Red-Eyed Tree Frog Care For Absolute Beginners
When you decide to keep this unique-looking red-eyed tree frog, you must know the care guide beforehand. The absolute beginners often remain afraid of keeping this endangered frog in captivity.
But, with proper knowledge and appliances of maintenance and care, you can also achieve a long-time accompany from red-eyed tree frogs as pets. Hence, if you are a beginner, you may search for red-eyed tree frog care for absolute beginners.
For this reason, I have gathered all essential information for red-eyed tree frog care to write down this article. If you are an absolute beginner to pet tree frog, you should go through this article to get a complete care guide.
Are Red-Eyed Tree Frogs Easy To Take Care Of?
No matter how much easy any frog is to take care of, you must devote a specific time for their maintenance.
Not to mention each species of frog have their own needs and requirements. The same thing goes for red-eyed tree frogs.
The care level of red-eyed tree frogs is moderate. These frogs are not too hard to take care of. Because of having porous skin, red-eyed tree frogs require regular maintenance.
If you pet red-eyed tree frogs, you should maintain their daily access to clean water. Besides, you should be much careful while handling these delicate frogs. Otherwise, the environmental conditions, diet, etc, are easy to maintain.
Red-Eyed Tree Frog Overview
Any frog lover is bound to fall in love with the crimson red eyes and bright green bodies of the red-eyed tree frogs. These frogs do not have any special requirements except for a few conditions.
Before checking out the entire care guide, you should take a quick look at the overview of red-eyed tree frogs. This overview chart will give you a slight idea of their care level.
So, let’s check the following chart out.
Scientific Name | Agalychnis callidryus |
Common Name | Red-eyed Tree Frog |
Size | Up to two inches |
Diet | Carnivores |
Optimal Temperature | 75-85 degrees Fahrenheit |
Optimal Humidity | 60-70% |
Toxicity Status | Non-toxic |
Temperament | Easily startled, and peaceful. |
Social Nature | Friendly with other tree frogs |
Cost | $40-$200 |
Lifespan | Around five to ten years |
What Do I Need To Take Care Of A Red-Eyed Tree Frog?
If you bring a red-eyed tree frog to your home, you will need some basic supplies. Without these basic things, you will not be able to take care of your red-eyed tree frog properly.
I’ve made a small list of things that you will need to take care of your red-eyed tree frog. These are-
- A terrarium of perfect size
- Substrate
- Heating mat
- Basking lamp
- Thermometer and thermostat
- Hygrometer
- Fogger or sprayer
- Low powered LED and UVB light
- Water dish
- Live and artificial plants
- Branches, logs, sticks, hideouts, and other décors.
- Live insects. Especially, brown and black crickets.
- Supplementation
- Cricket food
These are some essential items. If you require other supplies, you must buy them to take care of red-eyed tree frogs.
However, you can check out this article to know about 17 things that you will need to keep a frog as a pet.
How To Take Care Of A Red-Eyed Tree Frog?
Care of red-eyed tree frogs includes their habitat set-up, maintaining an accurate diet, proper maintenance, and so on. Let’s check these sections thoroughly one by one.
Firstly, I will enlighten you about how to set up a red-eyed tree frog tank in your home.
Habitat Set-Up
As you need to replicate the wild habitat in captivity, you should know about their natural habitation first. In the wild, red-eyed tree frogs live in the lowlands and tropical rainforests, nearby any water sources.
Besides, their natural habitations are in warm and humid conditions. In the wild, these tree frogs survive in such a climate of warm daytime and cooler nighttime. For this reason, you have to recreate similar conditions in the habitat setup of your home.
How Do You Set Up A Red Eyed Tree Frog Tank?
You might have known that red-eyed tree frogs are arboreal frogs. So, you should choose an arboreal tank while buying a vivarium for your pet red-eyed tree frogs.
Such is because these arboreal tanks have more height vertically than the width.
Also, these arboreal vivariums provide enough space for keeping branches, climbing and hiding structures, and so on.
If you are searching for arboreal tanks, my recommendation will be Repti Zoo Full Glass Reptile Terrarium.
Another significant consideration is the size of the tank. It depends on the age, size, and number of tree frogs. However, the experienced owners suggest keeping a minimum of 10-gallon spaces for an adult red-eyed tree frog. But, the tank has to be vertically longer.
