Why Did My Tree Frog Die? [13 Probable Reasons & Solutions]

Why Did My Tree Frog Die

When any pet tree frog died, it might leave the owner thinking about the probable reasons behind the death. Hence, the distressed frog owner repeatedly asks everybody- why did my tree frog die? If you do not want your tree frog to leave you early, you should know the probable reasons for tree frog death and their solutions.

Your tree frogs can die because of being sick before buying. Also, your frog can die due to incoordination of any environmental condition of its tank. Besides, diseases, old age, getting wounded, etc are also some observable reasons for their death.

To know details of these potential reasons for death and solutions, I’ve conducted some researches. In this article, you’ll get to know about a complete portrayal of the reasons for the unusual mortality of tree frogs and their solutions.

Probable Reasons Of Tree Frog Death

I’ve found out several reasons that may be the actual causes of your tree frog death. If you are a tree frog owner, knowing these probable reasons will be helpful to protect your tree frog. So, let’s check out these causes at a glance.

  1. Sick Before Buying
  2. Incoordination Of Temperature
  3. Inadequate Humidity
  4. Substrate
  5. Poor Quality Of Water
  6. Improper Feeding
  7. Lack Of Nutrition
  8. Wounds
  9. Lack Of Proper Ventilation
  10. Improper Handling
  11. Poor Husbandry
  12. Diseases
  13. Old age

To enlighten you more, I’ll write down these reasons in detail along with their solution. Let’s check out which of the following reasons is behind your tree frog death.

Probable Reasons & Solutions

1. Sick Before Buying

Sometimes, many frog owners complain that their tree frog dies only after a few days of bringing home. If there is no incoordination of habitat setup, this may not be your fault. There are chances that your tree frog was sick before buying. Hence, your tree frog might not survive under your surveillance.

Solutions

To avoid such tragic incidents, you should check before buying whether the tree frog is healthy and fit or not.

  • You can inspect if the tree frog’s eyes are cloudy or not. Such is because the cloudy eyes are a clear sign of a sick tree frog.
  • Check thoroughly if the chosen tree frog has any injuries, unusual marks, etc. These may lead to infection and eventually the death of your tree frog.
  • Lastly, you should quarantine the newly bought tree frog if you keep multiple tree frogs together. Otherwise, there will be risks of spreading diseases of the new tree frog carries any disease.

2. Incoordination Of Temperature

You might have known that all frogs are cold-blooded, including tree frogs too. So, tree frogs require a constant temperature from their environment. The ideal temperature for tree frogs is given below.

Daytime Temperature75-85 degrees Fahrenheit
Night-time Temperature65-75 degrees Fahrenheit

You must have heard that tree frogs do well at room temperature. But, if you live in a cold country, the room temperature may not be within the ideal temperature. As a result, your tree frogs will not get enough heat and warmth unless you fit any heat provider.

Moreover, tree frogs can tolerate the temperature fall to 60 degrees Fahrenheit. So, the lower temperature can be another reason why your tree frogs died.

 On the other hand, temperature over the ideal range makes the tree frogs stressed. It can affect the frog’s health severely. Out of stress, your tree frog can die.

Solutions

  • The best way to balance the temperature is to create a warm and cool end in the tank. Here, you must ensure keeping the maximum and minimum temperature at both warm and cool points, respectively.
  • As a result, your tree frog can to any of these parts according to its need for heat.
  • You can place a heat lamp or a basking lamp above the terrarium. But, do not make the heat lamp come into direct contact with the lid. If your tree frog touches the hot surface accidentally, your frog will die due to injuries and upcoming infection.
  • Some frog owners prefer a heat mat to keep warmth in the tank. But, make sure that the mat is not placed on any flammable materials.
  • Again, if the tree frog tank is of plastic material, direct contact of the heat mat with the tank may cause an accident. Such a case can lead to your tree frog’s death.
  • To regulate the temperature within the ideal range, you can keep thermostat controlled heating element.

3. Inadequate Humidity: Do Tree Frogs Need Humidity?

If you’re wondering why your tree frog died, inadequate humidity may be the probable reason. In the wild, tree frogs always remain in damp areas. So, you need to create a moist environment in captivity too.

The perfect humidity level for tree frogs is 60%-80%. If the humidity level goes under 50%, it will be a threat to the life of tree frogs.

You might have known that tree frogs breathe through their skin. Hence, proper humidity in the air helps them absorb oxygen by keeping the skin moist.

