Frogs

[Cheska]

I have a 10 gal tank that is just sitting around and I was thinking about getting a couple of frogs for the kids to learn about. But I know nothing about frogs. Can anyone tell me what are the easiest type of frog to take care of? What kind of habitat do they need? Food? Water? Heat? Any good websites I can check out? Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you
Cheska

[Bry]

Re: Frogs

I've never kept frogs. Well, okay, I have as a little kid. I didn't know you weren't supposed to put a pet frog in with a pet turtle. But I know better now...

I've done a little research on my own in the past. It seems that White's Tree Frogs, Green Tree Frogs, Gray Tree Frogs, and "Pac-Man" frogs are among the easiest to keep. Since you say these are for kids, I would say go with the White's Tree Frog. They are easily handleable (but not too much, as they can absorb chemicals from your hand), generally placid, hardy, and have hearty appetites like most frogs. Greens and Grays are supposedly somewhat skittish. From my understanding, a Pac-Man's appetite is a little too hearty. They are placid, but will try to eat anything within reach. To put it bluntly, they are a mouth on legs. This could be intimidating for children. I'd go with the White's. Just be warned that they are not a small frog, a 10 gallon tank should suffice for a juvie, but a single adult should be in a 20 high or 29 gal.

Bry

[Barracuda_41]

Re: Frogs

8) I agree with Bry whites tree frogs are very easy to care for, i have horn and pixie frogs.. they are great easy to care for frogs but can bite... I would only house one frog in that size tank or 2 smaller frogs. If the frogs are small when young then just transfer then to a larger cage as they grow.. but there are several others you can look into heres a few sites that has many care sheets that also has alot of diffrent frogs to choose from as far as care goes..

http://www.allaboutfrogs.org/info/species/

http://www.jackspets.com/reptilefrog.htm,

then this site has lots stuff just scroll down and youl see all the diffrent frogs.. http://www.partypets.com/links/ra.ht...ibians/General

[eViL_KaRoT]

Re: Frogs

Petco has firebelly toads on sale right now. I've been thinking about picking some of them up this weekend. I mean, at $3.00 a piece, their pretty cheap and pretty. This is the add, but it's the easiest pic I can find.

[Barracuda_41]

Re: Frogs

8)Hey Evil, How you plannin on housing them fire belly toads?? You should use a 3 to 4 inch devider on one section of the tanks and use one end for water and one for moss coverd land with live plants and some cool looking moss covered wood.. on the water side you should try to have that water filterd.. with a small rock on one end for them to climb out of the water to the land..I am including this care facts for you,,,,
Natural History....
Bombina orientalis is one of 6 members of the genus Bombina. It is found at 1700-3000 m (5300-10000 feet) above sea level in southeastern Siberia, northeastern China and Korea. It spends most of the time floating or swimming in ponds and streams.
Description....
B. orientalis will grow to a size of 6 cm (2 3/8 inches). It's green or brown with black spots and patches, except for the ventral region which is red and black.
One major problem is distinguishing males from females. Males generally have rougher backs and their forearms are thicker than the females. These minor differences make them almost identical except during the breeding season, when males have black horny nuptial pads on their fingers and forearms. One way of telling which frogs are male and which are female is to observe the behaviour of the frogs. Whenever a frog tries to jump on the back of another frog and use the arms to grasp it, it's definitely a male. If the male isn't rejected immediately, there is a good chance that the second frog is a female and that she is even prepared to breed.
If the frogs haven't yet reached sexual maturity, there's no easy way to make sure that you have got both males and females.
Housing B. Orientalis......
A group of 3 to 4 B. orientalis can be kept in a 20 gal. aquarium with about 3 to 4 inches of water. Try ti filter the water somehow, this works much better for the well being of the toads.. Using fine gravel, 1/4 of the surface should be kept 'dry' and will primarily be used as a feeding area. Put lots of floating plants (Pistia stratiotes, Riccia fluitans i.e.) in the aquarium and the frogs are going to spend a lot of time floating among these. Keep the temperature at 68-75ºF.
Feeding......
B. orientalis will eat almost anything that will fit in its mouth, Houseflies, bluebottles, assorted moth larvae, earthworm, mealworm, Zoophobas ("king" worms), crickets and guppies. If you have guppies swimming in the water, the frogs will catch one from time to time. Make sure you dust all land prey with a good vitamin mineral powder.
Breeding.....
There are several ways of trying to make B. orientalis interested in breeding. A 6-8 week 'hibernation' at 50ºF will usually do the job. Remember to lower the temperature gradually over a period of a week before the hibernation and similarly raise the temperature gradually afterwards. Another method which sometimes works is to change most of the water in their aquarium and replace it with water which is a few degrees colder.
When the frogs are ready to breed the males began calling. The sound is somewhat like the sound of a small dog barking at some distance. The males constantly try jumping on the backs of any other frog in the vicinity. If a male inadvertently jump on the back of another male, the second male makes a special croak just to inform him that he's made a mistake. The first male doesn't always get the hint and consequently the second male can at times carry another male around for hours.
Unfortunately the male/female ratio can be as bad as 10:1. If a female is present and she's ready to breed, she'll swim around with a male on her back and the eggs will be attached singularly or in small groups to plants, rocks, roots or whatever can be found in the water. One female may produce more than two hundred eggs.
The eggs should be transferred to another aquarium. After 3 days at 77ºF the eggs will hatch. For another 3 days, while consuming the yolk sac, the tadpoles don't move around at all. After that they'll begin swimming around, trying to find something to eat.
The tadpoles can be raised on finely crushed flakes, frozen or freeze dried fish food.
The hind legs will begin to break through about 3 weeks after the eggs hatched and the 'arms' will begin to appear about a week later. Five weeks after hatching, the first frogs will go through metamorphosis and will be ready to leave the water.
The froglets will eat any kind of small insects and larvae. They'll be ready to breed before they are a year old. The eggs of younger and smaller females tend to be fewer and smaller in size.
A Few Peculiarities.......
The ventral region of a captive bred B. orientalis is yellow and black rather than red and black. This can be corrected permanently by a adding little betacarotene to their food over a period of a few weeks. People breeding canaries have similar problems and apparently that market is more lucrative because they have several products available.

"If a B. orientalis is scared while on land, it will arch the ventral side upwards and display the bright colours of the ventral region. Its a warnning to all preditors to stay away from me!! This is called unkenreflex and is named after the German name for B. bombina."
I hope this helps.....

[Cheska]

Re: Frogs

I was actually reading up on the firebelly toads yesterday. I know that they keep them in my daughter's classroom.
Thanks for the links Barracuda, they are a good place for me to start me research. cwm15.gif I don't just want to go out and buy the kids something without knowing as much as possible. I know in the end, no matter what I get them I will end up doing all the dirty work! cwm23.gif

Thanks again,
Cheska

[eViL_KaRoT]

Re: Frogs

Thanks barracuda, that's actually quite helpfull. I haven't decided if I'm going to get some, but they are pretty.