# Frogs & Toads > Frogs >  Wood frogs in captivity?

## LazyEyedFroggie

I'm just wondering if a wood frog tadpole, wild caught, could be successfully raised in captivity? I've heard that wood frogs are one of the hardest frogs to keep alive in captivity, despite their hardiness in the wild.

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## Autumn

That is true, they are one of the hardest frogs to keep in captivity and they don't live that long either (5 years max). Some people say that they make good starter frogs and others will argue. In my opinionas I currently have 5 Wood frogsI would first get some frog experience under your belt if you havent already. They are hard to adjust to the tank life when they are wild caught. However, the younger they are when captured the better, as they adjust more easily. 

I dont know how hard it would be to raise one as a tadpole, but it can be done. If decide you want one as an adult or juvenile, I can help you. Just tell me what you want to know.

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## LazyEyedFroggie

:Smile:  thanks, currently I've recuperated an adult wood frog with a severe eye injury in a 10 gallon tank, I let her go after a couple of weeks. I currently have two 1/2 inch wood froglets in the 10 gallon, with plastic plants, a shallow water dish, and some stuff for climbing/hiding. I'm feeding them gutloaded pinhead crickets. I know most of the things I need to, I would just like some tips for keeping a wood frog alive for a good long time?  :Smile:  Thanks

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## Autumn

From what I’ve observed from the past seven years in keeping wood frogs, is that they prefer a heavily planted terrarium; but they do just fine in a setup as you described above, so long as they have plenty of hiding places (Wood frogs become really stressed without sufficient security). They also are very communal frogs, as they have strong kin recognition, so its good that you have them together in the 10 gal tank. Wood frogs are quite calm in the terrarium. But, when there’s a storm in the forecast, these frogs have the tendency to become very hyper active and will climb and hop excessively  :Smile: .

For feeding, crickets are the best choice, so thumbs up for that. They can eat mealworms, but not in large quantities. Oddly, wax worms and earth worms do not settle well with Woodies….they get a lot of digestive problems, such as chronic diaherria. 
Temperatures should be kept in the 70’s for the day and 60’s at night. They do not tolerate heat well and if kept in hot temperatures for long periods of time, acquire dropsy. Humidity levels should be maintained at 60-70%.

Vitamin dosages and what types of vitamins to use, is a major issue in keeping Wood frogs. They can acquire MBD really easily without proper vitamins. However, after careful observations, I have found that T-Rex’s Tree Frog Dust ICB (Insect Cricket Balancer) is the best for Woodies. It contains all natural ingredients, such as rose hip extract, yucca extract, and marigold. Sadly though, I believe that they stopped making this product. You could find something similar to this, unless you already have something that really works (if you do please tell me  :Big Grin: ). To keep your Wood frogs healthy, juveniles should be given crickets dusted with vitamins at least 3 times a week. Adults do well with 1 to 2 dosages a week. 

Anyways, these are some of the basics in keeping Wood frogs healthy for the longest that they can live. I might add a few more tips at a later time, but I hope this is sufficient for now  :Smile: . Tell me, did you find these Wood frogs now during the fall…..I have tried to catch some at this time before and have found zero, as they are in pre-hibernation stage, buried under the leaf litter. If you did, then maybe I should get some fall season catching tips from you lol  :Big Grin: !

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## LazyEyedFroggie

They get along very well, so I definately agree that they are a more social frog  :Frog Smile:  I suppose I could an actual cave-like hide, as well as the plants. Will the ten gallon be large enough once they are both adults? 
I'll occasionally feed them a mealworm or two, as soon as I find some that are small enough.  
My house has poor insulation and heating, so they are kept at about 65 at night and 72 in the day, depending on the time of year. They are usually in a shady area of my room, with a lamp on for a few hours.
I currently just have Fluckers Calcium supplement (a powdered form for dusting crickets). What are the specific vitamins that they need in a supplement? Any brand you could reccomend that is still being made?
Actually, yes, I did find them in early fall. The pond they were in didn't have much algea/plant material to eat, so they didn't transorm as fast as they could have. The pond wasn't a really good one either, it rapidly srunk, and somehow got contaminated.  :Frown:  Luckilly most of them were metamorphs by then. There aren't really any tips I can give, except hope that you stumble across a slightly unfortunate freak of nature! 
Again, thank-you so much more the tips!

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## Autumn

Once they reach adulthood, a 10 gallon tank should suffice, but a 15-20 gallon tank is preferable. I currently have two adult male Woodies in a 10 gal and they do just fine. I also had a pair of females in 20 gallon tank once and they appeared to enjoy the large amount of space. Either way, make sure the tank is longer than it is tallyou probably already know that though  :Smile: . 