See also  Tree Frogs Croaking? Here’s Why And How To Stop It

If the tree frogs lack humidity over 60% in captivity, their skin will be dry out. As a result, your pet tree frogs won’t be able to absorb oxygen. Eventually, your frog will die.

Besides, the high humidity level of the tank is equally liable to tree frog death. Though the humidity level may reach up to 100%, it should come down to the level of 60%-70% after a while.

Solutions: How Do Tree Frogs Stay Moist?

To prevent tree frog skin from drying out, you should mist the terrarium once or twice daily. Also, keep a slightly damp substrate which will help your frog remain moist. Besides, you can keep a bowl of dechlorinated water.

It will be wise to keep a hygrometer to monitor the humidity level of the terrarium. However, you should buy a digital hygrometer because it tends to show accurate measurements.

4. Substrate

You might be wondering how substrate can be the probable reason for a tree frog’s death. But, this essential component of the tree frog tank can lead to such a crucial incident.

Although you need to keep the substrate wet to maintain humidity, it must not be water dripping soggy. This water dripping wet substrate can cause bacteria-caused diseases of tree frogs.

Moreover, sometimes, tree frogs get impacted because of eating up gravel mistakenly.

Solutions

Use a mulch-type substrate that will absorb the highest amount of humidity. So, you can choose substrate among coconut husk, coconut fiber, sphagnum moss, etc.

Besides, you must make sure that the substrate is not water dripping wet.

You can spot clean the tree frog substrate regularly. Also, you should make a deep clean of the substrate weekly. Do not forget to change the substrate after using it for two years.

5. Poor Quality Of Water: Is Tap Water Safe For Tree Frogs?

The tree frog owners often do not understand what water they should provide to their frogs. Again, not changing the water frequently is another reason for deteriorating tree frog health. Not to mention these factors cause several types of diseases leading to death.

A probable reason why your tree frog died may be supplying tap water or distilled water. Tap water contains several harmful chemical compounds, chlorine, ammonia, heavy metals, etc. Hence, such waters are unsafe for tree frogs.

Besides, the water tends to get dirty as the tree frogs play and poop into the water. So, if you do not change the water regularly, this will cause harmful effects on their health.

Also, some frog owners make the mistake of misting the tank with tap water. Since tree frogs absorb the oxygen from the water coming into contact, they also absorb the toxins from the tap water. It can lead to your frog’s unusual death.

Solutions

Do not ever provide tap water for tree frogs. You can use it only after dechlorination. Otherwise, you can leave the tap water for 24-48 hours before giving it to your frog. It will be safe because the chlorine will evaporate.

Some experts suggest using spring water or bottled water for tree frogs. Such water is safe for your pet frog.

Make sure that your provided water does not have ammonia, nitrate, etc. Besides, you must clean the water dish and change the water regularly.

6. Improper Feeding

The tree frog owners often do not know what to feed their tree frogs. You might not have guessed that improper feeding can be responsible for your tree frog’s death.

But, some foods are forbidden for pet tree frogs. Such as-

  • Dead insects
  • Wild-caught insects
  • Processed foods
  • Petfoods of another animal
  • Vegetation
  • Fruits
  • Larger live preys compared to their size
  • Human food
  • Commercial pellets
  • Human table scarps

If your tree frog has already died, you can check whether you fed these mentioned forbidden foods or not. These can also be a probable reason why your tree frog died.

Besides, feeding more or less than the appropriate amount is another potential reason for tree frog death. If you overfeed tree frogs, the frogs will have obesity issues and other health complexities. An obese tree frog can not move smoothly to catch its prey, plays, etc.

As a result, the frog becomes inactive and gains more weight. It will affect other organs of the body. Thus, overfeeding your pet frog can shorten its life and make the tree frog die early.

On the other hand, not feeding your tree frog in the right amount can make tree frogs sick. Consequently, your tree frog will die.

How Long Can A Tree Frog Last Without Eating?

Generally, you should feed an adult tree frog every other day and a juvenile frog daily to keep them healthy. Sometimes, following this routine may not be possible. Hence, people want to know how long a tree frog can survive without eating.

See also  Best Foods for Tree Frogs: A Complete Guide to Their Diet

A baby or juvenile tree frog can last for a week or two without eating anything. On the other hand, an adult tree frog will be safe for 3-4 weeks or a month without eating.

But, you should not make your pet tree frogs starve without any reason. If you can’t feed your tree frog for a long time, you can lower the temperature of their tank. It will make their metabolism rate slower than usual.

