Popular Tree Frogs E-Book

Philippe de Vosjoli

• Herausgeber: CompanionHouse Books
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Serie: The Herpetocultural Library
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 94

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Beschreibung

Among the best vivarium animals are the stunningly beautiful tree frogs, the subject of this book. This colorful and informative guide written by three renowned ranine experts focuses on the care of tree frogs but also covers important topics, from acclimating imported species to housing, feeding, and captive breeding. Popular Tree Frogs proves the most authoritative and reliable resource for keeping tree frogs healthy and thriving. Authors Philippe de Vosjoli, Robert Maillous, and Drew Ready provide guidelines for selecting and keeping the most popular species of tree frogs, highlighting White's tree frogs and red-eyed tree frogs as well as white-lipped tree frogs, green tree frogs, Cuban tree frog, barking tree frog, gray tree frog, golden foam nest frogs, gliding tree frogs, and Australian red-eyed tree frogs. For each featured tree frog, the authors provide insight into size, longevity, care and maintenance, sexing, feeding, breeding, and more. This Advanced Vivarium Systems title includes information about selecting a healthy example, quarantine and acclimation considerations, housing needs, water and feeding, as well as solid advice about keeping tree frogs healthy. A separate chapter on diseases and disorders provides a complete primer on the health needs and veterinary care of these rewarding amphibians.

Leseprobe

All photos by Philippe de Vosjoli except where otherwise indicated Cover photography by David Northcott.

The photographs in this book are courtesy of: Zig Leszczynski, p.8; Paul Freed, pp. 19, 51; Bill Love, pg. 38; David Northcott, courtesy of Nature’s Lens, pp. 55, 57, 58, 59; Michael Ready, pp 31, 35; D.B. Travis, pp. 7, 27, 37, 39, 49, 53, 56, 71.

Copyright ©1992, 1998, 2004, 2009 by Advanced Vivarium Systems®

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopy, recording or any information and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

LCCN: 96-183295

ISBN: 978-1-882770-77-9

eISBN: 978-1-620080-46-7

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CONTENTS

Introduction

1: General Information and Selection

2: Acclimation and Housing

3: Temperature and Humidity

4: Diet and Water

5: Captive Breeding

6: White’s Tree Frogs

7: Notes on Popular Species

8: Red-Eyed Tree Frogs

9: Diseases and Disorders

Resources

Additional Information

INTRODUCTION

Recently, United States herpetoculturists have focused on a more naturalistic approach to keeping reptiles and amphibians. Many keepers now house their animals in naturalistic vivaria—captive environments that simulate certain essential characteristics of an animal’s natural habitat—a trend that has led to increased interest in the small animals that thrive in these new kinds of enclosures.

Among the best vivarium animals are tree frogs, stunning creatures that perch on virtually anything—including glass walls, branches, and leaves—and make for incredible display animals. Certain species of these frogs even can be kept with other small frogs and lizards in a community vivarium, allowing keepers to create vibrant habitats in their own home. Unfortunately, just as the interest in tropical amphibians is increasing, availability appears to be diminishing, the result of lack of knowledge, lack of standards for commercial exploitation, protective legislation (some of which is unsound), habitat destruction, and environmental and climatic changes. If people are to enjoy frogs and other amphibians in the future, sound conservation, research, and management of various species must receive immediate attention, and herpetologists must establish self-sustainable populations of as many species as possible.

The authors’ original goal was to write a simple, basic book on the care of popular tree frogs, but during the writing process it became obvious that successful frog keeping requires certain skills and knowledge—much like keeping tropical fish. Although there are a number of books about the care of amphibians, several were written by authors with little or no experience in keeping or breeding frogs, and few contain any valuable information.

This book, written by experienced and recognized frog herpetoculturists, focuses on the care of popular tree frogs now sold in pet stores. It covers many important topics, from acclimating imported species to housing, feeding, and captive-breeding. It is a practical manual for the serious hobbyist who cares about the welfare of his or her animals.

CHAPTER 1

GENERAL INFORMATION AND SELECTION

What are Tree Frogs?

Tree frog is the popular term for arboreal and semiarboreal, nocturnal frogs that have toe pads at the ends of their digits. The common name “tree frog”is usually reserved for members of the family Hylidae, but the popular herpetocultural definition also includes the glass frogs (family Centronelidae), reed frogs (family Hyperolidae), and flying frogs (family Rhacophoridae).

Selecting Tree Frogs

If you are new to keeping tree frogs, your best bet is to begin with a species that has simple, clear-cut care requirements; possibilities include White’s tree frogs (Litoria caerulea), white-lipped tree frogs (L. infrafrenata), green tree frogs (Hyla cinerea), and Cuban tree frogs (Osteopiius septentrionalis). Other tree frogs require some experience, particularly if they are wild-caught imports, but, if you follow the instructions in this book, you also should have success with moderately difficult-to-keep species, such as the ever-popular red-eyed tree frogs.

As a rule, species that require cool, temperate conditions, or hail from a cloud forest or tropical rainforest tend to be more difficult to keep than the more adaptable temperate and subtropical species. This is usually because cloud-forest and rainforest species have specific habitat requirements—such as a particular landscape, temperate range, relative humidity range, or air flow—that need to be duplicated if the frogs are to survive for a long time. However, researching the habitat and niche of particular tree frogs, acquiring experience at establishing frogs, and setting up the right type of vivaria will allow you to successfully keep and breed these more difficult species.

A rare “blue” axanthic green tree frog.

