May 15, 2022 • 42 mins
Have you ever looked into getting a frog as a pet? There’s so much info online; where do you even start, and how do you know which advice to trust? In this week's episode of the Pet Owner Diary Show, Co-Host Tay Shoemaker gives us a breakdown of frog care, habitat setup, common questions, and everything you need to know before getting a frog! Friend Hannah from Project Polliwog sits down with Tay to give a reverse interview through the eyes of a future frog owner. You don’t want to miss this informative froggy hour with Co-Host Tay Shoemaker & Hannah!
Instagram: https://instagram.com/tays.exotic.critters?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
Tiktok: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZTdpwvT6C/
Website: www.taysexoticcrittersrescue.com
Project Polliwog: https://projectpolliwog.com/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/tays.exotic.critters?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
Tiktok: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZTdpwvT6C/
Website: www.taysexoticcrittersrescue.com
Project Polliwog: https://projectpolliwog.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to the Pet Owner Diary Podcast, a show about helping you become a
better pet parent. In each episode, we deliver raw, honest, funny,
and insightful advice on how to bea great pet parent for any type
of pet. Now, here's yourhost, America's Pet Owner Coach, Janelle
Young. Welcome back, pet family. This is the Pet Owner Diary Show,
(00:24):
and my name is Take I'm gonnabe your co host today and we
have an interesting one today. Ithink it's gonna be really fun, really
kind of relaxed. But you know, I can't go like a couple of
weeks without talking about frogs. Sowe are going to bring it back to
(00:45):
the frogs where we're gonna do somethinga little interesting. Today. We have
Hannah from Project Volliwog back. SayHi, Hannah, Hi, Hi again.
I can't well, I'm excited tobe here. Yes, And so
we're gonna do kind of like areverse interview. So one of the biggest
questions I get constantly on all ofmy accounts over multiple platforms is how do
(01:10):
I care for frogs? And like, tell me everything about them right now?
And it's a lot to explain overtext or even a quick TikTok video.
I mean, even with the threeminutes, there's like so much I
could go over. So we're gonnakind of sit back today. Hannah's gonna
ask me some questions because she's beeninterested in getting a frog, and I
(01:33):
have a hard time finding a reallygood guide for care that just has like
all the basics and really let youget informed before you go off and buy
a frog. So this is goingto be a nice a nice reference to
me. It's a bit of aservice to myself because then whenever people ask
him and be like, yeah,go check out this episode, it's got
(01:55):
everything. So yeah, that's that'swhat we're going to be doing today.
Hannah is going to kind of bethe host. She's my co co post
co Squared, yes, and yeah, we're just gonna kick it off.
So yeah, So I guess I'vejust been really interested in getting a frog
after seeing all of your frogs.I mean, you know, I do
own Project Polylog, which is afrog jewelry company. Yeah, I was
(02:19):
gonna say, introduced for people whohaven't don't know about Project Polylog, always
be plugging. Let us know,you know, introduce them to you.
Again. Hannah has her own episodewhere we talked about Polylog, but just
a brief ketchup. Yeah, ofcourse. So basically, my name is
Hannah and I'm the owner of ProjectPolylog, which is a frog jewelry company
(02:40):
that is dedicated to saving the Georgegopher frog and the California Yella look At
frog, which you're both endangered species. So that's actually how I met Tay
was through Project Polylog and through yourfrog page as well. And so yeah,
so I've just been looking into gettinga frog and I met Pizza Hut
I just fell in love with him. So I kind of wanted to just
(03:02):
kind of go through and ask youquestions about what first time frog owners should
know about owning frogs. Definitely,I'm excited. I think this is gonna
be a nice, laid back oneand I get to sit here and just
talk about frogs, which is myfavorite thing to do. So I promise
we won't do too many frog episodes. I promise. Maybe I'm winking,
(03:23):
but you can't tell. Yeah,so if you start us off, what
you got. So my first questionI had was our frogs a good first
pet um? Okay, that's aloaded question because it depends on the person
so like, if we hypothetically,if we make up a little scenario,
(03:44):
what are you talking about for peoplelike you, like your age, like
early twenties, teen years or likebaby? Yeah, well definitely not a
baby, but I do. Iguess what I'm asking more specifically is kind
of like I own dogs, andI've owned snakes, and I've own scorpions,
I've gone trantualize, I've owned allsorts of those kinds of animals,
(04:08):
and so in my head, I'malready familiar with like humidity and like tank
size and substrates and how important thosethings are for Abians, And so I'm
kind of thinking like, Okay,well would it be a good first pet
for somebody who's never owned an animalbefore? Okay, okay, yeah,
so is it a beginner pet?I think, yeah, that's a great
(04:29):
way. It's the word I hearall the time, is our frogs a
good beginner pet? And I thinkthey definitely can be, UM depending on
how much time and responsibility that you'rewilling to put into them. Um,
they can be super super simple petsif you just have all the research done,
all the requirements, like I literallychange their water every other day.
(04:53):
UM. In my big tank,some of my smaller tanks, I don't
need to do it. Um andthen I feed them u every three days
and do a big tank cleaning oncea week, so it's it's pretty.
They're pretty chill pets. They don'tneed too much interaction, but especially different
species. If we're talking about whitetree frogs, which I think is probably
(05:14):
I would say the biggest beginner mfrog they are quite simple. They do
like social interaction, but if youhave other frogs in there with them,
um, they're They're pretty. They'repretty good to just chill and stare off
at nothing all day and be perfectlyfine. So I definitely think frogs can
be a good beginner pet. Ialso think that toads, if you're looking
(05:35):
to get into frogs, toads arequite simple. They're a bit iffy because
a lot of toads are wild caught, which is a whole other story.
So toads are a bit if youbut you know, if you buy from
a reputable breeder or someplace you knowthat you know has um good frogs,
(05:56):
then um, they're definitely a loteasier because a lot of them don't require
too much humidity and um, theyjust can't chill out. Oh okay,
I see. So then I guesscycling off of the different species versus frogs
versus toads, what kind of speciesof frog like should I get? If
it was I just wanted something thatwas super simple but really like just you
(06:19):
know, you get that frog experience, right, having to worry about them
dying, right, yeah. Yeah, Now they're sensitive, so there is
that that worry of like, ohshoot, you know if I mess up
ones like they can pass away likefish, very much like fish. Um.
(06:39):
So yeah, I mean the whitetree frogs, I would say,
are or dumpy frogs. You mighthave heard them being called dumpy frogs.
That's because they look kind of kindof dumpy and a little like they're not
all there um constantly. Um.But I also think pacmun frogs can be
good if you've done all your research. Um. And now pacmun frogs are
(07:00):
a terrestrial frog. They like burrowing. Um, they need dirt in their
tank, whereas white tree frogs youdon't have to do dirt. Um.
So it kind of depends on howmuch time you're willing to put into them.
Um. I can tell you thefrogs, but they don't recommend,
right, off the back because that'seasier if you're a first time frog owner.
(07:23):
Um, I mean if you thinkyou can do it, like by
all means, like go ahead,if you've bound it, you're doing the
research, go ahead. But difficult. Yeah. Yes, So like poison
dart frogs, um are they havea lot of requirements for their habitat.
They need lots of moisture, theydo way better and bioactive. Um they're
(07:45):
so sensitive. We'll get into that. We'll get into that. Don't worry,
no, no, no, you'regood. Um. But I mean
for people that do know. Tosum it up, basically, it's a
self sustaining tank, so you don'thave to clean it. Um, it's
very natural. It's all dirt,you know, stuff like that. They're
kind of hard to get started becauseyou know, you need to create a
(08:07):
culture. Um. And they're expensivetoo, so um dart frogs, things
like red eye tree frogs, um, glass frogs. Any. They're so
cute, but they're so sensitive andreally yeah so any I would say those
are kind of like the the expertlevel and any of like the more rare
(08:28):
exotic. I mean, they're allexotic, but like once you can find
in like the rainforests and stuff.Those are the hard ones because that's such
a cultured ecosystem that like, yes, yes, so there are people who
do it all the time and thosethings are absolutely beautiful. But I'm the
type of person where like I justI've tried bioactive and it's just never it's
(08:54):
difficult. Yeah, and it's reallyexpensive. It can get really expensive.
