Does anyone have any good links on caring for Red Eye Tree Frogs? I am really wanting to get into these and need to do some research on setting up the aquariums, what they eat, etc. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

And I just wanted to add to this, she is determined to do this on her own.
I am very proud of you babe and good luck with your project!!

And I just wanted to add to this, she is determined to do this on her own.
I am very proud of you babe and good luck with your project!!

Thank you baby!! :) I am very excited to try this!

No links... But I will be happy to write one for ya this evening or tomorrow - just as soon as I can get a few minutes in front of the computer - no way I am typing all that with the crackberry...

No links... But I will be happy to write one for ya this evening or tomorrow - just as soon as I can get a few minutes in front of the computer - no way I am typing all that with the crackberry...

Thank you so much....I really appreciate it! Can't blame you for not wanting to type it on the crackberry! :lmao: These are so awesome and I am anxious to learn all I can about them. Unfortunately my time is so limited so I thought someone could help me cut down on the hours of research! Thanks again! :cheers:

Cool Tim! There Jen, you get to listen to someone else yap instead of me...lol!

Cool Tim! There Jen, you get to listen to someone else yap instead of me...lol!

ALWAYS love hearing from you Sara! I love the blue dart frogs too, but it sounds like they might be hard to deal with so I better start here. I'll take any advice I can get!!! :rockon:

I should add that I have a 29 gallon tall aquarium already......

ALWAYS love hearing from you Sara! I love the blue dart frogs too, but it sounds like they might be hard to deal with so I better start here. I'll take any advice I can get!!! :rockon:

Yeah, the red eyes are going to be more forgiving then the darts for starters! Good choice!:wamma:

Cool project and best of luck with it :cheers:

Cool project and good luck

Alrighty... fair warning, I have been in the woodford tonight...

RETF's are a fun frog to keep and really not very difficult.

So, temps - during most of the year, 78ish is the temp you are looking for, but a little variation is ok - you want to stay between about 74 and 85 except during cycling for breeding.

Humidity is important, and while they don't need super high humidity, 70%+ will make for happy frogs.

Cage, I prefer glass aquariums and verticle space is best, I would start with around 20gallon high for 1, and then add about 10Gallons for each frog from there. 30 xtra highs are good for a pair, 55's work well, and if you have one laying around 110 xtra highs make great frog tanks (after all, don't we all have a few 110gallon tanks in the basement?). I always kept mine in tanks w/ glass lids to help w/ the humidity. Lots of branchs and sturdy plants are appreciated. Pothos works well, and will grow in just about anything. Keep in mind anything you put in there will be exposed to high humidity so try to avoid things that will rot. Cypress and bamboo both work well. Fake plants can work too, but pothos is so easy to grow and looks a lot better.

Coco coir was always my prefered substrate, make sure to keep it damp. You can also mix peat in with it, and some spaghnum moss will help w/ humidity (just watch for mold).

Having available water is important. One thing to remember - tap water is not good for them. Either use a bottled spring water or a dechlorinator for them. Keep them a water bowl available, big enough for them to soak, and make sure to keep it fresh and clean. Also fill up a spray bottle for them, mist as needed to keep the humidity up a bit.

Food, they will eat about anything that moves and is small enough to fit in their mouth (even other frogs, so be careful about keeping froglets with adults)... but crickets and roaches seem to be prefered meals (most keepers feed only crickets). You will want to supplement them w/ calcium every couple of feedings (just dust the crickets). You will want a cricket that is about the length of the distance between the frog's eyes. I would typically feed a every 2-3 days, and offer 4 or 5 crickets per frog. Some people feed more (but some people have fat frogs too).

UV lighting is not so important w/ the nocturnal frogs - but a day/night cycle is - just follow the natural light cycles in your area and you will be fine (lights on while the sun is up).

Stay far far away from imports - they are notoriously difficult and full of nasties. But CBB froglets or frogs are pretty hardy if given the right husbandry.

They are tough to sex as froglets - but in adults, it is pretty easy - as the females are considerably larger.