Number Of Tree Frogs | Tank Size |
---|---|
One Adult Red-eyed Tree Frog | 10 gallon |
Two Juvenile Red-eyed Tree Frogs | 12″×12″×18” 10-20 gallon |
3-4 Red-eyed Tree Frogs | 18″×18″×24” |
There are several types of terrariums of different materials, brands, and so on. For your red-eyed tree frogs, you can prefer a glass terrarium as such tanks are good at insulating heat and air. Besides, you can observe your frog activity in a glass tank from outside.
In case you do not want to collect all supplies separately, I have found out solutions for that too.
You can buy terrarium kits where all basic terrarium supplies will be there. Such best terrarium kits for red-eyed tree frogs are Exo Terra Rainforest Habitat Kit, Zilla Vertical Tropical Kit, etc.
Moreover, if you are interested to get a step-by-step guide, check out this article on tree frog habitat set-up.
Substrate
To achieve a high level of humidity, you should bring such substrates which can hold much moisture. Otherwise, being arboreal frogs, red-eyed tree frogs spend a little time on the ground.
Hence, you should choose such substrate which is easy to clean, affordable, and safe for the best care of your pet tree frogs.
Make sure that the substrates should be resistant to fungus and mold. Besides, these must not have any sharp edges that could damage the delicate skin of your tree frogs.
There are several substrate options for you. Such as shredded coconut fiber, coconut husk, orchid bark, coconut chips, compressed coconut bricks, sphagnum moss, cypress mulch, coco peat, peat moss, soil blends, leaf litter, etc. To promote the higher humidity range, you have to keep the substrate moist.
If you want to take care of your tree frogs properly, you must ensure not to have dripping-wet substrate. Further, make sure that the substrate should be around 2-3 inches deep. Do not forget to add a drainage layer at the bottom of the tank.
Proper cleaning and maintenance of the substrate are also included in red-eyed tree frog care.
You should spot clean daily and remove the poop, urate, etc. Also, you should replace the substrate once a month for ensuring the better health and hygiene of your red-eyed tree frogs.
Some experts suggest using moist paper towels. Moreover, some experienced owners recommend coconut fiber bedding as this substrate holds moisture well.
My recommendations will be Zoo Med ReptiSoil, Exo Terra Plantation Soil, Zoo Med Eco Earth.
Décor
To add the naturalistic vibe of the tank, you can add several décor items. Besides increasing the decorative aspect, your pet tree frog will get happier too.
The very first things to add as décor items are plants and branches. Since red-eyed tree frogs are expert climbers, these will add extra appeal to the terrarium.
Hence, you can add live and artificial plants, trailing plants, vines, branches, woods, bark, cork tubes, natural wood ornaments, etc. Besides, you can add hollow logs, driftwood, rocks, hideouts, etc.
These décor items will provide hiding spaces for your red-eyed tree frogs. Further, your pet frogs can also climb on this stuff.
In addition, you can décor of water sources like the wild. In tropical forests, red-eyed tree frogs live alongside water sources.
So, you can add fake waterfalls, water dishes, etc. These will not only enhance the aesthetic value but also help raise the humidity.
Plants: What Kind Of Plants Do Tree Frogs Like?
Since red-eyed tree frogs are arboreal frogs, plants are must-to-keep things in their tanks. Like the wild, plants will provide climbing and playing opportunities, hiding locations to your pet tree frogs inside the tank.
Sometimes, your pet tree frogs might sleep on the leaves too. For this reason, the experienced owners prefer to keep live plants in the tree frog tank.
Some recommendations for live plants are-
- Alocasia
- Golden pathos
- Philodendron
- Ficus
- Ferns
- Bromelia
- Anthurium
- Orchidee
- Chlorophytum
- Selaginellas
- Monstera
- Calathea
- Dracena
- Aroids
- Peperomia
- Begonias
- Chinese evergreen (Aglaonema)
What Plants Are Bad For Tree Frogs?
While choosing plants for your pet, you must ensure that the plants are safe for your red-eyed tree frogs. Several plants are considered bad for red-eyed tree frogs. These are Azalea, Daffodils, Bracken Fern, Hyacinth, Honeysuckle, Rhubarb, etc.