Um. So yeah, I meanI tend to say the white tree frogs
are kind of the the simplest umof the of the tree frogs. Definitely.
Okay, so white street frocks,So then what do white whites Let's
okay, let's just say that Iwanted to get a white street frog.
(09:15):
So what do those frogs eat?Then? Um, well, all frogs
are going to eat bugs. Um. There are no frogs that are omnivores
or herbivores. Um, it's justnot they don't do that. They can
actually get sick from eating fruits andvegetables. Um. And it's just not
a fun experience. I've had acouple of people come to me saying like,
oh, my frog eat like ablueberry or something, and I'm like,
(09:37):
oh, oh, okay, thatprobably wasn't very good. Oh anything
citrus is really bad for them.So side note if you are feeding,
if you are breeding your own bugs, don't feed them citrus or anything like
that. Bugs. Oh yeah,yeahs when we get more into food.
Um, but yeah no, solots of worms. You can do crickets.
(10:00):
I hate crickets. A lots ofpeople hate crickets because they're everywhere.
They're loud, and they stink andthey don't die ye and then and you
can't find them because they're shirupping inyour house all night and it's just a
mess and they stink really um.So yeah, but no, but you
can't. You can do crickets ifyou want, but you'll want them to
(10:22):
be gutloaded. Anything you feed,um, you'll want them to be gutloaded.
And a lot of crickets, alot of crickets from the store are
not gutloading is basically, um,like giving them healthy food instead of just
like giving them like mule and stufflike that. Um. We do have
to take a really quick break here, so we'll be right back and we'll
(10:43):
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(11:54):
spoil your pet with goodness, treatyour pet like they treat you. Welcome
back pet family. Today we arefocusing on frogs. We're giving you a
(12:18):
little guide to frogs and I amactually the one being interviewed today and we're
having a very fun time with Hannahfrom Project polywog. And we were talking
a little bit about what frogs eatum bugs bugs, yes, and Hannah
asked about gut loading. Um itkind of it's kind of a gross word
(12:39):
load like chewy cheddar covered crickets andlike, oh my gosh, the ones
that you can eat. But gutloading is it's basically just feeding your breeder
bugs. How um, how youwould feed your frogs, like good quality
(13:01):
vegetables, good quality food, UM, vitamins, calcium, multi vitamins,
stuff like that. UM. Havingthem on oats can also um fill them
up a bit. Typically the substratethat you will use, especially for superworms
and meal worms, it'll be oatsand then they can eat the oats as
well for a bit of UM.I think fibers, the one fiber I
(13:22):
mean that's I think that's whatever oatsdo. Yeah, yeah, whatever oats
do, they like it. Um. But yeah, a lot of greens
like um, mustard greens, spinach, kelp, they like. They love
that stuff. So um those arereally good for them. It's basically just
(13:43):
giving them a healthy diet. Becausemost of the crickets at um, even
superwarms, meal worms do we roachesum. At pet stores they feed them
potatoes which is a starch potatoes,and so potatoes make them fat, but
they don't they don't actually get Yeah, they don't really get anything from that.
And then they'll also feed like wormmeal and stuff like that which sometimes
(14:07):
has vitamins, but typically, um, they don't you know, they just
want to sell the bugs. They'renot like big box pet stores are not
you know, sitting down and feedingthem, um everything when they know they're
just gonna you know, go thatday and get fed. And yeah,
it's it's it's uh, they don'tneed to invest too much time into it.
(14:28):
Um. But if you are breedingum, which are a couple of
different ways to read bugs. Um, it's it's interesting. Um. I've
been trying to breed dubious for awhile. Um. Dubie roaches are probably
the healthiest food for frogs and reptilesin general. They're very um, you
(14:48):
know, they're very protein filled.There's not a lot of fat in them.
Um. So they're very very good. Yes, and they like the
crunch. Um. So they theyrequire like heating man and a dark bin
and like you have to like spraythem down, give them like food and
vitamins and stuff like that. Andit's literally I have like one of those
(15:13):
big rubber made tupperware like bins,and I just like soundered holes into the
top and um, yeah, theyjust live in there on egg crate and
um, mine are not breeding.I have I have failed to get them
to breed. Um. But thereare females I might just not like each
(15:33):
other. Oh right, Um,but my superworms. I find that my
superworms and m worms do really reallygood because they're so simple. You just
put them in a bin with oats. Again, mine is one of those
like sliding bins. Um, thosestackable sliding bins, the white ones that
you can like full out and likelabel. I literally just have them there.
(15:56):
I think most people keep like artsupplies on them. My husband and
um, it's literally just oats.And then I feed them things like carrots,
cucumbers to get their water up,broccoli greens. They love it.
Um. And then I also adda multi vitamin and calcium and things like
that too, um the bin andthen they grow pretty fast. And when
(16:22):
you're feeding them really good things,they're like sometimes there is a time when
like all of the beetles have goneand there's just babies, and so I
have to wait for a little bitfor the babies to grow up, which
is annoying. But yeah, sobreeding boxes. Breeding crickets I think is
a lot harder to Um I've nevertried because again I don't like them so
(16:45):
um, but yeah it's it's apresss so um. Earthworms are pretty easy
as well. Um. A lotof frogs like nightcrawlers, um, which
are literally just the big ones youdo like you fish with, um,
and you can do like a compostbox and um put them in there and
like make it a little thing.But I've not tried that, so yeah,
um that's a possibility as well.So yeah, feeding it. You
(17:11):
don't have to breed your own bugs. You don't have to feed your own
bugs if you don't want to.Um what would what would a person like
me who doesn't want to have thedanger of my dog nothing a bit of
bugs? Right, Yeah that istrue, but no I feel that And
guess my my dog actually sometimes ifI leave the bin open with oats,
(17:33):
he will get in there and eatthe oats and worms and just like he
could go to town. So Ihave to be careful of that. Um.
Yeah my dog isn't he eats worms? Um. But um, you
can't just go to a big boxstore and pick up your bugs. Um.
Or you can order online from placeslike Josh's frogs UM, Dubia roach
(17:56):
dot com is great, they shipreally fast, they always have stuff in
stock. Or you can find agood local exotics store UM that probably breeds
their own and you know, putsmore attention into breeding their own. Um.
You can't go to big bux stores, like don't. I'm not saying
that, like you know, youcan't. You can't do that, but
you know it makes it more costeffective. Yeah, especially breeding bugs actually
(18:19):
is very very cost effective because onceyou have that constant supply of bugs,
you're not going out spending like tenwell at least for me, because I
have many frogs, but like youknow, like ten dollars every couple of
weeks for more bugs. So yeah, okay, So then all right,
so if I wanted to buy bugsat the store just to start a culture
(18:42):
of bugs, it would be liketen dollars to start it. Dollars do
you think? I mean? Itdepends on bugs because dubie roaches and super
worms tend to run a little bithigher, but meal worms and crickets are
pretty cheap. Um, So youcould probably get like five dollars of worms
and or or five dollars of cricketsand just start from there to ears.
(19:03):
I'd say probably like ten bucks ofJimmie riches and make sure they give you,
um, a large mail and alarge female um, and then you
can get that started. So it'sit's it sounds easy, um, and
sometimes it is easy, but sometimesit's not. So pick your poison with
that. So then for one frog, how much would it cost per month
thing to like feed maintain, Likewhat would that mean per month? Um?
