# Frogs & Toads > Tree Frogs >  Neon green spot on Whites Tree Frogs head.

## Eterna

So I work at a pet store and over the months there I had been eyeing up one of the Whites Tree Frogs we had, I finally decided to take him home with me and he has now been with me for two days.

His enclosure temps and humidity are all good and he was eating perfectly fine when I fed him at the pet store two days ago (I haven't feed him since because I wanted to give him time to settle). Tonight when I looked at him I noticed a neon green spot on his head so I naturally decided to google what it could be and got so many varying answers that it's impossible to actually discern what the spot could be, some info I got said they could be caused by stress or dehydration, other info implored me to seek out veterinary help immediately or my frog would die.

So I've decided to come here and get some opinions from experts, what do you guys think they could be? I really wan't to be optimistic and just chalk it up to him being stressed because of being in a new environment. Also something else to note, instead of sleeping on the glass like he did in the petstore he instead opted to sleep under the moss in his tank, could they be related?

Any advice at all would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

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## Lynn

Keep a very close eye on him.
The stress during the adjustment to a new enclosure predisposes them to opportunistic illnesses
when their 'resistance' is down.
Have a herp vet on-hand!
Cover three sides of this tank and keep things as quite as possible.

Sometimes during color changes there are spots that appear temporarily

Post a photo if possible  , please   :Smile: 

*"sleep under the moss in his tank"*
 1) a whites sleeping under the moss is likely an indication the humidity is too low despite this species can tolerate variables
**** be sure he has a clean, shallow water dish ( to soak)  ( water to his chin ) filled w de-chlorinated water ( change it daily when he is asleep ... so he is not disturbed ) 
2) *???moss??? what moss ???  If you have sphagnum moss in the frog's enclosure ( as many big box pet chains do ) remove it asap as it can cause intestinal blockage if ingested accidently*  :Frog Surprise: 

3) be sure he is warm enough !

Plain white paper towel can be used for substrate / dampened w de-chlorinated water temporarily or permanently

 :Butterfly:

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## Eterna

> Keep a very close eye on him.
> The stress during the adjustment to a new enclosure predisposes them to opportunistic illnesses
> when their 'resistance' is down.
> Have a herp vet on-hand!
> Cover three sides of this tank and keep things as quite as possible.
> 
> Sometimes during color changes there are spots that appear temporarily
> 
> Post a photo if possible  , please  
> ...


I'll get a picture of him tonight when he comes out.

As for the humidity I suppose my dial could be wrong, I'm using one of those crappy exo terra compass looking ones. But I feel almost like humidity may be too high as today I woke up and had to clean white fuzz from some of the decorations. 

He does have a rather large bowl in his tank and I can tell he is using it because in the morning before I change it I can see some of the substrate in it. 

As for the moss, I know it can cause impaction if accidentally ingested but he is only fed with feeder tongs so I just assumed it wouldn't be an issue? I may just switch it out anyways because the only reason I was using it as for extra humidity.

Also a few follow up questions:

Could he be hiding under the moss because he doesn't feel secure enough in the plants I have in his tank? Would it be worth purchasing a hide that sticks higher up in the tank?

Are there visual signs I could look for to judge is humidity is correct until I am able to purchase a digital hygrometer?

Thank you very much for the advice!

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## Heather

... Waiting to see pics.

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## elly

It's pretty hard to tell humidity just from looking at a tank. Condensation on the sides might help, but that's pretty high humidity, I don't know if you'd want to keep it that high.


Your frog might be hiding because of fear of being in a new place. Wrapping three sides of the tank with paper might make her feel a little more secure for now. Or you could buy a hide if you want to.

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## Eterna

Hey guys, good news the green dots went away. He must have just been changing color and as per usual I just assumed the worse. 

I finally got a proper hygrometer and for the last few days I've been battling humidity that is too high. As soon as I mist the tank it shoots up to about 80% humidity and over the course of the night it steadily drops to 50 and I'm forced to mist it again and repeat the cycle. I'm not really sure how to stop it from getting so humid in there.

Also here is a picture of him, his name in Winston. 



His nose looks a weird color with the flash on. Is it bruised or something? Actually the more I stare at it the less I like the look of it...

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## Heather

Yes, I agree. I think he was stressed. It looks as though he is trying to sneak out. His nose and lip are bruised. That is generally caused by them trying to push up out of the tank. 

Do you have a photo of his tank so we can see if there's anything that we could recommend? 

Get some plain, original Neosporin in case he scratches open his nose. Original only, none with pain relievers - the pain reliever type is toxic to them. Pick up some soft ended Qtips too. 