Solutions

If you do not want your tree frog dying due to improper feeding, you should not provide the forbidden food items. Also, make sure that the live preys are small enough to fit into the frog’s mouth.

Besides, you must not overfeed your tree frog showing your affection towards them. It can lead your tree frog to die.

However, you need to follow a proper schedule to feed your tree frog.

  Tree Frogs According To Age   Feeding Schedule
Baby Tree Frog Tadpoles (3-4 weeks)Once a day (regularly)
Baby Tree FrogsMultiple times In a day
Juvenile Tree FrogsDaily in a small quantity
Adult Tree Frogs2-3 times a week or every other day

If you want to know more, you can check the tree frog diet and feeding guide.

7. Lack Of Nutrition

Your tree frog can die, suffering from such diseases caused by a lack of nutrients. You have to ensure a proper diet enriched with nutrients and vitamins.

If your tree frogs fail to obtain the right amount of nutrients, the frogs may get affected with life-risky diseases. Such as metabolic bone disease, vitamin A deficiency, redleg, etc.

Malnutrition makes your tree frog lethargic and weak. Besides, this will upset the entire immune system. As a result, your tree frogs can easily get affected by bacteria, viruses, germs, etc.

So, a weak immune system will shorten their lives. As a consequence, your adorable pet tree frog will easily die.

Solutions

Let’s see what you can do as a solution.

  • You should provide varieties of insects in their meals. Besides, you should give weekly and monthly treats to your frog too.
  • Do not provide half-dead insects to tree frogs for their meal. As your tree frogs will receive the nutrients from the insects, you should feed your insects well. Also, make sure that the live insects are not dehydrated.
  • You must dust or gut-load the insects minimum of 24-48 hours before feeding them to your tree frogs.
  • Moreover, you need to sprinkle the tree frog food with a calcium supplement daily.
  • Lastly, you should not forget to provide tree frog supplementation with vitamin A and D regularly. Also, you should notice whether the supplement suits your frog’s health or not.

8. Wounds

As tree frogs are arboreal, they tend to climb up the walls or branches. Hence, there are risks of their falling and getting injured.

On the other hand, tree frogs can get hurt by the décors of the tank while playing or moving around. Sometimes, another tree frog can also attack and make the frog injured.

So, if the injuries or wounds do not heal naturally, there will be infections. When the infections get worse, your tree frog might die.

Solutions

If you want your tree frogs not to get hurt and die, you can abide by the following instructions.

  • Do not overcrowd the tree frog terrarium.
  • You should avoid artificial turf or gravel as these are harsh for the skin of tree frogs.
  • Make sure that the décors you’re using are safe for your tree frogs.
  • If your tree frog is already wounded, you should take your injured frog to a vet soon. Also, you should make sure that the tree frog infection isn’t getting worse.

9. Lack Of Proper Ventilation

A complete terrarium of tree frogs includes a proper ventilation system too. If there is no way of ventilation, the air of the tank will become stagnant. So, tree frogs will find it hard to thrive in such a frowsy environment.

As a result, your tree frog will get stressed. Not to mention this may cause the unusual death of your tree frog.

Solutions

The only way to avoid such a scenario is by adding ventilation. Moreover, you’ve to keep in mind that tree frogs tend to escape from the terrarium. So, you need to do the ventilation set-up perfectly, which will not help the frog escape.

10. Improper Handling: Do Tree Frogs Like To Be Held?

Have you ever guessed that touching your pets can cause their death? Well, it might be unusual in the case of other animals. But, tree frogs can die due to improper handling.

Tree frogs aren’t fond of much handling. If there is no emergency, you should not hold the tree frogs.

You might have known that the skin of tree frogs is pretty delicate and absorbing. If you do not wash your hands properly before holding, holding tree frogs will be life-risky for them.

Their skin may absorb the harmful chemicals, oil, soap, etc from your hands. As a result, such improper handling may be liable to their death. Also, squeezing the tree frog mistakenly can take their lives. Thus, your frog will die all of a sudden.

See also  How To Setup A Tree Frog Habitat? [Step by Step Guide]

If you’re wondering why your tree frog died, improper handling can be the probable reason.  

Solutions

Firstly, you must not touch tree frogs unless it is necessary.

If you need to touch tree frogs, you should wear latex gloves. Do not forget to make the gloves a little bit wet too. This will make the tree frogs comfortable.