(19:30):
We should talk about the we shouldtalk about the initial cost first actually
before we do. Yeah. Sofor for your tank, um, if
you're getting a white street frog,something like a eighteen by eighteen by twenty
four is great. Um. They'rea nice tall tank. Um. They're
pretty much all front opening um.And they they I love the front opening
(19:53):
because you can literally just reach inand grab what you need to do and
close them and they lo and it'snice um. And those can run you
up to two hundred dollars. Canyou find those on Facebook? Marketplace offer
up for like a lot cheaper?Yeah? Oh definitely, UM, I
will say make sure you're cleaning thosevery very well. And how do you
(20:15):
clean them? Like? What islike the ones that you get off of
this marketplace? So what I dois I take a um a deluded bleach
um. Make sure it's very deluded. I believe I use like point nine
percent of bleach to water um andyou can just spray it down and let
it sit out for twenty four hours. It's pretty easy, and we do
(20:38):
have to take another quick break,but we'll be right back to talk about
some more frogs with Hannah Anne.We all know that a dog is man's
(21:07):
best friend, won't Why stop there? We think that all pets make our
lives a little easier, whether it'sa cat, gecko, or even a
horse. We want to learn whatmakes your pets so special to you.
Maybe they have an eccentric personality oreven give good cuddles. Whatever it is,
we want to hear about it.After all, our pets deserve a
moment in the spotlight. Why notshare an interesting story about your pet with
(21:30):
our host, pet coach Janelle Young. No matter how big or small,
we'd love to hear from you onthe Pet Owner Diary Show. We're looking
for the next pet celebrity superstar,or that unique animal story for TV and
radio. If you believe your pethas the IT factor, then call our
Pet Line at four oh seven nineoh six fifty seven twelve or email us
(21:52):
at pet Owner Diary at gmail dotcom. The possibilities are endless. Maybe
you and your pet will be ournext featured weekly guest on TV or radio.
Let's give our pets the attention theydeserve. Welcome back, Pet family.
(22:18):
We are still here with Hannah fromProject Pollywog, and we are talking
about frogs. We're giving y'all alittle pure guide. And UM. If
you have never listened to our showyour first time listener, UM, and
you know you don't. You don'treally know who I am. You've heard
the name Janelle, UM, whenyou're like, just doesn't sound like Janelle.
(22:41):
Who is this? This is Tay. My name is Tay. UM.
I run a frog rescue and I'vebeen doing that for about five years.
UM Tay's Exotic Critters. You canfind us online, UM pretty much
everywhere. UM. Also under thename Mother of Frogs. And yeah,
so I think I think I havesome credentials to talk about frogs. M.
(23:03):
I've only seen all twenty of yourfrogs exactly, various species exactly.
So UM, I'm trying my best. I'm not an expert, but UM,
I think I got the basics.So we're gonna keep on talking about
that. I just wanted to askreally quickly too, where can I get
one if I wanted to get afrog? Yeah? So you can actually
go to my website tasy exotict CrittersRescue dot com and we have applications there
(23:29):
for rescues. We've got four babiesup for adoption right now, so there
is a lot. And we werekind of talking about what you need habitat
wise, so you talked about tanksand now I'm wondering, okay, what
about humidity lighting? And this isspecifically for white stree frogs, which you
mentioned. It's like the beginners.Yeah, they're they're they're pretty easy.
(23:51):
Um so white street frogs, honestly, the biggest thing, or I guess
the biggest step that you're going totake with your um white street frog is
sing up the tank. It's goingto be the most expensive thing. It's
going to be an upfront cost.But after that, you know, cost
wise, things are going to slowdown. But yeah, so for two
white street frogs, you can dothree small ones. That's a good question.
(24:15):
But yeah, so to be aloneor do you need to have you
can do for white street frogs,you can really do anything. I always
say that they should have friends becausethey can't actually get depressed. They can
get lonely if they're not getting enoughinteraction or they don't have enough to explore
anything like that. So friends candefinitely make them feel a lot better,
(24:37):
especially if you're not home a lot, or you know, you're very busy.
You're home in the evenings, butyou're not home in the day.
They have a lot of fun withfriends, and two can live in the
eighteen by eighteen by twelve, youcan do three smaller frogs. Like if
you have three males, females getpretty big. So um, I wouldn't
do three females, but if youwant to do three small males, you
can do that. And like Isaid, for the break they are.
(25:00):
The tank's probably gonna cost you aroundtwo hundred dollars. You can get it
on Facebook Marketplace if you're willing towash it out and make sure and that's
an important step. If you getit off of a sale website, because
you know, you don't know whysomeone's giving it away, Like there could
be an animal that passed in there, there could have been an outbreak of
(25:21):
something. So you always want tomake sure that you're washing it down,
bleaching it, let it dry forseventy two hours, and you know,
don't put your frog in right away. But if their habitat is honestly pretty
easy, they're one of the frogswhere you can either go full on bioactive
or you can use paper towels orshelf liner, frog foam stuff like that
(25:47):
you can use for them. Idon't recommend just plain dirt with them.
Oh yeah, okay, okay.So let's so we have a tank.
So the tank could be anywhere fromhow many gallons you what kind of a
tank title would you want for liketake two white stream. Yeah, so
the so raphile uriums and stuff aremeasured in inches um, but it's about
(26:08):
thirty gallons. So the eighteen byeighteen by twenty four is probably around thirty
gallons um. You want a talltank, you don't have to use those.
If you have a tall thirty gallonyou can't do that. But they
really like the height um. Thething about tree frogs is they're always going
to want to go to the highestplace so that they can watch everything and
feel safe. So the higher thebetter. They love climbing. Um tree
(26:32):
frogs, they're twenty frogs, youknow, they want to they want to
climb. Okay, So then whatabout lighting and humidity? What would be
what do you need for that?Yeah, so for white tree frogs,
your humidity is gonna want to staybetween forty and fifty percent. They do
like it a bit dry. Umanything um. You can spray if you
want. If you're finding that you'rehaving trouble with your humidity, you can
(26:56):
spray them down and have spikes ofsixty to seventy. But if you're having
a constant seventy percent, that's toomuch water in there. It's any excess
water that you have in there isthe perfect breeding ground for bacteria. And
that's the thing I see the mostoften is people are either using dirt and
they're not changing it every month andthey're just letting it get soupy, and
(27:18):
so it's the perfect nice, warm, moist, wet, nasty place for
bacteria to grow, especially if thefrogs are going to the bathroom on it
and stuff like that. So keepingyour humidity down will help keep infections down
and they'll be a lot happier.They don't really like soup. They like
swimming, but they don't like thatmakes sense. Then can you get like
(27:41):
one of those humidity thermometer or communityreaders? I guess yeah. They have
the gauges, the temperature and humiditygauges. I have a couple of them.
I do find they have the littleones that can like stick to the
wall of the little circular ones,but the digital ones actually read a lot
more accurate. So if you canget a digital one to highly recommend that.
(28:02):
If not, then you know,okay, what percentage of humidity would
it be at like thirty percent?It would be between forty and fifty percent.
Yeah. So if you live ina dryer climate, like let's say
you live in California and it's superdry over there, Yeah, then would
you need to spray your frogs down? Yeah? So if you are,
(28:22):
thankfully in Texas, it's a veryhuman place. So naturally my tanks what's
also warm. So naturally my tanksstay above seventy and the humidity is nice
because they really do stay at aboutbetween forty and fifty. Like I think
the largest spike I've ever seen waslike sixty percent on like a really rainy
day. But yeah, if you'reliving in a more dry climate and you're
(28:45):
having a lot of problems keeping thathumidity up, you can spray them one
to two times a day with justdeclarinated water. Make sure it's declarinated.
Any water that you use on yourfrog, you're gonna want to get a
declarinator like repussation or a declarinator thatdoesn't have any aloe because aloe is poisonous
to them. So yeah, okay, and that's another really important thing.
