Your New Friend, the White’s Tree Frog!

By Zachary Lahana

Well G’Day Mate!

Pleasure to meet you, I’m a White’s Tree Frog (Ranoidea caerulea), and I’d like if we could be friends! Some people think us frogs are weird, but I think we have our own special charm, and if you adopt me as a pet you’ll see that we can be personable, interesting, and downright funny! Before we talk about bringing me home, let’s learn more about me and what I need to be happy!

First, let’s learn a little more about me!

In the wild, I come from down under, also known as Australia! I can also be found on some islands north of Australia in Indonesia and New Guinea, but I’m a household name in Australia, where I’ve been found in people’s gardens, mailboxes, even toilets! 

When many people think of Australia, they think of the Outback, the drier plains where kangaroos roam. However, Australia also has forests and rainforests, and that’s where I like to be! My toes have sticky pads on them that let me climb rocks, trees, even the glass in my tank! I spend most of my time hidden up in the trees, where I can stay hidden from predators and pounce on insects to eat when I get hungry!

I like to sing! If you hear a sound like a duck quacking coming from my tank, that’s usually a sign that I’m a boy looking for a pretty lady! The most reliable way to tell boys and girls of my species apart is by size, as girls get a bit bigger, but it can be hard to tell unless you have a lot of us, so no sweat!

I am an amphibian, meaning I start my life in the water as a tadpole, then grow my arms and legs over time until I come out of the water as an adult! Being an amphibian also means my skin is wet and sensitive, because I actually breathe through it! Getting wet allows me to breathe, but it means that oils from your skin can hurt me or make me sick! My skin is less sensitive than other frogs, but it’s still best to not hold me too much, and always with clean hands please!

Now that we know each other a little better, let’s talk about what I need to be happy in my home! 

For starters, let’s talk about my house!

I’m a pretty big frog, so I need a big tank to be happiest! I can even live with friends, but only if they are other White’s Tree Frogs who are around the same size as me! 

Like I said earlier, we like to live higher up on trees in the forest, so we like our habitat to look like that too! Having a layer of soil or coco fiber at the bottom of the tank, and plants, wood, and ledges for decoration will make us feel most at home! We also need a water dish to keep our habitat humid and so we can soak and breathe easier! On that note, we also like to have our tank sprayed with water once every day or so to keep us humid and happy!

We like some light during the day, but preferably not with too much heat, as we actually like our homes to be around the same temperature as you would like it! 

Now, what about food?

Feeding us is easy, but it can be a little hard to swallow for some people (but not frogs). We are carnivores, and our favorite food to eat is bugs! You can buy feeder insects at a pet store, and you can either offer them to us with tongs, in a bowl, or let us chase them in the tank, though be sure to remove anything we don’t eat after a little while. You should also dust our feeder insects with calcium powder, as it keeps our bones and bodies healthy! 

We do need our food items to be alive, as it’s healthier and more exciting for us to chase them. It can be upsetting to feed an animal to another animal, but it is necessary to give us our happiest and healthiest life, just as it is in the wild where we live in a healthy ecosystem no matter who eats who. Thank you to the feeder insects who keep us happy and healthy!

Our metabolisms are much slower than yours, so you only need to feed us 1-2 times a week, though we need to eat more often when we’re younger.

Our food should be smaller than the space between our eyes!

We’re almost ready to meet, let’s just discuss a few more small things!

Every once in a while, you might see us in the tank with baggier looking skin, and we may be in an awkward pose trying to move our skin. This is called shedding, and it’s completely normal! We do this as we get bigger, like how you get new clothes as you grow! We eat the old skin once we get it off, so no worries about cleaning up! 

Please make sure you keep our tank clean! We can make a mess when we go to the bathroom, so wiping down our tank with a paper towel, and cleaning our water dish and decorations when they get dirty is a big help to us! Be careful with chemicals, though, and make sure anything they’ve been used on has been rinsed with clean water several times before letting us near them.

Tap water can sometimes have things that aren’t safe for us in them, so it’s good to use a tap water conditioner or dechlorinator on the water in our bowls and in our sprays! 

If you do decide to hold us, please be careful and let us climb on you! Our bodies are fragile and we can get hurt if you’re rough with us!

Glossary

Amphibian: An animal that starts life as an aquatic tadpole or larva and grows into a legged adult that usually can leave the water.

Arboreal: Living in or on trees.

Aquatic: Living in the water.

Calcium: A chemical that most animals need to digest to keep their bones and bodies healthy.

Carnivore: An animal that primarily or exclusively eats meat.

Ecosystem: An area where all the living things in it contribute to a healthy and safe area for those who live in it.

Frog: A tailless amphibian with muscular hindlegs for climbing, jumping, and swimming.

Habitat: The environment that a living thing lives in.

Insect: A small arthropod with 6 legs, 3 body segments, and often wings and antennae.

Metabolism: The speed at which an animal breaks down the food it eats.

Reptile: A scaly animal that doesn’t produce its own heat and lays eggs.

Shedding: The process of removing older skin as a reptile or amphibian grows.

Species: A specific type of living thing.

Tadpole: The legless, aquatic stage of an amphibian’s life after it hatches and before it becomes an adult. 

White’s Tree Frog: A large species of arboreal frog native to Australia and nearby islands.