11. Poor Husbandry: Are Tree Frogs High Maintenance?

Tree frogs are not high maintenance at all. You need not take the hassle of feeding an adult tree frog every day. Moreover, these frogs do not make huge wastages.

But, being low maintenance frog doesn’t mean that they don’t require proper maintenance. If you do not clean the terrarium along with the supplies, there will be unwanted attacks of parasites, bacteria, germs, etc. Eventually, your tree frog will die because of these.

Several bacterial infections occur from the unchanged, overly damp substrate. Besides, if you do not change the water regularly, poor water quality will make your frog sick. You must be aware that edema is the result of poor quality of water.

In consequence, poor husbandry can cause the death of your tree frog.

Solutions

You should make a very deep clean every two weeks. Besides, you need to spot clean the frog wastes, leftovers, etc daily.

Make sure that the water, substrate, décor are clean. Moreover, proper maintenance includes keeping the humidity, lighting, heat, etc in ideal ranges.

12. Diseases

No wonder diseases make the immune system of tree frogs weak. Thus, these diseases shorten the lives of your pet tree frogs.

Diseases of tree frogs can be the result of the attacks of bacteria, fungi, viruses, etc. Also, some diseases are caused by nutritional deficiency. Some are caused because of lack of care and maintenance too.

 Let’s get to know about some diseases of tree frogs. They are-

  • Edema
  • Metabolic Bone Diseases
  • Redleg
  • Impaction
  • Dropsy
  • Spring disease
  • Impaction
  • Parasites caused diseases
  • Bacterial diseases

If your tree frog died, any of these diseases might be the reason behind the death. If you want to know the symptoms of these diseases, you can click here.

Solutions

No matter what diseases you’re suspecting, you must seek professional help from a vet. Without the suggestions of a veterinarian, you should not give any medicine to your tree frog.

If you want to keep your tree frogs away from these diseases, you should take necessary preventions from beforehand.

For preventing bacterial diseases, you should remove all furnishings, filters, substrate, etc. Then you should sterilize the entire tank and disinfect all furniture. Do not forget to wash all materials with clean water.

Good husbandry is a must to avoid those diseases. Moreover, you should maintain a proper diet with the necessary supplements.

13. Old age

Lastly, old age can be the reason for your tree frog’s death. As all mortals have to taste death, tree frogs are not any exceptions. One day, your pet tree frog will die.

Tree frogs can survive up to 5-9 years in captivity. If your tree frog died after giving a long time accompany and showed no unusual behavior, the frog might die due to its old age.

How Do You Save A Dying Tree Frog?

Realizing your tree frog dying is a horrible experience. But, if you take quick action, you can save your dying tree frog.

Firstly, you need to identify the symptoms or unusual behavior of your tree frogs. Such as cloudy eyes, lethargy, swollen limbs, discoloration, loss of appetite, etc. These are the signs that something is wrong with your tree frog. Also, you should check if the frog has any wounds or injuries.

After noticing such symptoms, you must not delay going to a vet. Do not feed any medicine without consulting with a doctor.

Then, follow the vet’s instructions properly and do the necessary treatments for your tree frog. After getting proper treatment and care, you can save your dying tree frog.

Can Green Tree Frogs Play Dead?

Have you ever experienced such a situation when your tree frog becomes motionless? You might end up thinking your frog is dead. After a while, you will be surprised to see the frog moving again.

Green tree frogs play dead because of several reasons. In such cases, these frogs become stiffed and keep their legs tight. They play dead when they become overstressed or manipulated.

In the wild, tree frogs play dead in front of predators to escape the attack. So, you need not worry about such cases because playing dead is pretty normal for tree frogs.

Is My Frog Dead Or Hibernating?

During the winter season, you might find your tree frog frozen like the dead. Sometimes, these frogs stop breathing, which will make you think, they are dead.

Tree frogs can go into hibernation, appearing like dead frogs. Since tree frogs are cold-blooded amphibians, they can become partially frozen in the winter seasons. So, this is pretty usual if you mistake your tree frog as dead during its hibernation.

Tree frogs embrace such cold weather going into hibernation and come back into a normal state again. Hence, it may be a little bit tricky to realize if your frog is dead or hibernating.

Final Words

Tree frogs can give you a long accompany if you pet them safely with care. I hope this article helped you realize the reasons for the tree frog’s death and the solutions. So, you must take the best care of your tree frogs to prevent their early or unusual death.

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Muntaseer Rahman

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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