Any one around to answer a question about a Treefrog?

Hey everyone, I useally dwell withen the newt section, but I found a pacific tree frog on the steps of my house, and I have been trying to see one for about a year. Last year there were thousands of babies all over this pond near my house and this year I saw none untill now. Do they skip breeding seasons? Anyway, I was wondering what is the prefered food to feed him/her? Crickets? how about bloodworms, I have lots of those and earthworms. I have only kept firebellies before so I am a little in the dark. Any help would be great. Thanks!

hey jeff about a year ago i had a green tree frog correct me if im mistaken they are both from the hyla family. any way my frog wouldn't take blood worms, it only ate crickets and meal worms . i tried to change its diet but it wouldnt take any other worm if it wasnt a mealworm. ok i hope my information is helpful

thanks Mario, now its your turn to give me advice! Lets try to get a moderator in this one as well. Hey I have a website for everyone!!
http://www.brianstropicals.com/
check it out

You'll need a tall, arboreal set-up with sturdy branches for climbing, some leaf cover (plastic ones are fine), a small water bowl and I usually have a substrate to keep the humidity high - something like bark chippings is good. Mist the tank occasionally.

You should feed gut loaded crickets, flies, moths, waxworms and any suitably sized insect. Mealworms don't climb too well so unless the frog comes down to the ground to feed... Hylids are often bold enough to have a go at anything that moves so you may have success holding small worms/grubs in front of it with tweezers.

Good luck!

Thanks Mark! Moths are ok to feed them? I would think they would be poisonus as they have that powder on the wings. I want to build a setup like this http://www.brianstropicals.com/building.html
any other ideas?

Hi All,

Mark gave some good advice, and it is right about the gut-loaded crickets. They will do very well on that diet. However, Pacific treefrogs aren't very arboreal. So if you are going to keep it, you'd do better to give it some more terrestrial space rather than a tall aquarium. Be sure to have some substrate and a house for it to hide in. You may be a bit disappointed, as many pacific treefrogs will stay hidden much of the day. However, if it is treated well, it may easily live 3 or more years.

About the fact that you saw thousands last year, and few this year: It may be that the larval environment was particularly harsh this year (e.g. because of a high predator density), and so very few frogs survived to metamorphosis. At low elevations, pacific treefrogs mature and breed in one year.

Pseudacris regilla are one of my favorite amphibians. I have a little website about them if you are interested:

http://www.mister-toad.com/photos/frog/hylaregilla.html

best,

Mike

Thanks for the correction on housing requirements Mike. My experience of both European and American hylids led me to falsely assume they would be as arboreal as other species such as h.cinerea and h.arborea. Those are some great photos. I especially like the gruesome finale! That’s a diving beetle larvae isn’t it?

Jeff, I’ve never had a problem with moths. I believe they are very nutritious, powdery wings an all.

that is a dragonfly nymph I think... Yeah all me reading has sugested that allthough they are treefrogs then tend to prefere living on the ground. Thanks for everyone's input, This guy(or girl) is really cute and seems to be happy even in the temporary setup. I need to get my cricket food back from my ex-girl asap, It works really well.

Hi Mark, thanks for the compliments on the photos. You are right, it is a big predaceous diving beetle larvae (Dytiscidae: Dytiscus sp).
Mike

I stand corrected on the beatle larvae. How long can do the tree frogs go between feeding? I have yet to get the little one some really small crickets and the gut-loading stuff which I left in bellingham. Hate to buy more of that. I supose I can start with just plain crickets in the mean time, How about earthworms?

I have 2 Pacifics in a terrarium with a green tree frog, and if you feed them earthworms I doubt they'll eat them crickets are really really good. I feed mine 20-40 small-medium crickets once every 5 days.