have specific water quality and temperature needs similar to that of a tropical fish.

Water quality is very important to ensure a healthy frog, so your tank should be kept clean using an Aquarium Filter along with regular, weekly water changes. If you are using tap water to fill the tank, be sure to de-chlorinate it with a Water Conditioner otherwise, use mineral water.

Keeping the proper PH levels is also an important requirement. PH levels should be maintained between 6.8 - 7.8 so be sure to test the PH levels regularly with a PH Test Kit.

The water temperature should be kept between 72 - 82 degrees Fahrenheit, 75 degrees being optimal, so you may need to install a Submersible Aquarium Heater to maintain the correct temperatures.

Lighting

African Dwarf Frogs are nocturnal and in order to maintain their natural instinctive routines, they require a day/night lighting cycle. Without a lighting cycle, they can become disorientated and stressed, which can lead to illness or death.

Never put the tank in front of a window to simulate these lighting conditions. The sunlight coming through the window can cause the tank to over heat. Use an Aquarium Light with a cycle of 12 hours on and 12 hours off. Be mindful, some lights can raise the water temperature by several degrees.

Substrate

Some types of aquarium gravel are suitable as substrate, but make sure it is the Aquarium Pebbles type. Some of the smaller granule types of gravel can be rough and can damage the delicate skin of the African Dwarf Frog. If you plan on using live plants in your tank, then Live Plant Soil makes a perfect substrate.

Decorating Your Tank

There are two reasons you are going to want to place decorations in your tank. One, to make it aesthetically pleasing, two and more importantly, you want to give your frog plenty of places to hide and explore.

When choosing plants, if you are opting for artificial plants, only use the soft, silky type. Again, these frogs have very delicate skin so, you don't want to use hard plastic plants that may have sharp edges on it, that can cause an injury. Live plants are always the best choice in order to create a more eco- friendly environment.

To finish out the tank, include some larger rocks and a Hide or two.

Diet

Providing a varied diet will keep your African Dwarf Frog happy, healthy and thriving.

There are many types of food sources that can be fed such as:

Frozen or Freeze Dried; Baby Shimp, Beefheart, Bloodworms, Brineshimp, Glassworms and Krill.

Frog and Tadpole Pellets

Live Food; guppy fry, Earthworms and night crawlers. All should be purchased from a reliable feeder source. Never feed your frog wild caught live prey. It could lead to parasites.

When feeding your frogs, always drop the food into the tank in the same place and tap on the glass near the bottom of the tank, in the spot you are placing the food. After some time, the frogs will learn where to go to feed, but will only eat off the bottom. Since these frogs do not have very good eyesight, they will begin associating the taping with feeding time.

Only feed the African Dwarf Frog every couple of days and only feed as much as the frog will eat within a five minute time period. Over feeding will result in the tank becoming dirty more quickly. 

In Conclusion:

The easiest and most simple way to set up an African Dwarf Frog tank is to purchase an Aquarium Kit. It will come with almost everything you need. The items that are not normally included in these kits are inexpensive items such as, the PH test kit and substrate.

Good luck with your new pet frog!

Fire-Bellied Toads Care Sheet

Fire-Bellied Toads are relatively simple to set-up and care for, which is why they make a good choice for beginners. Not only are they pleasing to the eye, they are very active and have the cutest call, that will undoubtedly make you smile every time you hear it.

As a defense mechanism, Fire-Bellied Toads secret a mild toxin that is not dangerous to humans, but if you have sensitive skin, it may cause a rash. Because these toads are very sensitive, for their own safety, they should not be handled unless absolutely necessary. You will find that they will have to be handled occasionally, for tank cleaning, so I suggest wearing powder free latex gloves. This will protect you and your toads.

Housing Your Fire-Bellied Toad

Housing your Fire-Bellied Toad can be very simple, or if your are like me and want to simulate a more natural habitat, a bit more complex.

The size tank you choose should be based on how many toads you intend to have. You should allow 3-5 gallons of space per toad. This will give the toads plenty of space without being on top of each other. The photo below shows a 30 gallon tank that houses 6 toads.

Fire-Bellied Toads are semi-aquatic and should be supplied with both land and water of equal parts. Your land area should slope down into the shallow water side of the tank in order to make it easy for the toads to make their way out of the water. The water side of the tank should be no more than a couple inches deep. The toads prefer to float in the water with their toes touching something solid beneath them. It gives them a good sense of security.

In my tank, shown above (pardon the glare), I chose to split the land area into two parts with the water area in the center. On the right side of the tank I used aquarium gravel to form the slope, then covered it with moss and smooth rocks. This is important because the toads have sensitive skin and the aquarium gravel is a bit coarse.

The left side of the tank was built up with larger smooth, flat rocks. This area serves two purposes. One, it hides the filter and two, it gives them a completely dry area to hang out on. An added plus to using the flat rocks was, it gave me the ability to build them and underwater cave as a second hide.

You can take a more simple approach and make the tank all land and install a shallow water dish but you will notice the frogs will be much less active, as they will spend the majority of their time sitting in the water bowl.

You can see that I opted to go with plastic plants, for ease of maintenance but you can use live aquatic plants if you choose to do so.

Temperature and Lighting

Fire-Bellied Toads do not have any special requirements as far as temperature and lighting. They are perfectly fine with room temperature. I chose to provide lighting simply for esthetic reasons.

A couple things to keep in mind if you plan on using a light; be care not to use a light that is going to raise the temperature more that a degrees or two, you don't want to overheat your toads, and only install the light over the end of the tank that you will not be feeding the toads at. If they stare into the light while hunting their prey, it could damage their eyesight.

Filter

In order to keep the water fresh and clean, you will need to install An in the water filter. Fire-bellied toads prefer to relax in a pool of still water. Most filters you will find are rather tall, so you will have to install it in a way to slow the water down so as not to create a current.

Referring back to the photo of my tank, you can see the method I used. I stacked the large flat rocks to create a slow running waterfall, then at the bottom of the waterfall, I installed a piece of Mopani Wood to obstruct the water flow further. Mopani wood works very well in this type of tank because it is heavy and will just sit on the bottom of the tank, rather than float.

Hides

You will want to provide at least one hide for your toads. Sometimes they just want to have a little privacy. In my tank, there are three places for my toads to hide. There is a Half Log Hide on the damp land side, an under water cave on the lighted side and under the Mopani wood in the center of the water.

Diet

Fire-Bellied Toads diet will mainly consist of small crickets. Make sure the crickets you provide are no larger than the space between their eyes. This will prevent a possible choking hazard. Offer 2-3 crickets per frog, three times a week. A couple of times a month, you will want to provide a different food source for variety such as, wax worms, earth worms cut into small pieces and black worms. The worms will need to be fed from a shallow dish. Do not drop them into the tank or water.

Supplements

Your toads are what they eat so be sure to provide them with good nutrition. You can dust their insects with a high quality nutritional supplement or you can gut load the insects with a highly nutritious diet such as Fluker's High-Calcium Cricket Diet  which is what I use.

In Conclusion:

Fire-Bellied toads are easy to care for and relatively simple to set-up. With the proper maintenance and diet, they will provide you with many years of enjoyment.