Owning a Red Eyed Friend,The Red Eyed Tree Frog

The Red eyed tree frog is probably one of the best known species of frogs (outside the poisonous dart frogs). These are merry little fellows that have bright red eyes and a brilliant green body with blue and yellow stripes going down the sides, just a beautiful little creature.

The Red Eyed tree frog actually gets its red eyes when it reaches adulthood, as I mentioned, a bright green covers most of the body while blue and yellow add a little extra color; the Red Eyed tree frog usually has blue legs and his feet are either red or orange. Everybody knows that the chameleon can change his color to blend with the environment or to let everybody know how he is feeling, well, the Red Eyed tree frog can do this as well, they can change their color from a dark green to a reddish color. I bet you didn’t know that…one other thing about these frogs is that they also resemble the Gecko in the fact that they have little tiny suction cup toe pads…that is so cool!

The Red Eyed tree frog can be two to three inches in length, the female is usually a little bit bigger then the male; there is a good reason for that though because mating is a tough job for the female tree frog.

At first, a male will start singing and after a few minutes all the other males in the area will join in each hoping to attract a female with his beautiful song…while he is singing, the male tree frog will hop around and start to establish his territory; if by some chance he runs into another Red Eyed tree frog male, then the standoff will begin, at first they will try to intimidate the other into submission but if this does not work, they will get into a wrestling match and the stronger usually wins.

Eventually the female will come out of hiding and that is when the real action begins, all the males that have been waiting and singing for her for so long will all jump on the female frog’s back then they hold on and get dragged around, sometimes for days until the female finds a spot that is safe enough to lay the eggs, then all the males that have resisted so far get to be the proud fathers of the little babies.

The Red Eyed tree frogs do not lay their eggs in the water like so many other species do; instead they lay the eggs on the underside of leaves that are hanging over a body of water…when the tadpoles come out of the egg sack, they fall into the water and start their new life…they will start to become adult frogs in around 70 to 85 days.

In the wild, these frogs can be found in South America and in Central America…the good thing though is that you do not have to go all the way to South America just to see the Red Eyed tree frog. For starters you can find pictures on the internet or watch him on Discovery channel…or you can go down to the pet shop and get one for yourself, then you can really begin to enjoy and appreciate these tiny little creatures.

If you are planning on getting one of these little guys for yourself, just remember that this is something that is not recommended for beginners…these frogs require somebody that has some experience because they are very delicate.

The best habitat to provide for your little friend is one that has some little branches and things in it, try to provide a little water pond for the frog…although if you do that, make sure you also provide a way for him to climb out (why tempt fate?).

Make sure that you keep the temperature in the tank at about 78 to 85 degrees during the day and at night bring it down to about ten degrees less then that, keep the humidity at 75-100%. Even though these frogs eat almost anything that they can fit in to their mouth in the wild, the thing that you will want to feed them will be meal worms and crickets that you can buy at the pet shop.

However, you decide to design the tank and whatever you want to feed him, I’m sure that you will never regret getting a Red Eyed tree frog!