What kind of lamp is it that you use? Is it a UVB/UVA spectrum bulb? Maybe increase the hours you have the lamp on. I usually leave my hood lamp on for 8 hours a day. Unless youre frogs do fine with your lighting schedule, leave it. 

Vitamin D3 and calcium are very important components in a Wood frogs diet. They seem to better with all natural type ingredients in their supplements though. As a result of the ICB Dust being discontinued, I am searching for another reliable brand and will have to get back to you that, sorry  :Frown: . Here is a list of ingredients that is contained in the ICB Dust that you could reference though: Calcium caseinate (source of isolated protein), calcium carbonate, honey powder, dicalcium phosphate, defatted wheat germ meal, alfalfa meal, bee pollen, spirulina algae, rosehips powder, haemotococcus algae, marigold extract, kelp meal, rosemary extract, yucca extract, natural mixed tocopherols (as a preservative), vitamin A acetate, d-activated animal sterol (source of vitamin D3), dried aspergillus oryzae fermentation extract, dried aspergillus niger fermentation extract, dried lactobacillus fermentation product, dried bifidobacterium thermophilum fermentation product, dried bifidobacterium longum fermentation product, dried enterococcus faecium fermentation product and dried bacillus subtilis fermentation product.

That is strange about the pond.I wonder how it got contaminated (maybe by human stupidly lol). At least they metamorphosed in time and you found them! There are virtually no Wood frogs to be found here once fall hits, so yeah I guess I would have to stumble across some freak of nature lol. You are very welcome for the tips and if you need any more help, let me know and Ill try to get back to you soon  :Smile: .

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## LazyEyedFroggie

Alright, and yes I do know that  :Frog Smile:  It's a UVA lamp, they like the shade a lot actually, but I'll increase the hours of lighting. I'll look around for a supplement with similar ingredients. Hopefully I'll find one. Are you familiar with the brand Flukers? If so, do you trust it? 
I'm not exactly sure how it got contaminated, by my main concern is that the morphlings tried to use that as their main water source and died from it  :Frown: 
Also, is carpeting a good substrate for them, or should I use paper towel/moss?

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## BG

Wow autumn , you really have it down packed to a science. There you go true life info.

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## Autumn

If you do find a supplement, please do tell me  :Smile: . Flukersoh yes actually they make a really good cricket gut loading formulacricket quencher with calciumin a gel form. I think it is a good product and would recommend it. I havent looked into their vitamin supplements yet, however: P.

It depends on what kind of carpeting it is. I know that frog safe carpeting exists at some pet stores, but I never actually seen or used it. Wet paper towel is good for temporary setups, but needs to be changed frequently. The best kind of substrate to use, in my opinion, is coconut fiber soil; Zoo Med sells this in expandable brick form. Its called Zoo Meds Eco Earth Compressed Coconut Fiber expandable substrate (thats big for a name lol). My Woodies love to burrow down into it. Yes, moss is excellent choice as they like to hide in it as well. I usually place a 1-2 inch layer of coco soil in the terrarium and put some moss on top of that.
Too bad about those morphings  :Frown:  makes me sad.

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## Autumn

> Wow autumn , you really have it down packed to a science. There you go true life info.


Yeah lol, made sure I made detailed obsevations. When I first caught my Wood frogs, I couldn't find any care info anywhere and had to learn from experience. Maybe I should make a Wood frog care sheet for the forum  :Smile: .

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## LazyEyedFroggie

I've been thinking about feeding my crickets that, is it good for mealworms too? It's just a cut section of actual house carpet. I'll switch over to coco-fiber soon, as long as there isn't risk of impaction for the little ones? I'll also put sphagnum or peat moss over parts of it  :Smile:  and you certainly should write a wood frog care sheet! They're very hard to find, and don't have many details, I'm sure you could write a great one! :Frog Smile:

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## Autumn

I have never thought about that. That sounds like a good idea and maybe you should try it. I have fed my mealworms apples, honey, oats, and flax seed before. When I first used coco fiber that was my worry too, so I understand your concern. Sometimes, during feeding Wood frogs will accidently swallow coco fiber. Mine have several timesand I became very worriedbut they seemed to digest it just fine or they just upchucked it. If you make sure that there are no clumps in the soil and you keep it moist, so it doesnt stick to their skin as much, then you should be fine. If however, you find that during every feeding your frogs shallow large amounts of soil, you could place them in a wet paper towel lined container for feeding. I do this for one of my adult male Woodies.he has vision problems and is sometimes unable to catch his food fast enough. As a result, the other frogs get his crickets or he gets a mouthful of dirt  :Stick Out Tongue: .

Thank you  :Smile: ! I agree they can be hard to find!

