Description

The white-lipped treefrog is Australia's largest native frog growing up to 14 cm. Ranging in colour from pure green to greenish-brown or pale brown, it has a brilliant white stripe that runs along its lower jaw and the side of its head. During the breeding season some have a salmon-pink coloration on their arms and legs.

Strangely, the white-lipped tree frog doesn’t make the classic ‘croak’ that we associate with frogs. Instead, it makes a sound that is similar to the bark of a large dog! Luckily for us, their bark is far worse than their bite, as they tend to feed on insects and other arthropods.

Housing

White-lipped tree frogs do well with a glass terrarium as their enclosure. This is because glass is great at allowing heat to escape ensuring that the enclosure stays cool enough. Other enclosures such as wooden vivarium's are far too efficient at retaining heat.

The white-lipped tree frog's vivarium should be at least 450mm in length and 600mm in height. There are 2 main reasons for this; firstly, the white-lipped tree frog is going to grow to around 5" so they need a space large enough for them to move around in. Secondly, they are an arboreal frog, so they need an enclosure with enough height for them to climb.

Heating

White-lipped tree frogs require a near constant air temperature of 23.8 degrees Celsius. This is best achieved by sticking a large heat mat on one side of the glass enclosure. This heat mat is regulated using a thermostat to make sure the temperature stays constant.

As the glass is only being heated on one side this also creates a small temperature gradient within the enclosure allowing the frog to warm itself up or move away to cool down.

If the enclosure is not able to get up to temperature with the heat mat alone a small basking bulb may be implemented in the canopy as long as the temperatures do not exceed 75-80oF.

UVB Lighting

White-lipped tree frogs are arboreal frogs from Australia. Animals that inhabit jungle regions do have some natural cover but still receive a fair amount of UV. Their UVB source should reflect this. In this kind of enclosure lights are generally held in a canopy above the mesh ceiling. In this canopy you can either implement a 5-6% UV tube or the equivalent compact light.

White-lipped tree frogs require UVB in order to synthesize vitamin D3 inside their skin. The vitamin D3 helps the frog to absorb calcium which crucial for bone structure and growth. This is why reptiles can suffer from metabolic bone disease (MBD) when not provided with adequate UVB.

It is recommended that t5 tubes are replaced every 9 months and compact lamps are replaced every 6 months.

Diet & Water

White-lipped tree frogs are carnivorous and have a diet consisting of mainly livefoods. The core of the livefood diet should be high in protein and relatively easy to digest. We have found that brown crickets are the most readily accepted, but you can also use black crickets or locusts (hoppers). On occasion, for variation you can offer other bugs such as mealworms, waxworms or calciworms.

The vivarium should be misted with water every morning to provide hydration. A water bowl may also be introduced as a source of freshwater.

Live Reptiles

REPTILE - ROUGH SCALED PYTHON (MORELIA CARINATA)

REPTILE - DIAMOND PYTHON (MORELIA SPILOTA SPILOTA)

REPTILE - BOYD'S FOREST DRAGON (Lophosaurus boydii)

REPTILE - ALBINO OLIVE PYTHON (LIASIS OLIVACEUS)

REPTILE - WHITE LIPPED TREE FROG (Nyctimystes infrafrenatus)