WTF Care
This White's Tree Frog care sheet was created as a collaboration between ReptiDonz & EZ as WTF. The information provided is proven to be successful, with happy and thriving frogs.
Keep in mind, when looking up care needs you will likely come across information that is different from what we've provided. Ultimately the decision as to what the proper care needs are falls into the owner's hands.
WTF Handling Information
IMPORTANT HANDLING INFORMATION!
Amphibians have very absorbent skin. Any residue on your hands can be dangerous. Therefore, while it is tempting, OVERHANDLING YOUR FROG CAN BE DETRIMENTAL TO ITS’ HEALTH!
Things like lotions, soaps, and even natural oils/salts on human skin can make your frog sick. You should always wash your hands properly BEFORE and AFTER touching your frog.
If you want to regularly handle your frogs, we highly recommend purchasing sterile latex gloves for their health and safety!
Side Note: When frightened, these frogs can and will shoot out urine at you with a surprising amount of accuracy and distance!
wtf feeding requirements
Whites tree frogs are insectivores. They eat a variety of insects like crickets,
roaches, worms, and other larvae, as well as other frogs and other small vertebrates, when they become larger in size. Whites tree frogs are very capable predators. Even as babies, they are able to take down prey of a substantial size.
When they are babies, Whites tree frogs seem to do very well on crickets ¼” in length within a few days of coming out of the water. The babies that freshly emerge from the water do not eat for the first 2-3 days of life because they are still absorbing their tails.
It is common for new keepers to look at how small the frog is and want to feed it pinhead crickets or fruit flies, but these options often fail
to grab the frog's attention.
Even the smallest Whites tree frog should be eating ¼” crickets. These frogs can easily take down 5-10 crickets in one sitting as babies, and adults can easily eat 50-100 crickets per frog per week.
As your frogs grow, their diet can widen in variety quite a bit, although crickets and roaches of a larger size make a great staple diet.
A good way to ensure that you’re feeding the appropriate sized prey is to look at the distance between the frogs’ eyes.
The prey item should be as big, or slightly larger than the distance between their eyes.
Baby frogs should be fed every one to two days.
Adults should be fed two to three times a week.
Main diet insects include crickets, Dubia, or Discoid roaches.
For babies 1/4th” crickets and Dubia or Discoid roach nymphs.
Pinhead crickets and fruit flies are TOO SMALL!
Supplementary insects include silk worms, wax worms, black soldier fly larvae, hornworms, and butter worms.
These options should be used ONLY as a SUPPLEMENT and NOT as a staple because they are not healthy in high quantities.
Increasing the size of the frog’s prey as they grow larger is crucial
WTF Water requirements
SAFE water options:
Tap Water: It MUST be treated with a water conditioner such as Zoomed Reptisafe, or Seachem Prime to dechlorinate the water.
Reverse Osmosis (RO) water: You MUST re-mineralize your water before you use it for your frogs.
If you don’t, the water can draw necessary minerals from the frog’s body and be fatal.
Spring water is a good source of water for your frogs.
Provide your frogs with a water dish large enough for them to soak in comfortably.
Water is the single most crucial part of keeping your White’s tree frog healthy!
These frogs are NOT from a tropical place; however, they do require water. Their enclosure should NEVER be wet.
It is vital that your frog has fresh water available to them at all times.
It is vital that you are aware of the type of water you are using and that you are using it properly.
Place your frog’s water basin in a spot that is easily accessible to be changed daily.
WTF Lighting & Heating Requirements
While heating needs can be very detrimental to most frog species, this does not apply to Whites Tree Frogs. As long as these frogs have access to clean water, they can cool themselves as needed and will not dry out due to the heat.
Not providing enough heat for your frog can lead to health problems and even death. These frogs can experience temperatures in their native range that fluctuate from 50℉ -100 ℉.
WTF’s are cold-blooded and cannot generate their own body heat. It is critical that your frogs have a proper heat gradient inside their enclosure that will allow them to thermoregulate and stay healthy.
Lights should be ON 12 hours and OFF 12 hours each day. You can turn your lights on when the sun comes up and turn them off when the sun sets. You can also plug your lights into a timer so that they come on and off automatically.
By default, providing the proper sized cage and basking area will create the appropriate temperature grade your WTF needs.
Heat is very beneficial to this species. It aids in digestion and fights off parasites and any other health issues you may experience.
Your WTF enclosure MUST have TWO types of lights; a basking bulb and a UVB light.
Basking bulb
Wattage needed will depend on your cage set-up.
Appropriate basking bulb options include daylight basking, daylight blue, an infrared heat lamp, or a ceramic heat emitter.
The basking area needs to be 85℉ - 90℉, while the cooler spots in the cage should be around 70℉ - 76 ℉.
5% - 6% tropical UVB light
We highly recommend the T5 bulbs as they will span the length of their cage and provide much better coverage.
The proper heating range can be set up in TWO ways.
Provide a taller enclosure (36”+) with a basking spot at the top, making the bottom cooler.
Provide a longer enclosure (36”+) and place the basking light on one side of the cage, allowing the other side to be cooler.
wtf humidity requirements
This is by far the thing that is most commonly misinterpreted when dealing with this particular species of frog. These frogs DO NOT like a wet environment. We cannot stress this enough.
THESE FROGS BENEFIT FROM A DRY ENVIRONMENT WITH A LARGE SOURCE OF FRESH WATER THAT THEY CAN GO AND USE AT THEIR LEISURE!