Once you get to the breeding point - let me know and I will talk you thru cycling and building rain chambers, hatching eggs and raising the tads!

This should you get you started... if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask...

I should add that I have a 29 gallon tall aquarium already......

Just saw that, a 29 would be perfect for a pair... you can even squeeze 3 in if you really want too. If you do try for three, make sure you have lots of branchs and plants for them to climb on...

Alrighty... fair warning, I have been in the woodford tonight...

RETF's are a fun frog to keep and really not very difficult.

So, temps - during most of the year, 78ish is the temp you are looking for, but a little variation is ok - you want to stay between about 74 and 85 except during cycling for breeding.

Humidity is important, and while they don't need super high humidity, 70%+ will make for happy frogs.

Cage, I prefer glass aquariums and verticle space is best, I would start with around 20gallon high for 1, and then add about 10Gallons for each frog from there. 30 xtra highs are good for a pair, 55's work well, and if you have one laying around 110 xtra highs make great frog tanks (after all, don't we all have a few 110gallon tanks in the basement?). I always kept mine in tanks w/ glass lids to help w/ the humidity. Lots of branchs and sturdy plants are appreciated. Pothos works well, and will grow in just about anything. Keep in mind anything you put in there will be exposed to high humidity so try to avoid things that will rot. Cypress and bamboo both work well. Fake plants can work too, but pothos is so easy to grow and looks a lot better.

Coco coir was always my prefered substrate, make sure to keep it damp. You can also mix peat in with it, and some spaghnum moss will help w/ humidity (just watch for mold).

Having available water is important. One thing to remember - tap water is not good for them. Either use a bottled spring water or a dechlorinator for them. Keep them a water bowl available, big enough for them to soak, and make sure to keep it fresh and clean. Also fill up a spray bottle for them, mist as needed to keep the humidity up a bit.

Food, they will eat about anything that moves and is small enough to fit in their mouth (even other frogs, so be careful about keeping froglets with adults)... but crickets and roaches seem to be prefered meals (most keepers feed only crickets). You will want to supplement them w/ calcium every couple of feedings (just dust the crickets). You will want a cricket that is about the length of the distance between the frog's eyes. I would typically feed a every 2-3 days, and offer 4 or 5 crickets per frog. Some people feed more (but some people have fat frogs too).

UV lighting is not so important w/ the nocturnal frogs - but a day/night cycle is - just follow the natural light cycles in your area and you will be fine (lights on while the sun is up).

Stay far far away from imports - they are notoriously difficult and full of nasties. But CBB froglets or frogs are pretty hardy if given the right husbandry.

They are tough to sex as froglets - but in adults, it is pretty easy - as the females are considerably larger.

Once you get to the breeding point - let me know and I will talk you thru cycling and building rain chambers, hatching eggs and raising the tads!

This should you get you started... if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask...

Wow Tim.....Great write up/description. Thank you sooooo much for all of your advice. This is wonderful and very helpful. I have one more question. Do you have any recommendations on vendors?

Great information Tim. I think someone will be looking for frogs at the next Wheaton show.:devil:

Great information Tim. I think someone will be looking for frogs at the next Wheaton show.:devil:

Yes I will.....:devil:

Great info Tim.....I miss a lot V's post like this one as well....might not ever keep what animal is in a post like this one....but I always like learning stuff like this anyhow :yessir:

Wow Tim.....Great write up/description. Thank you sooooo much for all of your advice. This is wonderful and very helpful. I have one more question. Do you have any recommendations on vendors?

No problem, don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions. I unfortunately can't help w/ recommendations, but I will dig around for you and see if I can find some.

Check Rainforest Junky webpage, that is Mike Novy. Captive bred frogs, I have bought ALOT of them from him, they have always been super healthy and he's really haelpful if you have questions!

No problem, don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions. I unfortunately can't help w/ recommendations, but I will dig around for you and see if I can find some.

Thanks....I appreciate it! You have been great!!! :rockon:

Check Rainforest Junky webpage, that is Mike Novy. Captive bred frogs, I have bought ALOT of them from him, they have always been super healthy and he's really haelpful if you have questions!