(29:07):
You got to make sure your wateris to chlorinated. Because so speaking of
safety, then what kind of frogthey core? Like materials are good for
frogs because I know, like withfish, when you put in certain things
that can reach chemicals and kill yourfish or something like that, with frogs
definitely, um So anything that's notgoing to have like a harsh paint,
so um you know, some storesare pretty good about not using toxic paint
(29:34):
on their hides because you know,they would probably get sued a lot if
they didn't. A lot of frogs. Yeah, um so any hides that
are UM, you know, veryvery kind of hard plastic. UM.
They really like hamster hides I findUM. And then ceramic hides are great
(29:55):
because they're easy to wash. Youcan throw them in a dishwasher. UM,
and they typically are pretty safe.UM. I feel like yeah,
I mean yeah, like you canuse mugs, you can use bowls like
UM. They they they like alot of UM stuff that they can climb
on. So if there's you canuse real wood, there's dried wood,
(30:17):
and you can use it if youlike. UM. But if you're noticing
that it's getting moldy or anything likethat. They have like fake branches that
are made out of ceramic or atype of it's almost it's not cement,
but it's UM. It's a hardermaterial. UM that's pretty easy to clean.
So you can use that as well. UM. Really anything plastic or
(30:37):
ceramic is free game. UM forledges. They love soapholders for like your
shower and stuff, suction cup soapholders. They love UM ledges, stuff like
that. UM they really really loveand pretty much yeah, plastic or ceramic,
you're you're home free as long asit doesn't have too many holes.
UM that they can get stuck inif you're if you have a on of
(31:00):
that, you can seal it upwith spray phone and just let it drive
for a little bit. Make sureit's not toxic spray bone or aquarium foam,
And yeah, I mean they canreally have anything that's not going to
be to toxic or could mold veryeasily. Okay, So if you found
(31:22):
like a PiZZ of drift wood thatwas like washed up from the ocean and
you soak that in like a bleachwater substance, then would that make it
safe, Like could you do thator would that be kind of Um,
it's a bit risky, especially ifyou're soaking it in bleach, because you
know that can leach that. Youknow, frogs absorb things through their skin,
so literally anything, that's how theyget their water and stuff, Like
(31:45):
they don't drink, you won't seethem drink. They literally drink through their
skin. But that also means thatthey can absorb other things like chemicals,
oils, paints, anything like that, And so probably not with bleach um.
You know, when you bleach downa tank, you have to let
it sit for a very very longtime and dry out. So would it
probably would never really fully dry outor at least it would take like a
(32:07):
month or so. Yeah. Um, so you can bake things. I've
heard people saying that you can bakeyour wood and it's okay. You can
bake leaf litter and it'll be okay. I haven't tried it. I think
it sounds a little risky, soI'm not gonna endorse it, but you
probably could. I don't know ifyou should, fair enough. Yeah,
(32:29):
so then what kind of substrate youknow you find mentioned? No dirt,
you can't you can do dirt.No, you don't have a bake your
dirt, and like I mean,don't use outside dirt. Yeah. Some
people like cocoa fiber and um reptusoil and stuff like that. It's good.
Um, but you are gonna wantto either go full bioactive or not.
(32:51):
Um. And we'll talk more aboutbioactive um when we come back from
the break, because it is veryinteresting. Um. But we'll be right
back with say things in from productat Nava Pets. We know how important
(33:12):
your furry companions are, so wewant to help keep them happy and healthy.
Our organic hemp products are especially formulatedto enhance the well being of your
beloved pet, But don't worry.Our hemp supplements don't contain any of the
psychedelic stuff, so your animal willreceive all the health benefits and still be
the pet you know and love.Your furry friend is sure to enjoy the
(33:35):
organic pet Hemp tincture, which infusesanti inflammatory plant properties and omega fatty acids,
providing for a more mobile and energeticpet, while also assisting with any
chronic pain or medical conditions your petmay be experiencing. Our hemp products also
give a natural calming effect, perfectfor the continuous barkers or those stressed out
cats. We also offer a rangeof flavors including bacon, peanut butter,
(34:00):
and salmon. What's not to loveAt navopets dot com, you can spoil
your pet with goodness, treat yourpet like they treat you. Welcome backpet
(34:22):
family. We are hanging out withPiana from Project Polywog and we are talking
about some frogs and giving you abasic care guide on what you need if
you are looking into getting a frog. There's a lot of misinformation out there,
a lot of different articles that allsay different things, books say different
things, even different Facebook groups saydifferent things, and so it's very hard
(34:45):
to figure out what exactly you're supposedto do or the things that are required.
And so we're kind of clearing somethings up. As I mentioned before,
I run a rescue for frogs,so I know a little bit about
it, and um, yeah,I think this will be a great resource
for someone looking into getting frogs.And so Hannah we were talking kind of
(35:07):
about substrates, and we talked aboutEgo Earth and dirt substrates. We're specifically
looking at white street frogs and fourwhite stree frogs. Plaine Ego Earth is
not really good. If you havea if you're going bioactive and you have
a cleanup crude in there, sothat's like isopods, springtails, stuff like
(35:30):
that. It can be perfectly fine. You just have to make sure that
the bioactive tank and the setup thatyou have in there is running as a
full ecosystem, which can take awhile sometimes. So if you're not seeing
or if you're seeing issues with that, then um you might want to switch.
But um, you know, ittakes a little while. Plaine Ego
(35:51):
Earth is not good. They reallydo not like dirt. They can get
kind of annoyed with it, especiallyif you don't have leaf litter over it
to kind of um let them siton top of the dirt rather than sync
down into it. UM. Sowhat I like to use is frog foam.
You can find it specifically from Josh'sFrogs, but they also have it
on Amazon. It's a blue foam. UM. It's a little it's a
(36:14):
little ugly, but because it's brightblue um and UBB does react to it
a little bit, turning it kindof brown on the top. UM.
So what I like to do isget tight knitted kitchen cloth um, like
the ones that you would put likeon your stove or on your cabinets and
hang off to like dry your handsor like. Yeah. So like I
(36:35):
think they call them kitchen rags,but I feel like rag makes it sound
dirty. Um. Yeah, howelscluffum, And so I use those and
I'll wrap them around the frog foam. UM. There is a specific type
that I look for, tight knit, not a lot of fluffies or loose
fibers. UM, nothing that theycould um obviously digest or anything like that.
(36:58):
UM. And something that's easy toclean and literally it's so nice because
with paper towels, you can't usepaper towels, You just have to be
careful because they can eat them andthey're not reusable. You have to throw
them out, and so that's alot of waste. And I find the
kitchen clusts are a lot better.Eventually they do kind of conk out,
you know, when they have alot of coop on them. They do
(37:21):
stain sometimes, so you know,every couple of months I have to throw
them out and get a couple ofnew ones. But overall I just throw
them in the wash with some unscentedbaby so um detergent and then I let
them dry fully before using. AndI haven't had any issues. Um,
So I don't make sure not tothrow the man with clothes or anything,
(37:43):
just in case because dyes and stufflike that. Oh and then that's the
other thing. Um, anything withprint on it is probably not the best
unless it's woven in. So yeah, that's that's what I like to use.
It's easy to clean, it keepsthings looking simple, and and um
it covers up that that blew foam. Um. But the phone is really
(38:04):
nice because it's it's a sponge,just a foam. It's like memory film.
Um. And so all the waterseems to the bottom and it stays
at the bottom, so if there'sany excess and it's gonna stay there,
it's not gonna soak up. Um. And yeah, it just keeps things
nice and clean. And it's reallysoft, so you know, if you
have frogs that are like flinging themselvesonto the ground, it's a nice landing.
Um. I have a lot ofspecial needs frogs, so in all
(38:28):
of their tanks, I use thefrog phone because like they just have trouble
getting around and often flip themselves over. So the frog phone is a very
nice landing for them. Okay.Um. So then I guess that brings
me to my next question, whichwould kind of be what if I travel
or if I go on vacation,Like, how how do the frogs?
