I want frogs, what do i need to do?

[maddie]

the ones im thinking of getting are Litoria raniformis/southern bell frogs

 

[fishcatch22]

Good luck, from what the Wikipedia article indicates, they're endangered in their natural habitat, and therefore may be difficult/illegal to obtain:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_bell_frog

 

[maddie]

strange, they aren't illegal here (in NZ) they sell them everywhere here. i might be wrong on the breed, they are the frogs in the link in my second post, which is an online trading site here.

 

[fishcatch22]

I believe what you have there is the closely related Green and Gold bell frog:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_and_Golden_Bell_Frog, which is not endangered and is in fact an introduced species in NZ, which would explain it's common-ness.

 

[maddie]

well thats good to know, had me scared for a minute! now just to decide what to put in the tank and how to make it look cool.. how many of these frogs do you think i could put in the 65 gallon?

 

[fishcatch22]

I'd say 5-6 would do fine, but I'm not very experienced with herps from outside the US, and I'm mostly going on max adult size and how big a tank I would attempt one in (10g). My guessing is they're locally common and probably not commonly kept internationally.

 

[maddie]

awesome, im pretty excited about this. do you have to cycle the water like you do with fish tanks?? im sorry if im being a pain asking so many questions, i just want to do this right!

 

[fishcatch22]

Not really, but it helps, because an excess of wastes can harm them, or make ideal conditions for diseases to develop. I recommend doing research on their wild habitats, and designing the water/land ratio accordingly; asking the breeder how he keeps his would also be a good idea.

 

[maddie]

cool thanks, the research begins!

 

[wespastor]

yeah it seems that way, cheaper to set up to i imagine. do they need heating or anything like that? or lighting for that matter? any kind of filtration in the water? do you have to do water changes etc? i am totally clueless..

I have discovered that tanks, of whatever nature, can be as expensive or in expensive as one can afford. The hobby is for enjoyment. If one is looking to set up a realistic vivarium with plants and the like, (a living diarama), it could get quite expensive.

They will need some type of heat and UVB lighting and definately water filtration to a greater degree than that of fish. and water changes are still necessary and more frequently.

I am not a herp person myself. But this I learned from reading and researching for backgrounds on my Terrarium. Other's tanks are just amazing.

See my build here: http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=220587

and here: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/v...-introduction-build-125-gallon-terrarium.html

Thanks for looking.

Best wishes

Wes