Thanks for the information Sara. I will definately check him out! :)

Looks like Tim covered it for you. I don't have any frogs, but I was looking into them and thought this site was helpfull, but I could be wrong. http://www.helixpro.net/anuran/frames.htm

Looks like Tim covered it for you. I don't have any frogs, but I was looking into them and thought this site was helpfull, but I could be wrong. http://www.helixpro.net/anuran/frames.htm

Thanks for the site....I will check it out!!! Appreciate your feedback! :)

Check Rainforest Junky webpage, that is Mike Novy. Captive bred frogs, I have bought ALOT of them from him, they have always been super healthy and he's really haelpful if you have questions!

He has some posted on KS right now. (http://market.kingsnake.com/detail.php?cat=14&de=731328)

Cool stuff he has, Like those albino Red Eye Tree Frogs.

Cool stuff he has, Like those albino Red Eye Tree Frogs.

Those are nice!!!

Once you get to the breeding point - let me know and I will talk you thru cycling and building rain chambers, hatching eggs and raising the tads!

don't hesitate to ask...

I'd like that info.

And I just wanted to add to this, she is determined to do this on her own.
I am very proud of you babe and good luck with your project!!

you gatta love a woman who loves frogs!!!

maybe someday I will get as lucky as u and find such a lady!!!!

I'd like that info.

Damon - I just saw this... I will write something up over the next few days for you.

here is a start, I will post more as time allows... any questions, don't hesitate to ask - just remember it has been a few years since I messed w/ frogs.