The humidity of 80% with mid day drops to 50% is okay for Whites tree frogs. Just mist again at bedtime  :Smile: . Be sure he has a nice water dish of fresh dechlorinated water each day for hydrating.

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## Eterna

> Yes, I agree. I think he was stressed. It looks as though he is trying to sneak out. His nose and lip are bruised. That is generally caused by them trying to push up out of the tank. 
> 
> Do you have a photo of his tank so we can see if there's anything that we could recommend? 
> 
> Get some plain, original Neosporin in case he scratches open his nose. Original only, none with pain relievers - the pain reliever type is toxic to them. Pick up some soft ended Qtips too. 
> 
> The humidity of 80% with mid day drops to 50% is okay for Whites tree frogs. Just mist again at bedtime . Be sure he has a nice water dish of fresh dechlorinated water each day for hydrating.


Okay I'll post some pics of his tank when I get home! I don't think he's trying to get out anymore, I remember the second night I brought him home he was climbing all over the tank walls and such, it must have happened then. When I look into his tank now he is either sitting on his branch in the pic above or by his water dish.

Thank you very much for the advice btw!

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## Eterna

So here is my set up, suggestions for improvement are very welcome!

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## elly

80% shouldn't be too bad as long as it doesn't stay 80 all the time. I think the same thing's true of 50% humidity. It looks like you have lots of plants for a frog to hide in, so that's good.

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## Stephanie

I currently own 3 wtf and all the research I've done says moss is a big issue with the way the frogs feed. It causes impactions and digestive problems. I switched to reptile carpet and have had good luck but I have to work to keep my humidity up. Usually not an issue with a few sprays of water a few times a day. Keep an eye on the brusing and monitor poop to make sure the frog is passing there food ok. Carpet and paper towels make a very easy to keep track of bowel movements. Easy spot cleanup aswell! Hope this helps. Happy frogging

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## irThumper

White's tree frogs do well with humidity between 40%-60%; it's normal for the humidity to go up after misting, but you definitely don't want it to stay 70%-80%+ for any great length of time, and under 40% is really too dry.

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## Eterna

> I currently own 3 wtf and all the research I've done says moss is a big issue with the way the frogs feed. It causes impactions and digestive problems. I switched to reptile carpet and have had good luck but I have to work to keep my humidity up. Usually not an issue with a few sprays of water a few times a day. Keep an eye on the brusing and monitor poop to make sure the frog is passing there food ok. Carpet and paper towels make a very easy to keep track of bowel movements. Easy spot cleanup aswell! Hope this helps. Happy frogging


As I said earlier, I know moss can cause impaction during feeding, but my frog is only tong fed so he is never anywhere near the moss when I feed him. I will definitely keep and eye on him though, and yes, he has been pooping!

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## Frogger00

Sounds like you're doing a good job caring for him! Green spots are nothing to worry about unless there are other symptoms such as not eating. It just means they are maturing, similar to the white spots you might see. The nose rub is just something to keep an eye on, as long as the skin doesn't break as others have said. The moss should be okay if you tong feed. If you want to be on the safer side, you can put the damp moss in a cup or container with air holes in the lid, so that way neither humidity  or impaction is an issue. 


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## Eterna

Ugh, the little guy is stressing me out. His temps are fine, his humidity is fine, I've provided a hide and plenty of plant cover and yet he still insists on sleeping under the moss during the day and then pressing his nose trying to escape his enclosure at night. Does anyone have any other ideas? His bruised nose wont heal if he continues to do this >.<.

I'm thinking maybe it might be my fault for tinkering in there too much, my hands coming in and installing hides and proper hygrometers and such probably hasn't helped things.

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## StickyFrogfeet

try a magnatural hide ledge and side ledges to give him something to do.thats an idea i heard they were awesome.

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## Scott Bogard

For the record, I don't think it is a problem per-se if he insists on sleeping under the moss, it just means he is adapting to his environment in the way he sees fit.  The trying to escape however is troubling.  Here is my two cents, and if I'm breaking rules here I apologize, but stop misting.  I don't mist my guys, they come from Australia, which is pretty dry, and to combat this they secrete a waxy film, that holds in moisture.  The tarantula keeping community as a whole is starting to look down on misting, because spiders hate getting sprayed, and it causes humidity spikes, as you have seen.  However they have found that humidity can be easily pumped up for tropical species by limiting air circulation, and increasing the surface area of wet items (like moss) in the tank.  My guess is froggie is getting directly or indirectly misted, which is washing off his wax, and so he feels dry and tries to leave once the humidty drops from misting.  Sure he could soak in the water bowl to keep wet, but what self respecting tree frog wants to live in the water bowl every night, when he could be exploring and find that place that is just right? My advice is to cover half of your screen top with saran wrap, and just keep the substrate moist and see how the humidity does.  You can mist once in a while to make it feel like nature, but remember it doesn't rain every night in Australia.  Keep in mind, my two cents is theory here, he may be bothered by noise or smells or any number of things, this is just the only conclusion I can make with the clues provided, and since it goes against convention, try at your own risk...

