Litoria caerulea — Fact Sheet

Pelodryas caerulea · Litoria caerulea

Full care guide and sources

📋 At a glance

🏠 Enclosure

Minimum practical adult housing: 45 x 45 x 60 cm for one or two adults; larger for groups. Bigger is useful when it creates more stable water, more hiding choices, or a better temperature gradient. Baby and juvenile setups should be smaller, secure, and easy to monitor; upgrade before the animal becomes cramped or water quality becomes unstable.

🪨 Substrate and furnishings

Use height, stable cork, broad leaves, diagonal branches, and visual cover. Adults need enough room to choose warm, cool, humid, and drier perches. Juveniles should start in a smaller escape-proof rearing enclosure with easy prey access, then move up as they grow.

💡 Lighting

Provide a clear 10-12 hour day-night rhythm. Gentle UVB can be useful when the frogs can fully hide from it; treat them as Ferguson Zone 1 with shaded retreats near zero UVI. Bright plant lights should not overheat resting branches.

🌡️ Temperature

• Daytime air: 24-28 °C

• Cool zone: 20-22 °C

• Night: 20-23 °C

• Measure air temperature at animal level and check sheltered areas separately. Avoid direct hot spots; use room heating or cooling where practical and control any heater with a thermostat.

💧 Humidity and water

Use dechlorinated water for bowls and misting. Bowls need frequent cleaning because frogs often defecate in water. Constantly wet substrate with poor airflow increases bacterial skin risk, while a fully dry enclosure causes dehydration.

Aim for humid air with airflow, not a sealed wet box. Misting once or twice daily is often enough, with drier periods between. Watch the frogs’ skin, activity, and shedding rather than chasing one fixed number.

🪳 Feeding

Gut-loaded crickets, roaches, and other suitable invertebrates form the staple. Juveniles feed more often and need regular calcium and vitamins; adults gain weight easily, so rich larvae and fatty foods should be occasional extras.

Feed appropriately sized roaches, crickets, locusts, flies, and occasional soft-bodied larvae. Juveniles eat smaller prey more often; adults usually do well several times weekly. Use calcium and vitamin supplements lightly but consistently with gut-loaded feeders.

🩺 Health — warning signs

In tree frogs, watch for weight loss, swollen limbs, red belly, poor grip on glass, constant soaking, or refusal to feed. Many problems start with dirty water, overly wet substrate, poor ventilation, or a narrow diet.

Common problems include obesity, dehydration, nose rubs from escape attempts, bacterial skin issues in stagnant wet enclosures, and stress from overhandling. Warning signs include dull skin, swelling, weak grip, constant soaking, refusal to feed, weight loss, or red irritated skin.

Persistent refusal to feed, swelling, wounds, breathing difficulty, abnormal floating, severe weakness, or spreading skin changes should be assessed by a veterinarian experienced with amphibians.