Breeding
For successful breeding of RETF’s – there are several methods that can be used. I am going to outline the methods I picked, and worked for me – but this is by no means the only avenue that can be taken.
There are a couple of key things that are needed, but none more important than the rain chamber. I used two separate tanks for my RETF’s, their everyday setup, then I had a tank setup just for a rain chamber. The great thing about this setup, is you can bread most tree frogs in the same rain chamber. Time their cycles and it can be very productive.
I found that breeding in groups is always more productive, with a male heavy group. I preferred to keep males and females separate prior to breeding, and would cycle them prior to introducing them to the rain chamber. I will go into more details on this below.
First I am going to outline the setup for Pre-Breeding. The cage needs to be large enough for the group, with fresh water available, but I prefer a screen lid prior to breeding. You will cool the animals slightly and allow the humidity to drop. It doesn’t take much, usually a screen lid and stop misting is enough. Make sure to keep fresh spring water (again, never use tap) available for them.
Rain chambers can be built in many different ways, I am going to tell you how I built mine, but these principles can be adapted to many different “models”. The key to a rain chamber, is create a very wet controlled environment. I preferred a 110 gallon xtra high tank. I suspect you can use a 55, 75, 120 breeder or even a 40 breeder though if you have smaller groups. I took light diffuser (egg crate, same thing used in incubating eggs) and divided the tank in half, and up about 10”. I sat a couple of pothos plants, in planters down in the tank, a large one on the “land” side and a large one on the water side – then filled the rest of the land side with hydroton (expanded clay balls, often used in hydroponics and also for dart tanks). ** Note on the pothos – if you leave it in soil, it will make a mess, so clean the dirt out of the planter, then plant the pothos in hydroton and throw some spaghnum on it… that stuff will grow anywhere so don’t worry about killing it.
So, now we have a divided tank with half/half water and land. Large pothos makes for a great addition as it gives them something to climb on. Vines and or branches can be added as well – or you can use any number of other plants.
Next, we need to build a rain system. There are a number of ways to do this. After playing a lot, here is the way I found I like best. You will need some PVC, hose, submersible pump and a lawn sprinkler kit (I got mine and lowes, and while it has been a while – I think this is the same kit I used… http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=301981-53540-MD3GF&lpage=none
Build a frame out pvc, drop the sprinklers in place and seal the sprinkler in place (so frogs don’t go down into the pvc). Put the pump in “water” area and connect the hose. You will need a fairly stout pump to create enough pressure to force water through the sprinklers… but be careful not to get to much. Also, I used a section of nylon stockings with some filter media to keep particles from being sucked into the pump intake. I will dig around and see if I can find some pics of the rain chamber later this week.
Now, fill up tank about 8-9” with de-chlorinated water – or use water dechlorinator. Fire it up and make sure it works, debug as needed and let it cycle for a while prior to introducing frogs.
Once the tank is set up, get an appliance timer. I preferred the ones that could be turned off and on several times a day – I would let it rain for an hour, then dry for 3, rain for an hour, dry for 3 etc…
OK, so… cycling the frogs. This assumes the frogs are mature, and in good health.
Swap tops on the tanks to a screen lid, keep fresh water available. Drop temps to mid –low 70s never below about 73 though. Slow down on the feeding. Turn on the weather channel and start watching for pressure fronts. You want to leave the frogs in this state for a few weeks, but it doesn’t take long. Once you see a pressure front coming (preferably a good 2-3 days of storms), switch tops back, raise the temps and feed like crazy. Fire up the rain chamber. A day or two before the storms hit, put the boys and girls in the rain chamber and let em be. You should get lots of courting and breeding activities as the barometer starts shifting.
Keep your eyes out for eggs. RETF’s will usually lay either on the glass walls of the tank, or under a leaf. It will be a large glob of clear gel with eggs inside, somewhere between 50-100, sometimes more. You will want to collect the eggs, and transfer them to a petri dish. The dish then moves to an aquarium.
I would use 10 gallon aquariums, with a small air filter, no substrate and heated to 79 degrees for my tads. I would support the petri dish above the water on an angle, and shave the lip off the side of the dish towards the water (so the tads don’t get stopped there and die). From there, it is a waiting game. The heated water below will provide some humidity, but you want to make sure the air is circulating so that the eggs don’t mold. If one molds, they will usually all go bad.
Once they hatch, depending on numbers, you can separate into more 10 gallon tanks. Feed tads crushed trout food, spirulina (sp?) and commercial tadpole diet.
Watch the transformation into frogs. The front legs will come out separately (can’t remember if it is the right or the left that comes thru the gills first – I think it is the right) when the left (or second one which ever it is) comes thru the gill, you will want to keep your eyes on them. They climb the glass and once they are out of the water, transfer them to either a 10gallon tank or a shoe box, with some moss and keep the humidity up. Keep fresh spring water available and feed either pin heads or hydei flies. They will grow pretty quick, and by the time the tail is completely absorbed, they will be big enough to dine on crickets only.
When breeding, females will often lay two clutches within several days, so leave the group in the rain chamber for a week or two. Then separate back into their normal cages, keep the temps and humidity up, and feed heavily for a few days before returning to the normal diet. After about a month or so of rest, you can start the process over again.

Thanks Tim!

That is some great infomation Tim. Thanks for taking the time to post it.

Yeah! thanks Tim!!!!!

Yeah! thanks Tim!!!!!
Look honey, now I have all the info. I need to breed them when I get them. Thank you Tim!!!!

I've got a rookie question, do these guys do any kind of calling?

I've got a rookie question, do these guys do any kind of calling?

Yeah, the males, once mature will call during courtship (or atleast when they want to court, doesn't matter if there is a female around). It is a pretty cool sound and loud enough you can hear it without an issue if you are in the same room.

Great, thanks Tim. So it's not something that will keep you up if you're sleeping in another room? :)

Great, thanks Tim. So it's not something that will keep you up if you're sleeping in another room? :)

nah, they aren't too bad. Stay away from the whites though if the volume of the call is of concern, those guys get loud!

nah, they aren't too bad. Stay away from the whites though if the volume of the call is of concern, those guys get loud!


Good to hear (or not hear), thanks again Tim!

nah, they aren't too bad. Stay away from the whites though if the volume of the call is of concern, those guys get loud!

Heehee, I have a huge terrarium in the living room with whites and white lipped in it, Bruce says it's like squirrels fighting when they get going! Loud, wow! And during the day the vacuum cleaner always sets them off, funny guys!