Like do do I need to freethe frogs every single day? I guess
(38:51):
right? For them? If I'mgone for like just a week, would
yeah be okay or would they needsomebody watching that? So it'll depend on
the species. Adults, depend onhow old they are. Babies need to
be fed every single day. Soif you get teeny tiny babies, um,
you're probably going to need disider tocome in every day. Um.
And someone who understands baby frogs becausethey are very very sensitive and unfortunately sometimes
(39:15):
babies can just pass. It justhappens M. Yeah, like you know
it's not from their own doing mostof the time, but you know,
like they're they're tiny babies, Likeyou know, it happens, M.
So you want someone who has definitelyspecialized in it or like understands what keeping
(39:37):
frogs is like. But when youhave older frogs, you can leave them.
Um, Like when I go downto my parents place over the weekends,
They're about five hours away from herein Austin, UM, and I
will leave the frogs over one nightand they're perfectly fine. I make sure
their waters filled up. UM,they're fed. Adult frogs, you only
really need to feed every three days. But if you're going to be gone
(39:59):
more than two to three days,let's say like a week, I would
say definitely get a frog sitter whocan either drop in and feed them and
refill their water bowl every day.And that water bowl will also need to
be scrubbed out or replaced with another, so they have to be cool with
doing that. Sometimes finding a sitteris hard, but sometimes what I'll do
(40:21):
is I'll just go on rover andor wag anything like that that has the
sitting and I make a profile forthe frogs, and some people will say
like they've worked with small animals,or they worked with rep piles, or
if I just see someone that I'mlike, I feel like this person would
be cool with it, I letthem go on. Typically they're like,
yeah, okay, I'll do that. That's easy. I just gotta drop
in, drop out perfect, Okay, Wow, that's perfect. Okay.
(40:44):
So then how long can you expect, like a white street frog to live.
So most frogs are gonna live foraround twenty years. Okay, it's
just a long. It's like it'slike a dog. The oldest frog,
white stree frog in the world isactually I believe he's the five Holy cow.
So yeah, it's a lot,and yeah, it's been it's been
(41:05):
wonderful. It's been wild. Andthank you so much for hanging out with
me today, Yana. We'll haveto do a portrait to this definitely.
Thank you for joining us on petOwner Diary. Make sure to visit our
website pet owner diary dot com,where you can sign up for our newsletter,
view show highlights, and download eachepisode via SoundCloud. Make sure to
(41:27):
subscribe to the show on your favoritepodcast app too, so you and your
pet never miss an episode Pet Family. If you like what you here,
please share on your social media andtell a friend to tune in on behalf
of America's Pet Owner Coach Janelle Young. We wish you loved peace and harmony
with your pet. We'll catch youin the next episode.
Welcome to the Pet Owner Diary Podcast, a show about helping you become a
better pet parent. In each episode, we deliver raw, honest, funny,
and insightful advice on how to bea great pet parent for any type
of pet. Now, here's yourhost, America's Pet Owner Coach, Janelle
Young. Welcome back, pet family. This is the Pet Owner Diary Show,
(00:24):
and my name is Take I'm gonnabe your co host today and we
have an interesting one today. Ithink it's gonna be really fun, really
kind of relaxed. But you know, I can't go like a couple of
weeks without talking about frogs. Sowe are going to bring it back to
(00:45):
the frogs where we're gonna do somethinga little interesting. Today. We have
Hannah from Project Volliwog back. SayHi, Hannah, Hi, Hi again.
I can't well, I'm excited tobe here. Yes, And so
we're gonna do kind of like areverse interview. So one of the biggest
questions I get constantly on all ofmy accounts over multiple platforms is how do
(01:10):
I care for frogs? And like, tell me everything about them right now?
And it's a lot to explain overtext or even a quick TikTok video.
I mean, even with the threeminutes, there's like so much I
could go over. So we're gonnakind of sit back today. Hannah's gonna
ask me some questions because she's beeninterested in getting a frog, and I
(01:33):
have a hard time finding a reallygood guide for care that just has like
all the basics and really let youget informed before you go off and buy
a frog. So this is goingto be a nice a nice reference to
me. It's a bit of aservice to myself because then whenever people ask
him and be like, yeah,go check out this episode, it's got
(01:55):
everything. So yeah, that's that'swhat we're going to be doing today.
Hannah is going to kind of bethe host. She's my co co post
co Squared, yes, and yeah, we're just gonna kick it off.
So yeah, So I guess I'vejust been really interested in getting a frog
after seeing all of your frogs.I mean, you know, I do
own Project Polylog, which is afrog jewelry company. Yeah, I was
(02:19):
gonna say, introduced for people whohaven't don't know about Project Polylog, always
be plugging. Let us know,you know, introduce them to you.
Again. Hannah has her own episodewhere we talked about Polylog, but just
a brief ketchup. Yeah, ofcourse. So basically, my name is
Hannah and I'm the owner of ProjectPolylog, which is a frog jewelry company
(02:40):
that is dedicated to saving the Georgegopher frog and the California Yella look At
frog, which you're both endangered species. So that's actually how I met Tay
was through Project Polylog and through yourfrog page as well. And so yeah,
so I've just been looking into gettinga frog and I met Pizza Hut
I just fell in love with him. So I kind of wanted to just
(03:02):
kind of go through and ask youquestions about what first time frog owners should
know about owning frogs. Definitely,I'm excited. I think this is gonna
be a nice, laid back oneand I get to sit here and just
talk about frogs, which is myfavorite thing to do. So I promise
we won't do too many frog episodes. I promise. Maybe I'm winking,
(03:23):
but you can't tell. Yeah,so if you start us off, what
you got. So my first questionI had was our frogs a good first
pet um? Okay, that's aloaded question because it depends on the person
so like, if we hypothetically,if we make up a little scenario,
(03:44):
what are you talking about for peoplelike you, like your age, like
early twenties, teen years or likebaby? Yeah, well definitely not a
baby, but I do. Iguess what I'm asking more specifically is kind
of like I own dogs, andI've owned snakes, and I've own scorpions,
I've gone trantualize, I've owned allsorts of those kinds of animals,
(04:08):
and so in my head, I'malready familiar with like humidity and like tank
size and substrates and how important thosethings are for Abians, And so I'm
kind of thinking like, Okay,well would it be a good first pet
for somebody who's never owned an animalbefore? Okay, okay, yeah,
so is it a beginner pet?I think, yeah, that's a great
(04:29):
way. It's the word I hearall the time, is our frogs a
good beginner pet? And I thinkthey definitely can be, UM depending on
how much time and responsibility that you'rewilling to put into them. Um,
they can be super super simple petsif you just have all the research done,
all the requirements, like I literallychange their water every other day.
(04:53):
UM. In my big tank,some of my smaller tanks, I don't
need to do it. Um andthen I feed them u every three days
and do a big tank cleaning oncea week, so it's it's pretty.
They're pretty chill pets. They don'tneed too much interaction, but especially different
species. If we're talking about whitetree frogs, which I think is probably
(05:14):
I would say the biggest beginner mfrog they are quite simple. They do
like social interaction, but if youhave other frogs in there with them,
um, they're They're pretty. They'repretty good to just chill and stare off
at nothing all day and be perfectlyfine. So I definitely think frogs can
be a good beginner pet. Ialso think that toads, if you're looking
(05:35):
to get into frogs, toads arequite simple. They're a bit iffy because
a lot of toads are wild caught, which is a whole other story.
So toads are a bit if youbut you know, if you buy from
a reputable breeder or someplace you knowthat you know has um good frogs,
(05:56):
then um, they're definitely a loteasier because a lot of them don't require
too much humidity and um, theyjust can't chill out. Oh okay,
I see. So then I guesscycling off of the different species versus frogs
versus toads, what kind of speciesof frog like should I get? If
it was I just wanted something thatwas super simple but really like just you
(06:19):
know, you get that frog experience, right, having to worry about them
dying, right, yeah. Yeah, Now they're sensitive, so there is
that that worry of like, ohshoot, you know if I mess up
ones like they can pass away likefish, very much like fish. Um.
