White's Tree Frog (please inquire for shipping)

Housing the White's Tree Frog

White's tree frogs in the wild spend most of their time in trees so they need an enclosure with lots of climbing enrichment. A tall or high 15 to 20 gallon aquarium is recommended for housing one adult frog. A hexagonal tank is optimal.

A tight-fitting lid is essential, as these frogs have suctioning footpads that will let them easily scale the glass walls of an aquarium. You can keep more than one frog together in a single habitat, as long as they are of similar size; otherwise, your larger frogs may attempt to eat the smaller ones.

A piece of paper a few inches tall placed around the outside of the bottom of the tank may help if the frogs tend to rub their nose along the glass in an attempt to wander beyond the habitat; frogs don't understand transparent barriers as much as you'd hope (they will try to move toward objects they can see), but they do understand black walls.

Provide many branches, large pieces of cork bark, and foliage for climbing, keeping in mind that these surfaces need to be quite sturdy to support the weight of these stocky frogs. Use natural live plants that are hefty and strong-stemmed. Make certain that they are free of fertilizer or pesticide residues on the plant and in all plant soils. Live plants in the terrarium should be kept in small, moveable pots to make cleaning the tank easier.

Covering the back surface of the tank with dark paper helps the frog find a secluded and dimly lit area to sleep during daylight hours. Placing a large piece of bark diagonally across the cage, a few inches from the back wall will allow the frog to cling to the back of the tank under the cover of the bark to sleep. Alternatively, use any sort of thick plant cover or interior place with many exits to allow the frog to hide out and rest.

Spot-clean your frog's cage every day, wiping off any large bits of waste matter from the plant leaves and the bottom of the tank. Use non-chlorinated water to change the water dish daily.

Heat

Placed a basking light or heater outside of only one side of the cage to create a gradient of 75 to 85 Fahrenheit during the day, with a drop to 68-75 F at night. Use both hand-held and tank-side sticker thermometers to confirm that appropriate temperatures are being maintained.

Light

Lighting should be subdued, and if a light is needed at night, use only a nocturnal bulb. Create a regular light-dark cycle; 12 hours of light and 12 hours of dark works well. These frogs are nocturnal, so there are no special lighting requirements. Exposure to UVB is not necessary, although some exposure won't hurt your White's tree frogs. Utilize a 5% UVB source if looking at add UVB exposure to your frog's environment.

Substrate

Even in the case of this arboreal frog, building a good substrate in the enclosure will help to create and maintain an environment similar to its native warm and wet tropical habitat. Build the foundation of the floor of the tank with large-sized washed gravel covered by chemical-free soil. Large pieces of bark can then be used for more foundation; cover any exposed soil with sphagnum moss, which helps to retain the moisture that will provide humidity these amphibians need.

Avoid small-sized gravel or shavings of bark that frogs might accidentally ingest. Some keepers prefer a barer approach for temporary tanks, by simply lining the tank with paper or paper towels to facilitate cleaning. However, it is much harder to maintain the appropriate humidity with this minimal floor covering.

Humidity

Use a hygrometer inside the tank to measure the relative humidity; as hygrometer meter readings can drift over time, calibrate them once annually. Maintain the humidity for this frog's enclosure at 60 to 70 percent by misting daily with dechlorinated or bottled (not distilled) water. Other options include rain bars at the top of the enclosure. A dish of the same water should also be provided. To off-gas any dissolved gases, and to come up to room temperature, allow all water that will be used in the enclosure to sit in an open container at room temperature for 24 to 48 hours.

Do not use fresh tap water with frogs and other amphibians, due to the presence of chlorine and chloramine used in the water purification process. If a chlorinated source of water must be used, treat it first with a dechlorination kit (available at pet stores). Alternatively, bottled water can be used, but never use distilled water as it lacks the essential minerals that all animals need in their water.

Food and Water

Feed your White's tree frogs a variety of diet including, but not limited to, live crickets, insecticide-free moths, beetles, cockroaches, grasshoppers, and earthworms. Diets that are offering multiple types of food are better nutritionally well-rounded. Fully grown White's tree frogs may even take pinkie mice on occasion. Place live insects in the cage or offer them using blunt-tip or flexible-tip forceps, but make sure the forceps will not injure the frog's mouth or tongue on impact.

The amount of food your frog needs will vary somewhat, but keep in mind that White's tree frogs tend toward having obesity issues, so do not overfeed.3 As a very general guideline, feed large frogs (greater than three inches long) a few large crickets every two to three days, adjusting based on the frog's activity and body condition. Offer smaller frogs three-week-old crickets roughly every two to three days, and feed juveniles daily.

The best way to judge how much to feed is by looking at the frog's body condition. Look for ridges just above the frog's eardrum. If there are no noticeable ridges, the frog is likely underweight and should be fed a larger volume or more often. If the ridges become prominent and start to sag or fold over, then the frog is obese: reduce feedings by no more than 50 percent slowly over time.

All insects fed to amphibians must first be gut loaded with nutritious foods. Perferably 24 hours prior to feeding with supplements like Flukers or Repashy. In addition, it is important to dust the prey items with a calcium-vitamin supplement.1 Perform this dusting only once a week for mature frogs, two or three times a week for mid-sized frogs, and daily in very young frogs.

Frogs like to get into their water dish to rehydrate and soak, so use a dish that is large enough that the frog can comfortably sit in the dish, usually at the level just below the nostrils when sitting. Make sure it isn't too deep that there is a risk of drowning; tree frogs are not strong swimmers.