Temperature
As red-eyed tree frogs hail from the lowland tropical rainforests, these frogs are accustomed to living in a warm climate. These frogs remain to thrive in such areas of getting shade and slight sun exposure.
When you keep a red-eyed tree frog as a pet, you must keep the temperature range as same as the wild. There is a small chart of the required temperature of red-eyed tree frogs to survive below.
Day time | 75-85 degrees Fahrenheit |
Night-time | 65-75 degrees Fahrenheit |
These red-eyed tree frogs can not tolerate overheating. So, you must regulate the tank temperature to ensure the best care and safety of your pet frogs.
On the other hand, if you live in a cold country, you should secure the ideal range of temperature of the tree frog tank. If the tank can not reach up to the optimal temperature, you should heat the bulb or heat lamp.
Keep in mind that prolonged low temperatures can cause the death of your adorable pet frogs.
Moreover, you can create a basking area for your red-eyed tree frogs. The safe temperature of the basking area can be around 75-85 degrees Fahrenheit for red-eyed tree frogs.
Further, you can keep a digital probe thermometer to monitor the temperature of the tank air regularly. Besides, you can adjust a thermostat to regulate the temperature of red-eyed tree frogs.
Do Red-eyed Tree Frogs Need A Heat Mat?
By any means, you must ensure a constant temperature of 75 degrees Fahrenheit in the tank of red-eyed tree frogs. So, if the room temperature does not help keep the tank suitably warm, you can choose a heat mat for the heat source.
You should stick the heat mat on one side of the red-eyed tree frog enclosure. Another tip is to remain concerned about the size and wattage of the heat mat.
To take care of your tree frog properly, you should ensure that the heating mat is warming the terrarium properly. However, do not forget to keep a thermostat to regulate the heat of the tank. Otherwise, your pet red-eyed tree frog might get burnt.
If you search for a good heater for your red-eyed tree frog, my choice will be Zoo Med ReptiTherm.
Humidity
You might have known that red-eyed tree frogs live in a high humid climate in the wild. So, you should ensure a high level of humidity samely in the tank.
The required level of humidity for red-eyed tree frogs is between 60%-80%. Make sure that the humidity level in the terrarium should not go under 60%.
Also, you should keep a hygrometer to monitor the humidity level ensuring the proper care of your red-eyed tree frogs.
There are a few ways to keep the tank humidity in the ideal range. These are-
- Misting the terrarium twice a day until it reaches the desired level.
- You should not miss any décor items, plants, and branches to mist. As red-eyed tree frogs spend a great time on plants, these frogs can get water by licking from the leaves or branches.
- If your pet frog’s tank is large, you may mist more than twice to achieve the right humidity range.
- Keep the substrate dampened.
- Besides, you can keep a shallow water dish with clean and filtered water. Make sure that the water bowl is not deep enough to cause an accident of drowning.
- Moreover, you can also take the help of an automatic mister.
Lighting
Lightings are essential for red-eyed tree frogs to maintain their regular day and night cycle. So, you should choose such light sources to provide lighting for 10-12 hours per day.
If you keep the frog tank beside any window, the sunlight will suffice for the lighting requirement. Besides, these frogs do not like bright lightings.
Because of being nocturnal frogs, red-eyed tree frogs do not require light at night. However, for nighttime, you can use a low wattage red or nocturnal bulb to monitor their activities.
Do Red-Eyed Tree Frogs Need UVB?
Although UVB lightings are not the basic requirements of red-eyed tree frogs, UVB lightings help these frogs in many ways. In the wild, red-eyed tree frogs are used to getting filtered UVB through the tree canopy.
UVB lightings help red-eyed tree frogs synthesize the vitamin D3 inside their skin. Moreover, UVB boosts the appetite of your pet frogs. So, red-eyed tree frogs need UVB lightings of low wattage.
You can set up a UVB bulb on top of the tank of red-eyed tree frogs. In this way, your pet tree frogs will get the filtered UVB rays. Make sure that the distance between the UVB bulb and your frog should be higher than 6”.
For UVB lightings, my recommendations are Zoo Med T8 ReptiSun 5.0 watt bulb. Moreover, do not forget to fix the bulb in a reflective fixture.
Tank Mates
Before choosing tank mates for red-eyed tree frogs, you should do a bit of research about each species, their requirements, nature, etc.
