# General Topics > General Discussion & News >  Good frogs for a beginner

## xihha

Hey, my daughter has announced frogs are cool and that she would really love to have a pet one, my daughter is only 3 so i know i will be lookig after it but thats fine. I don't really know anything about frogs so am going to do a lot of research first but really don't know where to start as there are a lot more types of frogs than i thought!

So yeah, i want a relatively cheap frog to start off with thats fairly easy to look after (i've had turtles, axelotls, snakes and tropical fish before so am used to cleaning tanks, worrying about heat and live food)

Any suggestions what frogs i should look at?

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## Raya

Hi and welcome to the forum!

A good starter species is the Fire-Bellied Toads. They are pretty easy to care for and are very pretty if you ask me. The Fire bellies are also very active frogs and fun to watch.
There's a care article for them here on this site. You should also check out the article 'Choosing a Frog' wich lists a few more beginner-friendly frog species.


Good luck!

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## Autumn

For the first frog encounter, I have heard that African Dwarf Frogs, Oriental Firebellied Toads, and Whites Tree Frogs are excellent starter frogs.

In my opinion, I believe that the Whites Tree frog is an excellent frog for beginners and experts alike. I own a Whites Tree Frog and he is so cute, has a fun personality, and is really easy to care for. However, it has been said that most young kids bore of them quickly as they are nocturnal creatures and are most active at night.

You can also check out the article that Raya recommended. Also, here is the link to an article I referenced when I first was trying to decide on what frog to get  :Smile: .
Your First Frog

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## John Clare

You've got some solid advice from the other members.  You could always go to a local pet store and have a look at the fire-bellied toads and see what you think?

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## Sublime

Definitely agree with Autumn about White's Tree Frog.  That was my first frog; very, very, easy maintenance.  Beautiful frog, mine had an awesome personality too.

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## xihha

thank you.

Whites tree frogs are beautiful but they are nocturnal  and she goes to bed at 7... however after my daughters very expensive  birthday i may work on the husband and get myself one... I never really  thought about frogs as a pet before but doing the research for Lara  (my daughter) they are quite beautiful and i quite want one now! 

Fire-Bellied  Toads do look the best option for my daughter tho, I agree they are  *very* pretty and with a 3 year old active is good. 

Am i right in  thinking that no frog or toad wants to be handled often? and would they  prefer to be in couples or groups or on their own? and what size tank? 

I would ask the guy in the local petstore but the guys an idiot (he sold my 7 year old sister 3 male siamese fighting fish in the same bag, he didnt even tell her it was a bad idea or check that she was allowed them, and im only 2 doors down the road!) so yeah, im going to a better shop but its a long drive and id rather know what i want before i get there!

sorry  for the stupid questions but articles on the internet just seem to  assume you know the basics and i dont and i'd rather ask stupid  questions now than get a pet and not know what i was doing or get the  wrong pet, better to look stupid than harm another living thing right?!

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## xihha

also does anyone know where in England i could buy a fire bellied toad, was trying to work out how much it would cost? i live in Kent which is about 20 minutes drive from London if that helps at all

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## hyla

You are correct about the handling, they are more of a look but dont touch pet. Especially for a 3 year old who may get a bit too excited when holding it! Fire bellies are comical to watch, they do love water so if you will be getting one you will have to plan on a setup with a good filtration system. Frogs and toads arent social, so I would say they could care less about a companion. Others will disagree. I think a ten gallon tank for one or two would be ok.

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## hyla

Oh and make sure to read the care article on them here, it will answer everything and help with your decision.

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## Heather

I agree  :Smile: . My daughter was 3 when I first got mine. She loved them. Frogs and toads are really not hold-them pets, but they are fun to watch, esp firebellies because they are awake during the day and are very active. They love to swim, hop, and climb, and are funny to watch catch their crickets. They have bright, pretty colors. Mine were like silly, goofy little energetic fellas. Always entertaining. 

Good luck with your choice  :Smile: !

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## Firebelly love

Fire belly= A great pet! Just always make sure that before she holds them she washes her hands, during don't let her put her hands in her mouth and after make her wash her hands AGAIN. These toads don't need heating all you really need is a 10 gallon tank, a filter, some rocks, and fake plants. But crickets even though they are pretty gross are a must. 

p.s- Don't listen to what the pet store help has to say about taking care of toads!

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## BG

Welcome to the forum. Since your daughter is on the young side, i would get her fire belly toads. They are colorful,and active in the day time. She would appreciate the FBT more then the whites tree frogs cause  whites sleep all day.  WTF are cool  also, they can be handled.

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## xihha

> p.s- Don't listen to what the pet store help has to say about taking care of toads!


 :Smile:  I have decided that you should never ever listen to what the pet store say about anything because i am yet to hear them say anything thats actually right!

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## BG

The staff that work for chain stores are clueless. The are just fill ins. Some  pro shops . I find them  a bit greedy.  They are in it for the money. They do whats best for them,  not about the costumer or the animals.  Plain old greed.

