# Frogs & Toads > Frogs >  Help with Northern Green Frogs? Set up and care suggestions?

## Opossum

Hey there..!

 I've got two green frogs (one male, one female) that are about 2 1/2 inches long. Right now they're in a temporary 10 gallon (i just moved into a new house, with pluming work + no appliances + only six pieces of furniture if you don't count the beds. Without bed frames...) with plans on a 20-long once we're settled. (I figure it's an upgrade regardless... They had been in a 1.5 gal Tupperware container with a rock and about a inch of green water. I have no clue how these folks justified that in their head.) Come spring i'm planning on digging out a pond for them and letting them stay in the back yard; but i'm not sure as it was about 30 mins from here where i got them from the people who first caught them. I don't want to risk introducing the local population to something; but i don't know where the other folks got them from so i don't know where to put them back to. Should i just keep them in a tank, or try building them a pond..?

Their tank is pretty bare right now:
A semi-large rock bowl for snakes/frogs. About the size of my hand fully splayed, they can hop out of it. It has de-chlorinated water.
That fake dirt made from coconut fiber (the name slips my mind right now), which i used de-chlorinated water to expand. It ranges from 5-2 inches deep. 
A large cleaned off rock for them to climb on. (Taken from the old home, we never used pesticides so i'm not worried about that.)
A probably 3 year old wooden half-log i bought for some reason or another, but never used... It's partly buried in the ground.
A small plastic lid for meal worms.
They have a UTH which is under the thickest area of substrait, because the only size they had was for a 30-40 tank, and my house is about 40 at night already, and we don't have heat... But they don't seem too hot; and the tank is 70-72 right now. They like to hang out on top of the heater (with about five inches in-between them and the heat).

I'm not sure how much to be feeding them. I put five crickets (Smalls) into the tank, and four small mealworms in.
The crickets were this big (aprox): -----
and the mealworms were each about this big: ----------

But they left a mealworm in their bowl, so i put it back into the fridge with the others.The crickets were dusted with Repti Calcium, i read a few places to do that once in awhile. I grabbed the mealworms because i wasn't sure just what they would be willing to eat; but it looks like they aren't going to be picky. I'm not sure what they had been eating in the tuperwear, but i did find larva of some sort in it (Not tadpoles). They get their water from those 'cricket water pillow packs'.

So, what do you guys suggest?
I'm new to frogs other than my red eye green tree frog i had as a kid, about eight or nine years ago. Beyond that i'd just been toads i'd catch from home to show kids for educational presentations, before letting go latter that day.

I was also wondering how much space for the crickets i'd be needing..? I have a mini kritter keeper, and i'm sort of thinking i should upgrade. It's 5.5'' high, 7.13'' long, and 4.38'' wide. I threw in some cardboard egg container bits so they could scurry around on them. They have dry dog kibble right now, untill i can make them some gut loader.

Sorry for so many questions; i'm just worried about the little guys.

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## elly

Sounds good. I'd try to find a care sheet with instructions on temperature and humidity for this particular species, but 70-72 F doesn't sound bad.

I'm assuming the people who had the frog before don't seem like the type to go out of their way to get a frog from a store or show. Thirty miles away, there _could_ be some disease that hasn't been introduced to ponds nearby, but I would personally risk it if I didn't want or couldn't find instructions on caring for a relatively local frog species.

As for crickets, it depends how many you want. With the egg container, they should have a little extra room to crawl. I personally keep mine in a tupperware box with a hole cut in the top and mesh hot-glued over it.

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Cliygh and Mia 2

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## Dimmer Jester

For leopard frogs I recommend making an aquatic habitat. They feel safer swimming around. Mine would go underwater whenever it was scared. You could just put up at least 3 inches of water and some land. I don't even bother with bowls and mealworms. I just feed mine earthworms.

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## Dimmer Jester

Sorry, meant green frogs.

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## AAron

The bigger the tank the better. A 70-30 water to land tank would be great for them. I would think that around 4-5 small crickets every 3-5 days would be reasonable, dusted every other feed. I would try to stay away from mealworms. Earthworms and crickets are the best. Wax worms can be added but not a staple diet. That will get them fat. A clamp light woul be good also because these frogs are out in the day. Idk about if a UVB light would be necessary, someone else can answer that. A light would cycle day and night for them also. If you don't plan on keeping them then never mind any of this. Just in case you do, i hope I helped! 


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## Toadpher

Hi Opossum,

I keep two Northern Green Frogs in my 60g paludarium, along with an Eastern American Toad and some fish.  It sounds like you are on the right track.  I hope you don't release them back into the wild, if they have been raised in captivity for any amount of time.  As for care, they are pretty easy.  I keep temp anywhere from 68-80 degrees F (depending on time of year), humidity at or above 50%.  They are semi-aquatic and feel most comfortable having a large body of water to jump into if startled ( this is their natural instinctive behavior).  They also feel most comfortable with live plants to hide in and a rock cave to sleep in during the day.  I feed mine crickets as their staple diet, usually 3-5 large every few days. Feed them at dusk or night, as they are most active at these times. I'd limit the amount of hard-shelled inverts like mealworms, as they can get constipated, earthworms are a nice treat from time to time.  I haven't been able to find any definitive documentation if they need UVB or not, so I run a Reptisun 10.0 UVB bulb, just in case.  Over all they are great frogs for keeping and have lots of personality. 

Here are a few pictures of my setup and pets!  :Smile: 



Kira



Dudley, the alpha.



and Mr. Toad, just because.  :Smile:

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Cliygh and Mia 2, monster

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## Toadpher

It's also recommend you hibernate them for at least 3 months out of the year for optimal health.

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## AAron

> It's also recommend you hibernate them for at least 3 months out of the year for optimal health.


That one is up to the owners. If they feel they can pull it off and want to mate, it's the best option. I'm not going to hibernate my animals. They are going to have a chance to be active all year like last year. The toads have gone dormant for a few weeks to months but it's on their own power. I have read a lot about failed attempts to hibernate. I believe that I can give my Toads and Leopard Frog a happy long life, I don't trust myself hibernating them. If your going to hibernate your animals I stress asking on here how to do it so you do it right instead of have to get new frogs. 


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## Toadpher

Absolutely. Not required by any means and I haven't attempted to do it myself. I just read it was recommended. It does seem rather risky though. 

I want a leopard frog!  :Smile:  I love their coloration and patterning.





> That one is up to the owners. If they feel they can pull it off and want to mate, it's the best option. I'm not going to hibernate my animals. They are going to have a chance to be active all year like last year. The toads have gone dormant for a few weeks to months but it's on their own power. I have read a lot about failed attempts to hibernate. I believe that I can give my Toads and Leopard Frog a happy long life, I don't trust myself hibernating them. If your going to hibernate your animals I stress asking on here how to do it so you do it right instead of have to get new frogs. 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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## AAron

Leopard Frogs are fun. They are little piggys though. 


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