Whether you use paper towels or are 100% bioactive, we cannot stress this enough. Your cage’s substrate must be DRY, with a water bowl big enough to bathe in. The residual splashing that goes on from the bathing will be sufficient moisture for your substrate.
Focus on keeping your frog's enclosure dry so that an occasional mist does not make the environment wet but instead increases the humidity in the enclosure for a short period of time. It is easier to add humidity than remove it.
We are firm believers that your animals always tell you what is best!
Having too much humidity in a WTF enclosure is the #1 mistake made by first-time keepers.
You DO NOT want your enclosure to be wet in any form or fashion. A dry environment with a large water bowl will be more than enough to create the humidity that you need.
These frogs are from a fairly arid environment.
Too much humidity can quickly cause skin issues, like bacterial and fungal growth.
It is crucial to take into account your ambient environment.
If you are naturally in a humid area, you will likely have to be very vigilant about keeping your substrate dry.
If you’re naturally in a dryer area, you may find yourself misting your cage on occasion.
It is important to note that whoever is writing your care sheet, most likely, does not live in the same environment you do.
If you want to succeed with this species, stop fixating on humidity percentages and create a suitable option for them to choose.
wtf enclosure requirements
Caging is going to depend a great deal on the number of frogs that you’re keeping and the size of the frogs as well.
Adult Whites Tree Frogs can get quite large and will therefore need more space than their younger counterparts. It is standard practice to provide 20 gallons for your first adult and 10 additional gallons for each frog after that. These are arboreal animals, so they will use the height if it is given to them.
We have seen this species kept in something as large as a walk-in aviary-style enclosure for outdoor keepers and for keepers that are working indoors but do not want to be limited to the glass options available on the market. We recommend indoor grow tents that can be set up to be fully bioactive. Or, if you’re feeling very ambitious, you can convert a piece of furniture into an enclosure or just build one from scratch.
*** OR contact EZ as WTF to have a custom terrarium made for you! **
Baby WTF’s are tiny and can be delicate during this stage. It is recommended to keep your baby frog or frogs in a small 10-20 gallon tank.
Adults, because they don’t need to be observed so strenuously, you can provide as large of a space as you would like.
Don’t forget to reference the lighting and heating section when setting up your cage for the proper temperature gradient.
It is important that you give the frog sufficient space to move around and do all the basic things that frogs like to do.
As long as you meet these minimum cage requirements, you will have a happy and healthy frog!
wtf substrate requirements
We recommend two substrate options for your frogs; paper towels and bioactive.
When the frogs are young and small, or if they are sick, we recommend that you use a dry paper towel substrate so that you can monitor bowel movements and any other irregularities.
The bioactive option provides your frog with a more natural environment. For the substrate itself, we recommend ABG (Atlanta Botanical Gardens) Mix. Which is a mix of coconut fiber, peat moss, cypress mulch, orchid bark, orchid charcoal, tree fern fiber, sphagnum moss, and play sand.
We find this to be the most comprehensive bioactive mix, as it is ideal for microfauna development and maintenance. This mix is comprised of a few main ingredients, with some people adding or leaving out some ingredients based on the species it will be used for.
There are many commercial versions of this substrate available. Remember, the whole point of the substrate is to have large chunks of material to create pockets for the microfauna to thrive. A lot of the commercial versions use fine-grade ingredients, which tend to collapse within a few months in the enclosure.
After the layer of the bioactive mix, it is important to provide a generous layer of leaf litter. The larger the leaves, the better they seem to hold up against the large bodies of the Whites Tree Frog.
Paper towel substrate must stay clean and be changed out every 2-3 days.
Frequency of changing the paper towels will fluctuate depending on the number of frogs you are housing.
Bioactive substrate layers MUST be laid out in this order.
4" - 5" Drainage layer: Lava rock or LECA expanded clay pebbles.
Mesh layer: This allows water to filter through and the soil to stay in the upper level.
Bioactive mix with LARGE chunks of material: We recommend Atlanta Botanical Gardens (ABG) Mix.
Leaf litter: Bigger leaves for your leaf litter layer will provide better shelter and protection for your clean-up crew.
If you make the substrate yourself, not only will is it more economical, but you will get more of it. Also, a substrate made with larger chunks of material will last much longer in your enclosure.
If you are going with a bioactive substrate, using bigger leaves for your leaf litter layer will provide better shelter and protection for your clean-up crew.
WTF Cohabitating requirements
It is not uncommon to have many Whites tree frogs in one enclosure. It is crucial that you quarantine any new frogs before introducing them to your established frogs’ enclosures.
The quarantine period is to ensure the health of the animal you are receiving for the safety of the animals in your existing collection. Integrating your animals before this quarantine time can be tempting, but you will put your existing collection at risk of contracting any unknown illness or infection.
The other factor to consider when cohabitating with frogs is their size. White’s tree frogs are very capable of eating frogs that are small enough to fit in their mouth. If one frog is small enough to fit in the mouth of another frog, you should expect the smaller frog will get eaten.
The most important part about considering cohabitation with your frogs is their size and where they came from.
It should be standard practice that when you receive an animal from an outside source, such as another breeder, or importer, you should quarantine this animal for 6 months to 1 year before introducing it into your collection.
Once you are 110% sure that your new frog has been quarantined for long enough and passed all of the necessary tests, and they are comparable in size to your existing collection, you should have no problems integrating them as long as you have given them the appropriate amount of space.