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## Frogger00

> For the record, I don't think it is a problem per-se if he insists on sleeping under the moss, it just means he is adapting to his environment in the way he sees fit.  The trying to escape however is troubling.  Here is my two cents, and if I'm breaking rules here I apologize, but stop misting.  I don't mist my guys, they come from Australia, which is pretty dry, and to combat this they secrete a waxy film, that holds in moisture.  The tarantula keeping community as a whole is starting to look down on misting, because spiders hate getting sprayed, and it causes humidity spikes, as you have seen.  However they have found that humidity can be easily pumped up for tropical species by limiting air circulation, and increasing the surface area of wet items (like moss) in the tank.  My guess is froggie is getting directly or indirectly misted, which is washing off his wax, and so he feels dry and tries to leave once the humidty drops from misting.  Sure he could soak in the water bowl to keep wet, but what self respecting tree frog wants to live in the water bowl every night, when he could be exploring and find that place that is just right? My advice is to cover half of your screen top with saran wrap, and just keep the substrate moist and see how the humidity does.  You can mist once in a while to make it feel like nature, but remember it doesn't rain every night in Australia.  Keep in mind, my two cents is theory here, he may be bothered by noise or smells or any number of things, this is just the only conclusion I can make with the clues provided, and since it goes against convention, try at your own risk...


Agreed! 


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## Eterna

> For the record, I don't think it is a problem per-se if he insists on sleeping under the moss, it just means he is adapting to his environment in the way he sees fit.  The trying to escape however is troubling.  Here is my two cents, and if I'm breaking rules here I apologize, but stop misting.  I don't mist my guys, they come from Australia, which is pretty dry, and to combat this they secrete a waxy film, that holds in moisture.  The tarantula keeping community as a whole is starting to look down on misting, because spiders hate getting sprayed, and it causes humidity spikes, as you have seen.  However they have found that humidity can be easily pumped up for tropical species by limiting air circulation, and increasing the surface area of wet items (like moss) in the tank.  My guess is froggie is getting directly or indirectly misted, which is washing off his wax, and so he feels dry and tries to leave once the humidty drops from misting.  Sure he could soak in the water bowl to keep wet, but what self respecting tree frog wants to live in the water bowl every night, when he could be exploring and find that place that is just right? My advice is to cover half of your screen top with saran wrap, and just keep the substrate moist and see how the humidity does.  You can mist once in a while to make it feel like nature, but remember it doesn't rain every night in Australia.  Keep in mind, my two cents is theory here, he may be bothered by noise or smells or any number of things, this is just the only conclusion I can make with the clues provided, and since it goes against convention, try at your own risk...


Half of my lid is covered in wrap and I only mist the moss though. I mist the substrate/moss in the morning and when I get home, it drops to about 45% humidity. I know where he sleeps in the moss so I never mist there because I don't wan't to disturb him.

I guess the only explanation is that he's upset about the rapid increase in humidity, it spikes to about 80% and then decreases to 45% by the morning. I'm finding it impossible to keep it at 50%-60% consistently. It spikes then gradually decreases in a cycle.

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## Frogger00

> Half of my lid is covered in wrap and I only mist the moss though. I mist the substrate/moss in the morning and when I get home, it drops to about 45% humidity. I know where he sleeps in the moss so I never mist there because I don't wan't to disturb him.
> 
> I guess the only explanation is that he's upset about the rapid increase in humidity, it spikes to about 80% and then decreases to 45% by the morning. I'm finding it impossible to keep it at 50%-60% consistently. It spikes then gradually decreases in a cycle.


It's okay if it drops below 50-60%. Would it be at a constant humidity of 50% in the wild? No. In my opinion having a bit of a range is a good thing, it simulates their natural environment. Every once in a while I like to make it "rain" in the tank and it gets the boys talking lol.


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## Scott Bogard

In that case I might cover some more of the lid, maybe three quarters.  But like Frogger said some variation is Ok.  All I know is I never mist mine, but I dump their water bowl right into the substrate when I clean it, and the plants slowly evaporate it out.  When they were in quarantine I just kept a sixteenth inch of water on the entire bottom of the tank.  I guess my point is put more water into the tank in liquid form, and your humidity will take care of itself.  Do not cover the entire tank top, they need air circulation or nasty stuff can grow.  For the record I also think it is Ok top have a short dry spell as long as it rains afterward.  Perhaps someone with more experience will comment, I'm kind of new to frogs...

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