(06:39):
So yeah, I mean the whitetree frogs, I would say,
are or dumpy frogs. You mighthave heard them being called dumpy frogs.
That's because they look kind of kindof dumpy and a little like they're not
all there um constantly. Um.But I also think pacmun frogs can be
good if you've done all your research. Um. And now pacmun frogs are
(07:00):
a terrestrial frog. They like burrowing. Um, they need dirt in their
tank, whereas white tree frogs youdon't have to do dirt. Um.
So it kind of depends on howmuch time you're willing to put into them.
Um. I can tell you thefrogs, but they don't recommend,
right, off the back because that'seasier if you're a first time frog owner.
(07:23):
Um, I mean if you thinkyou can do it, like by
all means, like go ahead,if you've bound it, you're doing the
research, go ahead. But difficult. Yeah. Yes, So like poison
dart frogs, um are they havea lot of requirements for their habitat.
They need lots of moisture, theydo way better and bioactive. Um they're
(07:45):
so sensitive. We'll get into that. We'll get into that. Don't worry,
no, no, no, you'regood. Um. But I mean
for people that do know. Tosum it up, basically, it's a
self sustaining tank, so you don'thave to clean it. Um, it's
very natural. It's all dirt,you know, stuff like that. They're
kind of hard to get started becauseyou know, you need to create a
(08:07):
culture. Um. And they're expensivetoo, so um dart frogs, things
like red eye tree frogs, um, glass frogs. Any. They're so
cute, but they're so sensitive andreally yeah so any I would say those
are kind of like the the expertlevel and any of like the more rare
(08:28):
exotic. I mean, they're allexotic, but like once you can find
in like the rainforests and stuff.Those are the hard ones because that's such
a cultured ecosystem that like, yes, yes, so there are people who
do it all the time and thosethings are absolutely beautiful. But I'm the
type of person where like I justI've tried bioactive and it's just never it's
(08:54):
difficult. Yeah, and it's reallyexpensive. It can get really expensive.
Um. So yeah, I meanI tend to say the white tree frogs
are kind of the the simplest umof the of the tree frogs. Definitely.
Okay, so white street frocks,So then what do white whites Let's
okay, let's just say that Iwanted to get a white street frog.
(09:15):
So what do those frogs eat?Then? Um, well, all frogs
are going to eat bugs. Um. There are no frogs that are omnivores
or herbivores. Um, it's justnot they don't do that. They can
actually get sick from eating fruits andvegetables. Um. And it's just not
a fun experience. I've had acouple of people come to me saying like,
oh, my frog eat like ablueberry or something, and I'm like,
(09:37):
oh, oh, okay, thatprobably wasn't very good. Oh anything
citrus is really bad for them.So side note if you are feeding,
if you are breeding your own bugs, don't feed them citrus or anything like
that. Bugs. Oh yeah,yeahs when we get more into food.
Um, but yeah no, solots of worms. You can do crickets.
(10:00):
I hate crickets. A lots ofpeople hate crickets because they're everywhere.
They're loud, and they stink andthey don't die ye and then and you
can't find them because they're shirupping inyour house all night and it's just a
mess and they stink really um.So yeah, but no, but you
can't. You can do crickets ifyou want, but you'll want them to
(10:22):
be gutloaded. Anything you feed,um, you'll want them to be gutloaded.
And a lot of crickets, alot of crickets from the store are
not gutloading is basically, um,like giving them healthy food instead of just
like giving them like mule and stufflike that. Um. We do have
to take a really quick break here, so we'll be right back and we'll
(10:43):
talk more about and batana if I'mproduct foilog at Nava pets. We know
how important your furry companions are.So we want to help keep them happy
(11:05):
and healthy. Our organic hemp productsare especially formulated to enhance the well being
of your beloved pet. But don'tworry. Our hemp supplements don't contain any
of the psychedelic stuff, so youranimal will receive all the health benefits and
still be the pet you know andlove. Your furry friend is sure to
enjoy the organic pet Hemp Tincture,which infuses anti inflammatory plant properties and omegafatty
(11:31):
acids, providing for a more mobileand energetic pet, while also assisting with
any chronic pain or medical conditions yourpet may be experiencing. Our hemp products
also give a natural calming effect,perfect for the continuous barkers or those stressed
out cats. We also offer arange of flavors including bacon, peanut butter,
and salmon. What's not to loveAt navapets dot com, you can
(11:54):
spoil your pet with goodness, treatyour pet like they treat you. Welcome
back pet family. Today we arefocusing on frogs. We're giving you a
(12:18):
little guide to frogs and I amactually the one being interviewed today and we're
having a very fun time with Hannahfrom Project polywog. And we were talking
a little bit about what frogs eatum bugs bugs, yes, and Hannah
asked about gut loading. Um itkind of it's kind of a gross word
(12:39):
load like chewy cheddar covered crickets andlike, oh my gosh, the ones
that you can eat. But gutloading is it's basically just feeding your breeder
bugs. How um, how youwould feed your frogs, like good quality
(13:01):
vegetables, good quality food, UM, vitamins, calcium, multi vitamins,
stuff like that. UM. Havingthem on oats can also um fill them
up a bit. Typically the substratethat you will use, especially for superworms
and meal worms, it'll be oatsand then they can eat the oats as
well for a bit of UM.I think fibers, the one fiber I
(13:22):
mean that's I think that's whatever oatsdo. Yeah, yeah, whatever oats
do, they like it. Um. But yeah, a lot of greens
like um, mustard greens, spinach, kelp, they like. They love
that stuff. So um those arereally good for them. It's basically just
(13:43):
giving them a healthy diet. Becausemost of the crickets at um, even
superwarms, meal worms do we roachesum. At pet stores they feed them
potatoes which is a starch potatoes,and so potatoes make them fat, but
they don't they don't actually get Yeah, they don't really get anything from that.
And then they'll also feed like wormmeal and stuff like that which sometimes
(14:07):
has vitamins, but typically, um, they don't you know, they just
want to sell the bugs. They'renot like big box pet stores are not
you know, sitting down and feedingthem, um everything when they know they're
just gonna you know, go thatday and get fed. And yeah,
it's it's it's uh, they don'tneed to invest too much time into it.
(14:28):
Um. But if you are breedingum, which are a couple of
different ways to read bugs. Um, it's it's interesting. Um. I've
been trying to breed dubious for awhile. Um. Dubie roaches are probably
the healthiest food for frogs and reptilesin general. They're very um, you
(14:48):
know, they're very protein filled.There's not a lot of fat in them.
Um. So they're very very good. Yes, and they like the
crunch. Um. So they theyrequire like heating man and a dark bin
and like you have to like spraythem down, give them like food and
vitamins and stuff like that. Andit's literally I have like one of those
(15:13):
big rubber made tupperware like bins,and I just like soundered holes into the
top and um, yeah, theyjust live in there on egg crate and
um, mine are not breeding.I have I have failed to get them
to breed. Um. But thereare females I might just not like each
(15:33):
other. Oh right, Um,but my superworms. I find that my
superworms and m worms do really reallygood because they're so simple. You just
put them in a bin with oats. Again, mine is one of those
like sliding bins. Um, thosestackable sliding bins, the white ones that
you can like full out and likelabel. I literally just have them there.
(15:56):
I think most people keep like artsupplies on them. My husband and
um, it's literally just oats.And then I feed them things like carrots,
cucumbers to get their water up,broccoli greens. They love it.
