One of the most popular pets we have is Jeremy. Jeremy is a green tree frog from Australia and is the most popular species of frog to keep as a pet both here and overseas.
The green tree frog is probably our most well known frog species and also one of the largest, growing to over 10cm these guys can be found in every state in Australia except for Tasmania. They mostly inhabit wet, tropical areas and can often be found near streams or creeks, they have adapted reasonably well compared to most other amphibians to humans and people often find them living in and around their homes.
In captivity they live for up to 16 years and are fairly relaxed frogs, another reason for their abundance as an exotic pet.
Green tree frogs eat a variety of insects and bugs, pretty much whatever is around, we feed ours everything from mealworms and crickets to hunstsmans (giant spider) and moths. Whilst they can stick out their tongue a fairly long distance to grab smaller prey, when they eat something larger they will often pounce on it and push it into their mouth with their hands.
You're meant to eat it not make friends with it!
Fun fact, green tree frogs can use their eyeballs to help them eat. They can retract their eyes into their throat and stomach to help push pesky insects down
Green tree frogs have partially webbed fingers and toes with what looks like a large disc or suction cap at each tip. This helps them to climb pretty much anything and you often find them sitting on the side or corner of their tank holding onto the glass.
These guys are fairly lucky as far as amphibians go and whilst they are still sensitive to pollution and chemicals they are far more resilient than their other froggy counterparts. This is somewhat due to the fact that their skin secretions contain both antibacterial and antiviral properties.
Generally speaking we try not to handle frogs too much, they breathe and take in things through their skin and can very easily be impacted by any chemicals you may have on your hands, even soap.
Because of these secretions they have been able to remain at a least concern status.
Jeremy is our current green tree frog. He came with a partner but she unfortunately died not long after the move. We aren't 100% sure why it looked as if she had some sort of virus or growth but Jeremy had nothing similiar so it can't of been environmental. Frogs aren't exactly the lovebird type and he does not seem bothered to live alone. Before Jeremy we had 2 other Green tree frogs, Thelma and Louise. Unfortunately they both passed in the fire at the house but would of been around 10 years of age.
R.I.P pretty girls
Jeremy is one of the kids favourite animals. He isn't scared of humans at all and will happily let you pick him up, we don't let other people handle him really and we try and wash our hands well with nothing but clean water before we touch him. He is well known for peeing on people but also for jumping onto them so it doesn't seem like a fear response. He will often jump up onto someone and then climb them and sit on their head, he is a little unco though and often just jumps all over the place.
Keeping them as pets is fairly simple, they require a very wet and humid environment with UV light and depending on where you live heat. They also need to be protected from excessive heat though and glass tanks in sun are not ideal in a warmer climate as it acts a greenhouse and the temperature far exceeds what they can handle. Generally in the wild they will find a cool dark burrow or log during the heat of the day and come out in the earlier and later hours or at night. Again they are quite sensitive to chemicals so all water put in their tank needs to be very fresh and clean and unchlorinated.
Jeremy gets fed about 4-5 times a week depending on the size of the meal. If he eats a cricket one day he will eat again soon but if he eats a large spider he will be fine for a few days. He isn't a picky eater but he is selective with when he's hungry and won't always accept food.
We very much hope Jeremy lives a long healthy life but we have no idea how old he is so all we can do is provide the best environment we can and keep him well cared for.
If you're interested in getting a frog or any sort of exotic pet please research what they need as some of them have very extensive requirements. Also please never take them from the wild, whilst not endangered it doesn't take a lot to impact wild species populations and we need to keep what we can out there.
