leaf green tree frogs

[whyme]

hey all. after 10 years i've finally convinced the girlie to get herself a reptile. Well, close enough. She wants green frogs, but not the BIG ones{sigh}. So i was thinking about leafGTFs. I've never kept frogs so I was just wondering about basic tank setups, food, temps, etc, etc, and prices or breeders in melbourne. ANY advice would be greatly appreciated. Cheers

 

[nat0810]

Gday mate.

Given that they occur all up the east cost from around Brissie into SE Vic, iwould say that there care would be pretty much the same as Green Tree Frogs.

For the tank set up, make sure there are perches for climbing and to get nice and close to the uv light. Substrate is pretty much up to you. I always attempt to replicate my frogs natural environment as close as possible. For my frogs i use tropical plantation soil topped with washed river pebbles. Not 100% natural but good for plant growth and humidity levels.

As for food, crix, woodies and flies are always good. Just remember to dust with calcium powder every few feeds.

For temps, the best way to heat a frog tank is to use an aquarium filter in the water and a uv tube above the tank. (make sure you use fiberglass / plastic mesh for the lid) The uv tube gives off minimal heat, but the frogs will usually sit rightup the top of te tank to soak up the sun, so they do get some heat from it. The water heater set at 26-28 deg should be fine. Will give a nice humidity level as well.

Pricing is a interesting one. I have never sen these guys up for sale. If the boss wants a small green frog you could always go for either

Litoria gracilenta - Dainty Green Tree Frog
Litoria chloris - Red Eyed Tree Frog

oth of wich come up for sale reasonably frequently.

Cheers
Nat

 

[ryanharvey1993]

Gday mate.

Given that they occur all up the east cost from around Brissie into SE Vic, iwould say that there care would be pretty much the same as Green Tree Frogs.

For the tank set up, make sure there are perches for climbing and to get nice and close to the uv light. Substrate is pretty much up to you. I always attempt to replicate my frogs natural environment as close as possible. For my frogs i use tropical plantation soil topped with washed river pebbles. Not 100% natural but good for plant growth and humidity levels.

As for food, crix, woodies and flies are always good. Just remember to dust with calcium powder every few feeds.

For temps, the best way to heat a frog tank is to use an aquarium filter in the water and a uv tube above the tank. (make sure you use fiberglass / plastic mesh for the lid) The uv tube gives off minimal heat, but the frogs will usually sit rightup the top of te tank to soak up the sun, so they do get some heat from it. The water heater set at 26-28 deg should be fine. Will give a nice humidity level as well.

Pricing is a interesting one. I have never sen these guys up for sale. If the boss wants a small green frog you could always go for either

Litoria gracilenta - Dainty Green Tree Frog
Litoria chloris - Red Eyed Tree Frog

oth of wich come up for sale reasonably frequently.

Cheers
Nat

chloris are not really small, I was suprised by there size the first time I saw one in the wild. havnt seen gracilenta so I cant comment on them. if you want a small green frog get litoria fallax, they would be more commonly kept then phyllochroa, I have never kept frogs so I have no idea on keeping them. thanks.

 

[nat0810]

Ryan

You are right, they are not exactly small. Having said that, they only grow to a max of about 65mm. Which i would call medium size, as GTF's and White lips get over 100mm.

Chloris is a comparable size to Leaf green and Daintys which grow to 40 + 45mm respectively

I would shy away from Fallax as a first frog. While they are great (Ihave 5) they are extremely flighty and excessively fast. Every time i open the enclosure for feeding it's nerve racking, as you never know who's gunna try and jump out. By the time you realise they are about to jump they are gone.
Red eyes and Dainty's are still jumpy (not as docile as GTF), but they are much easier to handle if they do get loose as they are no where near as fast, and the larger size makes hem easier to pick up.

Whyme

A bit of further nfofor you mate.

http://www.frogsaustralia.net.au/frogs/display.cfm?frog_id=178 - Leaf green tree frog

http://www.frogsaustralia.net.au/frogs/display.cfm?frog_id=152 - Eastern dwarf tree frog

http://www.frogsaustralia.net.au/frogs/display.cfm?frog_id=156 - Dainty tree frog

http://www.frogsaustralia.net.au/frogs/display.cfm?frog_id=140 - Red eyed tree frog

 

[ryanharvey1993]

oh ok. I would love to get some frogs, all the ones I want are class 2 though (mixophyes species and giant burrowing frog)

 

[nat0810]

They do have some good stuff on class 2. Plenty of goodies on class 1 also! I'm keen to upgrade to class 2 and hopefully get a few Litoria aurea.

 

[whyme]

nat0810, your a champ! thanks heaps for your advice. I might look at daintys, but after showing her leaf greens on the net, thats what she wants. Maybe I'll get young GTFs and when they bigger I'll just play dumb:lol:. Once again, thanks heaps. Appreciate ya taking the time

 

[JasonL]

I'd strongly suggest you get a GTF, they are the easiest of all frogs to care for, and handle captivity better than most frogs.

 

[whyme]

I'd strongly suggest you get a GTF, they are the easiest of all frogs to care for, and handle captivity better than most frogs.

thanks jas. I think i will get her GTFs. never had frogs before and like you said, they're probably easier to keep than most

 

[Lovemydragons]

I have GTF's. I have 4 that are getting bigger now (about 8-10cm so far), and 3 that are still bubs (2-3cm, in separate container inside tank). I don't think they are massive, but having them from a small sizse is good. When I first got them they were the size of my finger nail. They are so easy to look after. The little ones are a bit jumpy when your hand comes near in the tank, but the older ones are heaps better now. I can leave their tank open to get something and I have no problem with them escaping. I think the bigger they get the lazier they are. More waiting for food to walk past then chasing.

The only think I can add is that I've had problems with certain frogs missing out on food. So now I have to feed on tweezers my little frog in the big group so he gets some. The others have grown more than him and I think they bully him and steal his food. I know I catch them sitting on him at feeding time sometimes.

Oh another thing, I found having a water section in the tank a lot of the dusted crickets are stupid and go swimming and sometimes drown, therefore washing off calcium before being eaten. So I dust more often than normal so I know they are getting enough. And hand feed off tweezers dusted crickets to the little ones so I know they're getting enough too.

Other than that they are easy to keep and very entertaining when lights go out.