Red-Eyed Tree Frog Care Made Easy: What You Need To Know
- Amphibians Frogs
Jade Messieh- 0
- 6 minutes read
Are Red Eye Tree Frogs Good For Beginners?
Red eye tree frogs are one of the most beautiful frogs in the world. They are very popular and their cage setup is actually very easy. For this reason, they are great for beginners.
Enclosure
One of the more common ways to house a tree frog is a large glass terrarium. The dimensions that will give your frog enough room are an 18x18x24 inch tank. This size can comfortably house about three fully grown frogs.
The next thing you’ll need is substrate. The easiest substrate to use is a paper towel. You can replace it in less than a minute twice a week and it is safe for the frogs. If you want their enclosure to look more like their natural habitat, use sphagnum moss. The moss will retain the humidity and it will prevent impaction. They are less likely to ingest the moss and paper towel.
These frogs are arboreal, which means that they live in trees. The easiest way to maintain their arboreal lifestyle is to use fake foliage and branches. Keeping the fake plants clean is easy and you don’t have to worry about trying to keep the fake plants alive. Use a lot of fake plants on the ground of the enclosure, the sides, and some driftwood as well to make it look like their natural habitat. Use some hollow logs as well to provide hides for the frogs.
Lighting And Humidity
Red eye tree frogs only need a UVB light. Their light needs to be on for 10 hours of the day. A ReptiSun 5.0 is powerful enough to use for your enclosure. Make sure you change the light every six months because they lose their potency and will not provide enough UVB for your frog.
Tree frogs come from very humid environments. Their humidity needs to be kept between 60%-80%. Moss or paper towel as substrate will help lock in the humidity. You will need to mist your cage every day and provide large water bowls. If you want to really make the enclosure look and feel amazing for your frog, you can get a fogger on a timer.
The temperature of the enclosure needs to be between 75-85 degrees Fahrenheit during the day. This warm temperature is also good for the humidity. They do not need heat lamps for basking. They just need the UVB light. You can use a tank heater under the tank to ensure that the temperature stays warm. I recommend using a thermometer to accurately keep track of the tank temperature.
Diet And Water
Tree frogs eat insects every other day. Young tree frogs should eat every other day and fully grown frogs should only eat 2-3 times a week. They can actually become overweight if they eat too much.
Their diet consists of earth worms, silk works, roaches, and crickets. You can place the worms in a feeding dish for your frog. With roaches and crickets, it is recommended to use tongs or forceps. This prevents them from accidentally ingesting substrate when trying to eat a cricket.
Dust the insects weekly with reptile calcium powder. Gut load the insects as well for more nutrients. They sell insect food in the store. All of this will help your frog with digestion and get the appropriate amount of calcium.
Water bowls help with the humidity and they are great for your frog to lounge in. The water bowls should be very shallow so the frog won’t drown. Clean the water bowl every day and replace it with dechlorinated water. Distilled water is bad for their health.
Handling
Even though they look really cute, they should not be handled. Their skin can absorb any oils or toxins that are on our hands. Whatever is on our hands can make them sick. Handling is also stressful for them and they prefer to be left alone. It is okay to handle them if you need to move them from one terrarium to another for cleaning purposes. However, handling should be very brief.
Wrapping Up
Once you have all the supplies you need, the actual care for these frogs is very easy. They are great for beginner frog owners and creating their enclosures can be a lot of fun. If you follow this guide, your frog can live happy and healthy for up to 10 years.