Um. And then I also adda multi vitamin and calcium and things like
that too, um the bin andthen they grow pretty fast. And when
(16:22):
you're feeding them really good things,they're like sometimes there is a time when
like all of the beetles have goneand there's just babies, and so I
have to wait for a little bitfor the babies to grow up, which
is annoying. But yeah, sobreeding boxes. Breeding crickets I think is
a lot harder to Um I've nevertried because again I don't like them so
(16:45):
um, but yeah it's it's apresss so um. Earthworms are pretty easy
as well. Um. A lotof frogs like nightcrawlers, um, which
are literally just the big ones youdo like you fish with, um,
and you can do like a compostbox and um put them in there and
like make it a little thing.But I've not tried that, so yeah,
um that's a possibility as well.So yeah, feeding it. You
(17:11):
don't have to breed your own bugs. You don't have to feed your own
bugs if you don't want to.Um what would what would a person like
me who doesn't want to have thedanger of my dog nothing a bit of
bugs? Right, Yeah that istrue, but no I feel that And
guess my my dog actually sometimes ifI leave the bin open with oats,
(17:33):
he will get in there and eatthe oats and worms and just like he
could go to town. So Ihave to be careful of that. Um.
Yeah my dog isn't he eats worms? Um. But um, you
can't just go to a big boxstore and pick up your bugs. Um.
Or you can order online from placeslike Josh's frogs UM, Dubia roach
(17:56):
dot com is great, they shipreally fast, they always have stuff in
stock. Or you can find agood local exotics store UM that probably breeds
their own and you know, putsmore attention into breeding their own. Um.
You can't go to big bux stores, like don't. I'm not saying
that, like you know, youcan't. You can't do that, but
you know it makes it more costeffective. Yeah, especially breeding bugs actually
(18:19):
is very very cost effective because onceyou have that constant supply of bugs,
you're not going out spending like tenwell at least for me, because I
have many frogs, but like youknow, like ten dollars every couple of
weeks for more bugs. So yeah, okay, So then all right,
so if I wanted to buy bugsat the store just to start a culture
(18:42):
of bugs, it would be liketen dollars to start it. Dollars do
you think? I mean? Itdepends on bugs because dubie roaches and super
worms tend to run a little bithigher, but meal worms and crickets are
pretty cheap. Um, So youcould probably get like five dollars of worms
and or or five dollars of cricketsand just start from there to ears.
(19:03):
I'd say probably like ten bucks ofJimmie riches and make sure they give you,
um, a large mail and alarge female um, and then you
can get that started. So it'sit's it sounds easy, um, and
sometimes it is easy, but sometimesit's not. So pick your poison with
that. So then for one frog, how much would it cost per month
thing to like feed maintain, Likewhat would that mean per month? Um?
(19:30):
We should talk about the we shouldtalk about the initial cost first actually
before we do. Yeah. Sofor for your tank, um, if
you're getting a white street frog,something like a eighteen by eighteen by twenty
four is great. Um. They'rea nice tall tank. Um. They're
pretty much all front opening um.And they they I love the front opening
(19:53):
because you can literally just reach inand grab what you need to do and
close them and they lo and it'snice um. And those can run you
up to two hundred dollars. Canyou find those on Facebook? Marketplace offer
up for like a lot cheaper?Yeah? Oh definitely, UM, I
will say make sure you're cleaning thosevery very well. And how do you
(20:15):
clean them? Like? What islike the ones that you get off of
this marketplace? So what I dois I take a um a deluded bleach
um. Make sure it's very deluded. I believe I use like point nine
percent of bleach to water um andyou can just spray it down and let
it sit out for twenty four hours. It's pretty easy, and we do
(20:38):
have to take another quick break,but we'll be right back to talk about
some more frogs with Hannah Anne.We all know that a dog is man's
(21:07):
best friend, won't Why stop there? We think that all pets make our
lives a little easier, whether it'sa cat, gecko, or even a
horse. We want to learn whatmakes your pets so special to you.
Maybe they have an eccentric personality oreven give good cuddles. Whatever it is,
we want to hear about it.After all, our pets deserve a
moment in the spotlight. Why notshare an interesting story about your pet with
(21:30):
our host, pet coach Janelle Young. No matter how big or small,
we'd love to hear from you onthe Pet Owner Diary Show. We're looking
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radio. If you believe your pethas the IT factor, then call our
Pet Line at four oh seven nineoh six fifty seven twelve or email us
(21:52):
at pet Owner Diary at gmail dotcom. The possibilities are endless. Maybe
you and your pet will be ournext featured weekly guest on TV or radio.
Let's give our pets the attention theydeserve. Welcome back, Pet family.
(22:18):
We are still here with Hannah fromProject Pollywog, and we are talking
about frogs. We're giving y'all alittle pure guide. And UM. If
you have never listened to our showyour first time listener, UM, and
you know you don't. You don'treally know who I am. You've heard
the name Janelle, UM, whenyou're like, just doesn't sound like Janelle.
(22:41):
Who is this? This is Tay. My name is Tay. UM.
I run a frog rescue and I'vebeen doing that for about five years.
UM Tay's Exotic Critters. You canfind us online, UM pretty much
everywhere. UM. Also under thename Mother of Frogs. And yeah,
so I think I think I havesome credentials to talk about frogs. M.
(23:03):
I've only seen all twenty of yourfrogs exactly, various species exactly.
So UM, I'm trying my best. I'm not an expert, but UM,
I think I got the basics.So we're gonna keep on talking about
that. I just wanted to askreally quickly too, where can I get
one if I wanted to get afrog? Yeah? So you can actually
go to my website tasy exotict CrittersRescue dot com and we have applications there
(23:29):
for rescues. We've got four babiesup for adoption right now, so there
is a lot. And we werekind of talking about what you need habitat
wise, so you talked about tanksand now I'm wondering, okay, what
about humidity lighting? And this isspecifically for white stree frogs, which you
mentioned. It's like the beginners.Yeah, they're they're they're pretty easy.
(23:51):
Um so white street frogs, honestly, the biggest thing, or I guess
the biggest step that you're going totake with your um white street frog is
sing up the tank. It's goingto be the most expensive thing. It's
going to be an upfront cost.But after that, you know, cost
wise, things are going to slowdown. But yeah, so for two
white street frogs, you can dothree small ones. That's a good question.
(24:15):
But yeah, so to be aloneor do you need to have you
can do for white street frogs,you can really do anything. I always
say that they should have friends becausethey can't actually get depressed. They can
get lonely if they're not getting enoughinteraction or they don't have enough to explore
anything like that. So friends candefinitely make them feel a lot better,
(24:37):
especially if you're not home a lot, or you know, you're very busy.
You're home in the evenings, butyou're not home in the day.
They have a lot of fun withfriends, and two can live in the
eighteen by eighteen by twelve, youcan do three smaller frogs. Like if
you have three males, females getpretty big. So um, I wouldn't
do three females, but if youwant to do three small males, you
can do that. And like Isaid, for the break they are.
(25:00):
The tank's probably gonna cost you aroundtwo hundred dollars. You can get it
on Facebook Marketplace if you're willing towash it out and make sure and that's
an important step. If you getit off of a sale website, because
you know, you don't know whysomeone's giving it away, Like there could
be an animal that passed in there, there could have been an outbreak of
(25:21):
something. So you always want tomake sure that you're washing it down,
bleaching it, let it dry forseventy two hours, and you know,
don't put your frog in right away. But if their habitat is honestly pretty
easy, they're one of the frogswhere you can either go full on bioactive
or you can use paper towels orshelf liner, frog foam stuff like that
(25:47):
you can use for them. Idon't recommend just plain dirt with them.
Oh yeah, okay, okay.So let's so we have a tank.
So the tank could be anywhere fromhow many gallons you what kind of a
tank title would you want for liketake two white stream. Yeah, so
the so raphile uriums and stuff aremeasured in inches um, but it's about
(26:08):
thirty gallons. So the eighteen byeighteen by twenty four is probably around thirty
gallons um. You want a talltank, you don't have to use those.
