Full Spectrum Exotics
Mossy Frog care sheet
The Mossy Frog has only recently become available in the pet trade. The care and breeding of this interesting frog is becoming more refined as our experience with them increases. Most breeders, in the USA have been working with this species for less than 3 years so we still have a lot to learn.
The Mossy Frog, Theloderma corticale, lives in karst zones of northern Vietnam. They make their home in flooded caves and deep niches in the banks of mountain streams. Their range includes the provinces of Vinh Phu, Back Tahi, Cao Bang, and Lang Son. They can be found from 700-1500 m elevation. Their range is decreasing due to habitat destruction and some biologists consider their status as threatened or endangered. Mossy frogs reach an adult size of approximately 2.25 inches to about 3 inches in length. They are almost as wide as they are long when they are in their resting posture, when they are quite flattened, and have a very low profile, which allows them to practically disappear if placed against the right background.
The coloration of the frogs of course aids in their disappearing act, as does the rough texture of the skin, which is unlike that of any other frog that I am aware of. As if the rough peaks and valleys of their skin were not enough, the frogs also sport a colorful appearance, with several shades of green, patches of red, and black. Like most frogs, the Mossy frog is nocturnal. However during the day they will often be found sitting out in the open, counting on their cryptic appearance to keep them concealed. This works very well for them, and it is often a challenge just to find all the frogs in their tank, even though they are sitting out in plain view!
Mossy frogs are fairly undemanding subjects! They don't have any special lighting requirements, and they seem to do well when kept at temperatures in the low to mid seventies. Temperatures above eighty should be avoided if possible, although spending a couple of hours occasionally at 80—82 doesn't seem to cause a problem. Here at our facility, temperatures sometimes get into the sixties at night, and there doesn't seem to be a problem with this, as you would expect from a frog that comes from a climate that can get cooler during the winter months. In fact I suspect that these frogs will handily deal with temperatures in the forties, but I haven't subjected mine to temperatures that low.
We recommend that Mossy Frogs be maintained in a covered aquarium (these are tree frogs that have adhesive toe pads and can jump). A ten to twenty gallon aquarium can house two or three frogs. The aquarium should be 1/3 to 1/2 full of water with an aquarium filter. De-chlorinated water that has been conditioned by adding commercial aquarium additive should be used. The aquarium can be decorated with broken pieces of clay pots protruding above the water, rocks, and other aquarium decorations. Overhanging rocks or pots are necessary if you intend to breed your frogs. I also use floating water plants like water lettuce. The feeder insects can climb on the water plants until the frogs find and eat them. I feed my frogs, at night, four or five times a week.
While some keepers have found that moving water is a requirement, we have not provided it here for our frogs, and they seem to do fine without it. However, providing moving water, with a submersible pump and attached filter, would undoubtedly improve the water quality, and more accurately reflect this frogs natural habitat, so a pump and filter should be considered for your Mossy frog setup.
Crickets have been the sole food for our group of Mossy frogs. Every few nights a container of crickets is placed in the tank, and the frogs will eat from this container. Typically we use a plastic “sweater” box, which is floated on the surface of the water. In a smaller tank, or with a smaller group of frogs, the plastic “shoebox” size box would be fine. Before we offer the crickets to the frogs, they are dusted with equal parts Rep-Cal and Herptivite. The next day the cricket container is removed, and any uneaten crickets are discarded. Offering food in this feeding station will prevent crickets from drowning in the water, as well as assuring that the crickets the frogs get have some supplement on them. About four crickets per mossy frog are offered. Mossy frogs seem to have a slower metabolism than some other large frogs, and ours are doing very well on a feeding schedule of every four or five nights.
We have kept our group in a tank with about 75% of the lid covered with plastic sheeting, to increase the humidity in the tank. The relative humidity typically runs about 65% to 85%. To achieve the appropriate humidity, I suggest a tank with a lid that has restricted ventilation, and a daily spraying of the tank to keep things wet!
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Thanks Adam & Lynn, Full Spectrum Exotics Email: sales@fullspectrumexotics.com
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