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## Heather

Xihha is right. Petstore workers seem be very poorly educated, if at all, on how to care for amphibians. I learned the hard way and lost one of my fire bellies after feeding them mealworms too often and he bloated up, was impacted, and died. I was told they can eat them everyday along with their crickets. It was so sad. And when I went in to ask them what was happening they had no clue. Poor little baby died the same night  :Frown: . I trusted them. The same people also told me I could house my RETF with a chameleon. Glad I didn't listen. My baby would have been lunch. Just an FYI.

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## xihha

Its not just because they are useless, if they said, 'ooh i dont know,  i'll just find out for you' that would be fine but they aren't allowed  to do that. 

I very briefly worked at a very well  known UK chain of petshops and I had no training what so ever, literally  everything i knew came from my experience with my own pets, so there  were a few times when i didnt know the answers especially as they used  to move me to different departments every other day. Anyway one day i  got caught telling a customer that i didnt actually know but would find  out for them and the manager started yelling at me after they left  because the golden rule is 'if you dont know, make it up to make a sale'  2 days later i got caught telling a customer that you cant keep 2 male  syrian hamsters in a cage together and was yelled at for that too,  apparently golden rule number 2 is 'never discourage anyone from buying  anything because once theyve paid for it its not our problem'

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## xihha

whilst i'm asking stupid questions, how do you feed the crickets to them without the crickets escaping across the whole house? coz im guessing the second i open the tub they will try to jump out? Also what size crickets would fire bellies eat?

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## ScubaTalonAWD

Note, I am brand new to all this too, so I'm speaking from no experience.  Here is what I plan on using to hold my crickets to assist with feeding.

Live Crickets and Supplies: Lee's Kricket Keeper Cricket Care & Dispensing Kit for Reptiles

I am also looking at Firebelly toads for my 4 year old daughter.

From the reading Ive done, they are social animals that get depressed if they are alone.  At least 2 is a must.  To be safe don't put more than 2-3 in a 10g or 4-5 in a 20g.

I plan on 3-4 in a 20g high.  I just bought my tank at Petco's dollar a gallon sale yesterday.  Unfortunately this was the last day of the sale.

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## BG

> whilst i'm asking stupid questions, how do you feed the crickets to them without the crickets escaping across the whole house? coz im guessing the second i open the tub they will try to jump out? Also what size crickets would fire bellies eat?


Be very careful.

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## bshmerlie

I feed my firebellies the quarter inch size crickets or whichever the pet store considers the small ones.  Firebellies really are the best choice for kids.  Small kids will get bored with a nocturnal tree frog.

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## xihha

:Smile:  my little sister got her new tank today so i can have mine back now, only taken 2 years lol. anyway its 30g, so my daughter can have that for her toads rather than the 10g we were going to use as im guessing the more space they have the happier they will be? 

I just need to get a filter as that doesnt appear to have come back with it and i need to clean it because shes been keeping the worlds stinkiest turtle in it and work out where i can put it and i still have a month til her 3rd birthday  :Smile: 

and best of all my mother in law hates the idea and says she'll stop visiting me if i get fire bellies as apparently frogs and toads are evil or some such rubbish  :Big Grin:

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## Heather

I use the cricket keeper that scuba mentions above and it works great. I don't mind crickets but you barely have to even handle them this way. The crickets climb up the tubes. Just sprinkle them with calcium/vita D and pat the end of the tube over tank. If there's too many in the tube give it a little hit while in the cricket keeper first. I feed my crickets these...

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## Sublime

> I use the cricket keeper that scuba mentions above and it works great. I don't mind crickets but you barely have to even handle them this way. The crickets climb up the tubes. Just sprinkle them with calcium/vita D and pat the end of the tube over tank. If there's too many in the tube give it a little hit while in the cricket keeper first. I feed my crickets these...


Do you notice a lot of dead crickets when feeding them that much calcium?

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## Heather

Nope. But they grow fast. Sometimes too fast.

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## Heather

Do you have trouble with your crickets?

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## Sublime

> Do you have trouble with your crickets?


No I don't, I just read on a few forums that people were having trouble keeping their crickets alive and the solutions were not to much calcium in their diet.  Obviously you don't have a problem with that, and it benefits your frog so you're all good.  I feed mine high protein homemade chow I grind up (kitten food, dog food, oats) with those water gel crystals you have, but I just made my own.

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## Heather

It's probably so much cheaper that way. I should try it. How much do you make at a time?

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## Sublime

For the homemade chow, I make 2 large ziplock baggys full of it with my coffee grinder.  Last months... The water gel crystals found in any plant nursery, a couple teaspoons of the dried crystals with water will make a gallon of that to save in a big jug, last you months as well as long as it's sealed.  Then you still have the rest of the bag of dried crystals to make more once you run out, which you wont for a very long time.  Much cheaper, you can still buy the flukers food if you want to, but to save money in the long run and grind up your own chow that you know what's in it.  Well worth it.

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## Heather

Neat!

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