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## LazyEyedFroggie

I'll try feeding it to the mealworms, currently I just have a potato in their container. I think I will use a separate tank for feeding, just because they're so small and impaction would be easier for them. Plus they're young and still haven't figured out exactly how to aim their tongue.  :Frog Smile:  The frog that I released actually hops pretty close to me when I pass by her pond. It's a good chance for me to see if she's getting enough food even with only one eye. If she appears malnourished I may bring her back into captivity temporarily for easily available food. Let me know if/when you make a Wood Frog caresheet!  :Smile:

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## Autumn

Understandable  :Smile:  and I know what you mean.....they're young and inexperienced in catching food lol.
That's cool that the frog you rehabilitated recognizes you and comes up to you. It shows that frogs have intelligence and can remember things. If you notice that she doesn't start to hibernate soon or like you said, appears malnourished, that would be a good idea to bring her back in and maybe safe her life again  :Smile: .  

I will definitely let you know if/when I make the WF care sheet  :Smile: !

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## LazyEyedFroggie

Lol it usually takes them about four tries before they catch the crickets, but they're getting better at it. I know it's very cool! And they are actually very intelligent creatures.  :Smile:  She seems ok for now, but I still should keep my eye on her. Should I bring her back in if she doesn't start to hibernate pretty soon?
Thanks!!

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## Autumn

Welcome! Ha-ha, my littlest one does that too  :Smile: . I totally agree with you, they are very intelligent creatures! After a while, my Woodies recognized the shape of my hand and nearly every feeding time start to flick out their tongues, even before I put the crickets in there! Its funny. They also, once they get comfortable with their surroundings, will even accept food from your hand. 

If you still see her as it gets colder and nearly all the leaves have fallen off the trees, then I would say yes, it might be a good idea to bring her back in  :Smile: .

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## LazyEyedFroggie

Awww! That's adorable! Hopefully mine will accept it from my hand soon.  :Embarrassment:  Should I hibernate her inside or just let her stay at normal temperatures?

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## Autumn

Lol  :Smile: , they should within a few months. I have read that it's not advisible to try and hibernate a Wood frog in captivity, because it could result in an unwanted death to the frog. So I would keep her under normal temperatures. That's what I do anyways  :Smile: .

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## LazyEyedFroggie

:Smile:  thanks. Where did you read it? (Just curious)  :Smile:

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## Autumn

Welcome  :Smile: . 
Ooo, honestly I've read so many articles on Wood frogs that I don't really know  :Frown: . Sorry about that. If you want I can try to find it and get back to you.

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## LazyEyedFroggie

It's fine  :Smile:  I just heard someone else say that it reduces their life expectancy if they don't hibernate. Hopefully they're wrong  :Frog Smile:  I trust you a lot, you obviously know tons about these beautiful frogs!

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## BG

It has to get really cold for them to hibernate?.

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## BG

I heard the same thing from people well deep in to amphibious.

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## LazyEyedFroggie

It's fine  :Smile:  thank-you so much for everything! I was just wondering about hibernation because someone said that their life span shortens if they don't hibernate... but I'm sure you're more reliable than them!  :Frog Smile:

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## Autumn

> It's fine  I just heard someone else say that it reduces their life expectancy if they don't hibernate. Hopefully they're wrong  I trust you a lot, you obviously know tons about these beautiful frogs!


That’s an interesting statement that they told you; I have often pondered on this thought. It has yet to be proven, if it's even true :P.  In the wild, wood frogs have a short life of 3-4 years. I had my first Woodies for about 4 years; however, they were adults when I caught them meaning that they could have lived anywhere from 5 to 7 years. 
Oh yes, I made sure I learned as much as I could about these wondrous frogs and it helped too to live by a pond and observe their behaviors /habits  :Smile: .

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## Autumn

> It's fine  thank-you so much for everything! I was just wondering about hibernation because someone said that their life span shortens if they don't hibernate... but I'm sure you're more reliable than them!


Aww you're very welcome :Embarrassment: !!! Have fun with your Woodies!

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## Autumn

> It has to get really cold for them to hibernate?.


So in about late August, Wood frogs go into a mass migration of up to 3 km to get to higher/dryer grounds, than that of the pond area. When fall hits—thus getting colder—and as soon as there is enough leave litter, they go into the “pre-hibernation” stage, where they bury themselves into the litter and soil. Once it snows their anti-freeze like chemical in their blood kicks in, allowing them to survive below freezing temps. Between the pre-hibernation stage and the first snow fall, the temperatures range from 15-50 F.

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## LazyEyedFroggie

:Smile:  That's wonderful that yours have lived so long! You're definately doing everything right!  :Frog Smile:

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## Autumn

Thanks, I try to.  :Embarrassment:

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