The chosen animals as tank mates should share the same tank requirements of red-eyed tree frogs. Besides, your pet frog and its tank mates should be friendly with each other.
However, the experts and experienced owners always recommend not to keep different animals together in a single tank. Yet, you can keep multiple red-eyed tree frogs together in the same tank.
Do Tree Frogs Need Companions?
Tree frogs are not much social. But, these frogs can do great by sharing their tank with suitable tank mates. Otherwise, tree frogs do not need companions except breeding time.
In short, these red-eyed tree frogs can survive alone, in pairs, and even in colonies.
What Can You House With Red-eyed Tree Frogs?
The best suitable tank mates for red-eyed tree frogs can be American green tree frogs, Grey tree frogs, Barking tree frogs, white-lipped tree frogs, etc. But, it is not a good idea to keep these frogs together with red-eyed tree frogs when these frogs become an adult.
In addition, you can always keep multiple red-eyed tree frogs together. Not to mention, you have to provide enough space for each frog.
Can Two Male Red-eyed Tree Frogs Live Together?
You can keep two male red-eyed tree frogs together in a tank.
There is no inhibition from experts in keeping two male red-eyed tree frogs together. Since these frogs are pretty peaceful, they will not hurt each other.
Handling: Do Tree Frogs Like To Be Held?
Since red-eyed tree frogs have extremely porous skin, these frogs can absorb any harmful things for their health by handling. If you have already brought a red-eyed tree frog, you may notice the delicacy of these frogs.
Red-eyed tree frogs do not like to be touched or held. So, if you want to ensure the best care of your red-eyed tree frogs, you should avoid handling your pet frogs.
Sometimes, your pet frogs might injure themselves while trying to escape when they are handled. No wonder the presence of oils, soaps, other chemicals can lead to the death of your frog if absorbed.
In brief, red-eyed tree frogs do not want your touch, cuddle, or affections by handling. Hence, I suggest not touching or hole red-eyed tree frogs without any emergency.
Can You Touch A Red-Eyed Tree Frog?
Although red-eyed tree frogs are not toxic to humans, you should not touch a red-eyed tree frog.
I have already explained why human touch is detrimental to the health of red-eyed tree frogs. In case you have to hold your tree frogs, you should do the handling session fast and quickly.
On the other hand, red-eyed tree frogs tend to secrete toxins. If human skin comes in contact with the toxins, this can irritate and put bad effects on the skin. Hence, you must wash your hands after holding your red-eyed tree frogs.
The safe option will be handling red-eyed tree frogs wearing gloves in your hands. Do not forget to hold gently so that your pet might not get hurt.
Food Diet
The most crucial part of red-eyed tree frog care is maintaining a proper food diet. Like many frogs, the diet of red-eyed tree frogs is insectivores and pretty simple to handle. Specifically, you need to provide protein-rich insects.
Usually, the experienced owners feed crickets as staple foods of red-eyed tree frogs. Occasionally, you can feed several types of worms to your red-eyed tree frogs.
You can include several items in the diet list of red-eyed tree frogs. Some of these are pinhead crickets, fruit flies, grasshoppers, moths, small crustaceans, locusts, mosquito larvae, bug larvae, small insects, etc. In the list of monthly treats, you can keep earthworms, blackworms, silkworms, wax worms, bloodworms, tubifex worms, etc. Also, the adult red-eyed tree frogs can eat smaller frogs.
But, do not feed mealworms to your red-eyed tree frogs. Moreover, make sure that the cricket size is should not be larger than the head of your pet frog.
If you are a beginner, you can check the tree frog diet and feeding guide for details.
How Often Should You Feed Red-eyed Tree Frogs?
The feeding schedule depends on the age of your red-eyed tree frogs. If your red-eyed tree frog is a baby, you should feed the frog twice a day. In the case of a juvenile tree frog, you have to feed the frog daily.
Besides, some experts shared a formula for comparing feeding time with the frog size.
For red-eyed tree frogs under 3 inches, you should feed your pets every day to every other day. On the other hand, you can feed the adult frogs of over 3 inches only 2-3 times a week.
How Many Crickets Does A Red-Eyed Tree Frog Eat?
