Animal of The Week

Red Eyed Tree Frog



The following information was all taken from allaboutfrogs.org

Description:

Red Eyed Treefrogs have bright red eyes and are a really bright color of green with blue and yellow stripped sides. They also have funny looking orange toes. These are definitely one of the more beautiful species of frogs! (Very photogenic too!)

Habitat:

This species tends to do better in a community. Tall The Arboreal Tanks are the best bet for these guys. Oh, and also be sure to provide a means for them to get out of the water pond if they fall in. While they can swim, providing a branch or something is generally a good idea.
Read more information on this subject in the Housing Your Pet Frog section.
The temperature should be about 78-85° during the day and about any where from 66 to 77° at night. The humidity should be kept around 80-100%.
(see the Frog Doctor for details on illness prevention.)

Diet:

Like most frogs...they will eat fly's, moths grasshoppers, and possibly other small frogs. Crickets too! (See my page on Dealing with Crickets for more info.)

Habits:

These guys are ultra mellow! One time I went to a pet store and there was one sitting on the cash register!! I thought it was a toy, but then he BLINKED! As it turns out, they are nocturnal. (That's why their eyes are red! The color helps them see!) At night they ome out and climb around searching for bugs to eat for dinner.

Miscellaneous Facts:

Red-eyed tree frogs come from rain forests of Costa Rica in Central America. While lovely creatures and good breeding pets, I really, really recommend that this not be a good pet for beginners! They are pretty expensive and fairly delicate.
Why do they have such bright red eyes? Some believe that it is also a form of protection called "startle coloration". These frogs tend to be active at night, so if the frog is awakened in the daytime, as might happen if a predator chanced upon it despite its excellent day time camouflage, the eyes pop abruptly open. Since they are suddenly so bright, they startle the predator, who is likely to pause, if only for a moment. Big eyes staring at you could be those of an enemy, poised to attack. A moment's hesitation would be all the agile tree frog would need to make a leap to safety. Similar ruses are known in other animals. For example, some large moths have equally dramatic eye-like spots of color on their hind wings. Like the frog, they sleep in the day, and the camouflage-colored forewings cover the eyespots of the hind wings. But if such a moth is disturbed, it slides the front wings forward, suddenly revealing the dramatic eyespots on the hind wings. (thanks to Robert Madden for these interesting observations)