Gray Tree Frog - Any advice?

[Lathis]

It's been a weird day. My grandparents found a desiccated gray tree frog in the their house! After a soaking in wet paper towels, he's looking a ton better. He's a little stressed right now, being awake and in a tank. I'd like to keep him, but I'll see how well he acclimates. Gray tree frogs are native in Missouri, but I have never seen one in our neighborhood. I think he may have hitched a ride on a plant to my grandparent house. We had them all over out in the country.

I'm going to get him set up in a proper viv today. I'm doing research on Frog Forums, but I would welcome any advice on setup, supplementation, food, etc. He's a little thin, but not as emaciated as I worried.

My grandma named him Clarence.

I'll grab some photos when he has a chance to settle.

 

[Lathis]

Clarence

 

[Candybugs]

Clarence is soon cute

 

[MelissaB]

He's adorable! We found one too. I believe ours is a male, because sometimes he calls. I'm using a medium sized clear plastic tote, with some clusters of air holes drilled out on the sides, and the center of the top cut out and replaced with screen. It has about 1.5 of hydroton on the bottom, then screen, then topsoil. I have pothos, snake plant and various branches and wood pieces. I have a small dish of water that I change out daily. It's deep enough for him to soak. I also mist by hand in the morning and at night. He likes to burrow underneath one of the wood pieces, but comes out, too. We plan on getting him a proper exoterra. You should see him grab a small silkworm! It's cute. He really enjoys crickets, too.

 

[Lathis]

Good advice, thanks! That's about how I planned to set him up. I tracked down a Zilla viv just now and a perfect sized pothos tower, so I'm on my way home to get everything put together. I have clean branches and unused vines from Ferdinand, so I have a lot of viv decoration already in hand.

Does he soak? I was planning to have a water dish and mist each day, but I wasn't sure he would use the dish.

 

[MelissaB]

I've seen mine use the water dish to hide when my son was looking for him and took off the top. It jumped out right in, and submerged (as much as you can in an 1 1/2 of water) himself. I think he does use it for more than hiding because sometimes there will be dirt in the dish when I clean and refill it.

 

[jannb]

He's cute!

I hope you get to keep him.

 

[Lathis]

Me too! I really hope I can keep him!

But it's more important to me that he thrives. If he's not doing well, we will let him go out at the hubby's parent's farm.

You wouldn't believe the difference between now and when we found him. I thought he was a mummy frog until he twitched, but he rehydrated just like one of those foam dinosaur toys.

 

[Lathis]

Not great photos, but you can see my first pass as Clarence's new home. He's right in the middle of the first photo, blending in with the cheesy background. I'm going to leave him alone for a bit. I bought him 1/4" crickets for tomorrow.

 

[Lathis]

Clarence ate two crickets for breakfast today! I wasn't sure if he would eat so early in the day, but he snapped them right up

 

[Chase]

That's my name!!! Probably going to be the best frog ever!

Chase

 

[Lathis]

That's my name!!! Probably going to be the best frog ever!

Chase

He's off to a great start already
How can you not love tiny sucker feet and a fat little belly!

 

[MelissaB]

He's adorable! I need to get ours a permanent setup. I really like yours.

 

[Lathis]

The viv is 12x12x18. Probably fine for him, but hard to manoeuvre in. If I had a choice I would have bought a size up, maybe 18x18x24.

 

[Lathis]

Update: Clarence is doing just fantastic!

He's a bit of a branch nugget since he's nocturnal. He sleeps wedged between the screen top of the cage and the foam background. I know he secretly takes baths at night because I find dirt in the water, and I do find poops in different places.

He's such a good eater. We feed him crickets, isopods, mealworms, and reptiworms. So far, he hasn't eaten a snail. Watching him hunt is hilarious - he literally face plants into the food Tonight, I was putting the isopod dish in his cage, and apparently, I wasn't moving fast enough. He decided to just jump on my hand and use me as the feeding post. I'll try to get a video of him eating - he's so fast! He's also gotten quite fat, so he's on a 2-on-1-off feeding schedule now. Chubbster.

Every day at about 6pm, he sings us a "good morning" song, and then in the mornings when I'm leaving for work, I often hear a "good night" croak or two. He sounds a bit like two pebbles rubbing together. He's quite the doll.

 

[JoCarp]

He is an awesome little guy! I grew up in the timer in Kansas and remember chasing those (or something very similar) as a kid. Glad he's doing so well!

 

[MelissaB]

I'm so glad he's doing so well, and even singing for you. I love when they make that chirping noise, it's so cool. My oldest son wants to get into dart frogs because of Farva (he named him...).

 

[brownie64]

Clarence ate two crickets for breakfast today! I wasn't sure if he would eat so early in the day, but he snapped them right up

One thing you have to watch out for is they guys will literally eat themselves to death don't ask how I know. Tuff lesson learned now you don't have to.

 

[Lathis]

Yes, that's something I've been worried about. I know some frogs will eat themselves to death unfortunately. We've been giving him a set amount of food each time. I hope it's enough, but he seems fat and happy.

 

[Lathis]

Awwww, Clarence is singing good morning!