Because of making crickets as staple foods, you have to feed crickets to your red-eyed tree frogs almost regularly. But, these red-eyed tree frogs tend to obese quickly. So, you must maintain the number of crickets to feed.
For an adult red-eyed tree frog, you should provide 3-6 crickets every 2-3 days.
Make sure that no crickets are left in the frog tank. You must remove the leftover crickets since the crickets may nibble your delicate pet frogs.
How Long Can Red-Eyed Tree Frogs Go Without Food?
Sometimes, the owners of red-eyed tree frogs may have some emergencies to leave their pet frogs alone without food. But, if you feed your tree frogs well beforehand, these frogs will survive this phase easily.
If your red-eyed tree frog is an adult frog, it can go a month without eating anything. On the other hand, a baby or juvenile red-eyed tree frog can withstand this famine pretty safely for 1-2 weeks.
Supplement
To keep your red-eyed tree frogs healthy and fit, it is essential to gut load insects with proper supplementation each time before feeding. Keep the insects gut-loaded at least 24 hours before feeding.
In the list of supplements, you should add calcium, vitamin D3, multivitamin, and so on. If you look for the best supplements, you can check out Repashy Calcium Plus, and Repti Calcium with D3.
Water: Do Red-Eyed Tree Frogs Need Water?
Red-eyed tree frogs have to remain in touch with constant water sources. Red-eyed tree frogs need plenty of water for maintaining proper hydration and living in high humidity.
Make sure that the water is fresh and chlorine-free. Besides, you must not use tap water at any cost. You can use ReptiSafe to remove the chlorine from the tap water.
On another note, you should ensure to keep the water level not deep enough to make your frog drown. Also, you should change the water daily. Moreover, you may keep more than one water dish for multiple red-eyed tree frogs.
Breeding Care
If you want to breed your red-eyed tree frogs, you must take care, especially of these frogs. Besides, you have to modify their diet. In addition, you need to make a rain chamber to help your red-eyed tree frogs breed.
- Usually, red-eyed tree frogs mate in the rainy season of late May to November in the wild. To stimulate the breeding process, you have to recreate the natural environment in captivity.
- You can start with creating a vibe of the winter season in the tank for 1-2 months. For this, you should decrease the temperature and daylight hours.
- After 1-2 months, you can start introducing your red-eyed tree frogs to the rain chambers. The chamber should be several inches deep at the bottom.
- Make sure to bring full-grown male and female tree frogs to breed. Also, keep the number of male frogs higher than the number of female tree frogs.
- During this period, you can continue their usual feeding schedule. Besides, the water temperature of rain chambers has to be around 75 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Red-eyed tree frogs lay around 20-100 eggs at once. You should keep the eggs in a separate container. Also, you should keep the temperature around 64-68 degrees Fahrenheit consistently.
- When the eggs become tadpoles, you can start feeding them lettuce, cabbage, aquatic frog and tadpole foods, and so on.
If you want a detailed guideline, you should check tree frog breeding care.
Maintenance
- Since red-eyed tree frogs live in a pretty humid condition, these frogs are prone to bacterial attacks. So, you must spot clean the tank and do a deep clean once a month.
- You can use amphibian-friendly sanitizing products while cleaning the tank of your red-eyed tree frogs.
- Do not hold your red-eyed tree frog for a longer period. If you need to hold, hold your frog gently. Also, you can use a damp, deep net to coax the frog to move instead of holding it directly.
- Besides, make sure that the frog tank does not retain too much heat. Keep the red-eyed tree frog enclosure as humid as possible.
- Replace the substrate once a month.
- Further, you should ensure having at least 3 inches of water depth in rain chambers.
- To keep the water clean, you can provide a small filter, aquatic plants, and running water.
- Lastly, if your red-eyed tree frogs show any unusual signs of health issues, you should bring your pet to a reptile vet immediately. To get enlightened more, you can click here to check out the probable reasons for the death of tree frogs.
Final Words
Keeping red-eyed tree frogs as pets is fun. This article gives a basic guideline for absolute beginners on taking care of red-eyed tree frogs.
About Author
Hello, I’m Muntaseer Rahman, the owner of AcuarioPets.com. I’m passionate about aquarium pets like shrimps, snails, crabs, and crayfish. I’ve created this website to share my expertise and help you provide better care for these amazing pets.
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