This book focuses on the care of easy-to-keep and readily available species, but also includes information on gliding tree frogs, an appealing species that has more complex care requirements.

The first step to keeping tree frogs successfully is to select the species that you can comfortably accommodate. The second step is to select potentially healthy animals (see below).

Captive-Bred Versus Wild-Caught Specimens

White’s tree frogs are captive-bred in large numbers in the United States and are generally easy to rear to adulthood. Other captive-bred species are available less frequently and, due to the small size and special requirements of their young, are often more difficult to rear. Wild-caught adults of the popular species mentioned in this book (with the exception of gliding tree frogs) are relatively easy to establish in captivity and are probably as good a choice as captive-bred frogs. However, keeping more difficult species, whether wild-caught or captive-bred, will prove challenging, and very possibly disappointing, to inexperienced herpetoculturists.

Selecting Healthy Tree Frogs

To have success with tree frogs, you must select healthy specimens. The following guidelines will help you make the right choice:

1. Select species that you can accommodate. Research the needs and vivarium design requirements of whatever species you plan to purchase, and make sure you have the time, money, and space to meet their requirements. Your frogs will not survive unless you provide them with the proper captive conditions.

2. Observe the animals you plan to purchase. Generally, tree frogs that perch on the glass sides or the landscape structures of a vivarium prove healthier than those that remain on the ground. However, this is only a guideline, not an absolute rule. Occasionally, if a store owner or seller keeps their frogs in the wrong kind of vivarium, stressed tree frogs may seek terrestrial shelters or specimens may move to the ground to reduce dehydration or find cooler temperatures.

3. Carefully inspect the animal. It should not have sores, lumps, swollen legs, or clouded eyes. Its body should appear rounded, and the outlines of its hip bones, backbone, and skull should not be prominent.

A healthy White’s tree frog has very smooth rounded contours.

4. When held in your hand, the frog should demonstrate definite signs of vigor. A frog that seems limp or weak is usually very ill. Once you have a frog in hand, reinspect its body, including its ventral area (underside), for sores or redness. Avoid animals that have these symptoms.

5. If the frogs are kept on paper substrate, look for signs of feces. Watery, runny feces usually indicate illness, and bloody feces are a definite sign of physical problems.

If the frog you select has met these criteria, there is a good chance that it is relatively healthy and will acclimate to captivity, given the proper conditions.

Aerosols and Miticides

Aerosol sprays, such as hair spray, perfume deodorants, and disinfectants, can kill tree frogs. The frogs absorb the aerosols through their skin and, thereafter, often suffer painful deaths. Do not keep frogs in areas (e.g., bathrooms or kitchens) where aerosols are used. High concentrations of or long-term exposure to No Pest strips, used for killing mites, will also kill frogs.

CHAPTER 2

ACCLIMATION AND HOUSING

Acclimation

The first few weeks of keeping a new tree frog are among the most difficult. Specimens may harbor parasites, suffer from illnesses, or have difficulty adjusting to their new surroundings. In order to ensure the animal’s survival, keepers should adhere to the guidelines presented below. Use the following steps to establish imported or wild-caught tree frogs in captivity:

1. Keep newly acquired frogs in a room with a cool-air humidifier (available at most drug stores), which will keep the relative humidity between 60 and 70 percent. Humidifiers are not necessary in regions with moderate to high relative humidity. Do not keep frogs at saturated humidity levels (above 85 percent).

2. To create a tree frog vivarium, place your frog in a large plastic terrarium or glass vivarium, supplying white paper towel as substrate and a shallow water bowl or saucer as a water source. With baby frogs, add a shallow container filled with moist moss. Lean a piece of bark against one side of the terrarium in order to provide a vertical shelter and place another on the ground as a ground-level shelter. Keep the vivarium at the temperature range appropriate for the species. Provide moderately bright light with overhead, full-spectrum fluorescent bulbs for twelve hours a day.

3. If the frog appears weak, has sores on its snout or body, or has clouded eyes, monitor it for a few days to see if it improves. If it does not, treat it with injectable enrofloxacin (Baytril), subcutaneously in the ventral area, at a dosage of 10 milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg) of the frog’s body weight. Repeat the treatment every two days for up to two weeks.

4. Monitor the stools of your frog during its acclimation period. Healthy frogs have soft, well-formed stools. Watery and runny feces are signs of parasites or gastrointestinal disease.

5. Offer crickets of the appropriate size to your tree frog every two to three days, and monitor the status of its feces. If the feces are runny, treat the frog orally with metronidazole (Flagyl) at 50 mg/kg of the frog’s total body weight. Repeat the treatment in one week. Using metronidazole twice, at seven-day intervals, during enrofloxacin treatment can be beneficial because of its beneficial antibiotic effects on anaerobic bacteria. If your tree frog has nematodes in its stools, treat it with fenbendazole (Panacur) at 50 mg/kg, and repeat the process once or twice at seven-day intervals. To orally administer drugs or water, use a wedge cut from a plastic deli cup or yogurt container, and insert it gently between the frog’s jaws. For larger species or specimens, gently place an inverted spoon between the animal’s jaws to keep its mouth open.

6. If a frog refuses to feed, open its mouth and insert a prekilled cricket of the appropriate size. In most cases, tree frogs will swallow the cricket when released. If your frog is emaciated and not feeding on its own, use this feeding method as soon as possible.

Although adult tree frogs can be kept for extended periods in a basic setup like this temporary quarantine vivarium, it does not provide the proper conditions for a good quality of life. Experts recommend larger vivaria with plants and climbing areas.