If you have a tall thirty gallonyou can't do that. But they
really like the height um. Thething about tree frogs is they're always going
to want to go to the highestplace so that they can watch everything and
feel safe. So the higher thebetter. They love climbing. Um tree
(26:32):
frogs, they're twenty frogs, youknow, they want to they want to
climb. Okay, So then whatabout lighting and humidity? What would be
what do you need for that?Yeah, so for white tree frogs,
your humidity is gonna want to staybetween forty and fifty percent. They do
like it a bit dry. Umanything um. You can spray if you
want. If you're finding that you'rehaving trouble with your humidity, you can
(26:56):
spray them down and have spikes ofsixty to seventy. But if you're having
a constant seventy percent, that's toomuch water in there. It's any excess
water that you have in there isthe perfect breeding ground for bacteria. And
that's the thing I see the mostoften is people are either using dirt and
they're not changing it every month andthey're just letting it get soupy, and
(27:18):
so it's the perfect nice, warm, moist, wet, nasty place for
bacteria to grow, especially if thefrogs are going to the bathroom on it
and stuff like that. So keepingyour humidity down will help keep infections down
and they'll be a lot happier.They don't really like soup. They like
swimming, but they don't like thatmakes sense. Then can you get like
(27:41):
one of those humidity thermometer or communityreaders? I guess yeah. They have
the gauges, the temperature and humiditygauges. I have a couple of them.
I do find they have the littleones that can like stick to the
wall of the little circular ones,but the digital ones actually read a lot
more accurate. So if you canget a digital one to highly recommend that.
(28:02):
If not, then you know,okay, what percentage of humidity would
it be at like thirty percent?It would be between forty and fifty percent.
Yeah. So if you live ina dryer climate, like let's say
you live in California and it's superdry over there, Yeah, then would
you need to spray your frogs down? Yeah? So if you are,
(28:22):
thankfully in Texas, it's a veryhuman place. So naturally my tanks what's
also warm. So naturally my tanksstay above seventy and the humidity is nice
because they really do stay at aboutbetween forty and fifty. Like I think
the largest spike I've ever seen waslike sixty percent on like a really rainy
day. But yeah, if you'reliving in a more dry climate and you're
(28:45):
having a lot of problems keeping thathumidity up, you can spray them one
to two times a day with justdeclarinated water. Make sure it's declarinated.
Any water that you use on yourfrog, you're gonna want to get a
declarinator like repussation or a declarinator thatdoesn't have any aloe because aloe is poisonous
to them. So yeah, okay, and that's another really important thing.
(29:07):
You got to make sure your wateris to chlorinated. Because so speaking of
safety, then what kind of frogthey core? Like materials are good for
frogs because I know, like withfish, when you put in certain things
that can reach chemicals and kill yourfish or something like that, with frogs
definitely, um So anything that's notgoing to have like a harsh paint,
so um you know, some storesare pretty good about not using toxic paint
(29:34):
on their hides because you know,they would probably get sued a lot if
they didn't. A lot of frogs. Yeah, um so any hides that
are UM, you know, veryvery kind of hard plastic. UM.
They really like hamster hides I findUM. And then ceramic hides are great
(29:55):
because they're easy to wash. Youcan throw them in a dishwasher. UM,
and they typically are pretty safe.UM. I feel like yeah,
I mean yeah, like you canuse mugs, you can use bowls like
UM. They they they like alot of UM stuff that they can climb
on. So if there's you canuse real wood, there's dried wood,
(30:17):
and you can use it if youlike. UM. But if you're noticing
that it's getting moldy or anything likethat. They have like fake branches that
are made out of ceramic or atype of it's almost it's not cement,
but it's UM. It's a hardermaterial. UM that's pretty easy to clean.
So you can use that as well. UM. Really anything plastic or
(30:37):
ceramic is free game. UM forledges. They love soapholders for like your
shower and stuff, suction cup soapholders. They love UM ledges, stuff like
that. UM they really really loveand pretty much yeah, plastic or ceramic,
you're you're home free as long asit doesn't have too many holes.
UM that they can get stuck inif you're if you have a on of
(31:00):
that, you can seal it upwith spray phone and just let it drive
for a little bit. Make sureit's not toxic spray bone or aquarium foam,
And yeah, I mean they canreally have anything that's not going to
be to toxic or could mold veryeasily. Okay, So if you found
(31:22):
like a PiZZ of drift wood thatwas like washed up from the ocean and
you soak that in like a bleachwater substance, then would that make it
safe, Like could you do thator would that be kind of Um,
it's a bit risky, especially ifyou're soaking it in bleach, because you
know that can leach that. Youknow, frogs absorb things through their skin,
so literally anything, that's how theyget their water and stuff, Like
(31:45):
they don't drink, you won't seethem drink. They literally drink through their
skin. But that also means thatthey can absorb other things like chemicals,
oils, paints, anything like that, And so probably not with bleach um.
You know, when you bleach downa tank, you have to let
it sit for a very very longtime and dry out. So would it
probably would never really fully dry outor at least it would take like a
(32:07):
month or so. Yeah. Um, so you can bake things. I've
heard people saying that you can bakeyour wood and it's okay. You can
bake leaf litter and it'll be okay. I haven't tried it. I think
it sounds a little risky, soI'm not gonna endorse it, but you
probably could. I don't know ifyou should, fair enough. Yeah,
(32:29):
so then what kind of substrate youknow you find mentioned? No dirt,
you can't you can do dirt.No, you don't have a bake your
dirt, and like I mean,don't use outside dirt. Yeah. Some
people like cocoa fiber and um reptusoil and stuff like that. It's good.
Um, but you are gonna wantto either go full bioactive or not.
(32:51):
Um. And we'll talk more aboutbioactive um when we come back from
the break, because it is veryinteresting. Um. But we'll be right
back with say things in from productat Nava Pets. We know how important
(33:12):
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(34:00):
and salmon. What's not to loveAt navopets dot com, you can spoil
your pet with goodness, treat yourpet like they treat you. Welcome backpet
(34:22):
family. We are hanging out withPiana from Project Polywog and we are talking
about some frogs and giving you abasic care guide on what you need if
you are looking into getting a frog. There's a lot of misinformation out there,
a lot of different articles that allsay different things, books say different
things, even different Facebook groups saydifferent things, and so it's very hard
(34:45):
to figure out what exactly you're supposedto do or the things that are required.
And so we're kind of clearing somethings up. As I mentioned before,
I run a rescue for frogs,so I know a little bit about
it, and um, yeah,I think this will be a great resource
for someone looking into getting frogs.And so Hannah we were talking kind of
(35:07):
about substrates, and we talked aboutEgo Earth and dirt substrates. We're specifically
looking at white street frogs and fourwhite stree frogs. Plaine Ego Earth is
not really good. If you havea if you're going bioactive and you have
a cleanup crude in there, sothat's like isopods, springtails, stuff like
(35:30):
that. It can be perfectly fine. You just have to make sure that
the bioactive tank and the setup thatyou have in there is running as a
full ecosystem, which can take awhile sometimes. So if you're not seeing
or if you're seeing issues with that, then um you might want to switch.
But um, you know, ittakes a little while. Plaine Ego
(35:51):
Earth is not good. They reallydo not like dirt. They can get
kind of annoyed with it, especiallyif you don't have leaf litter over it
to kind of um let them siton top of the dirt rather than sync
down into it. UM. Sowhat I like to use is frog foam.
You can find it specifically from Josh'sFrogs, but they also have it
on Amazon. It's a blue foam. UM. It's a little it's a
(36:14):
little ugly, but because it's brightblue um and UBB does react to it
a little bit, turning it kindof brown on the top. UM.
So what I like to do isget tight knitted kitchen cloth um, like
the ones that you would put likeon your stove or on your cabinets and
hang off to like dry your handsor like. Yeah. So like I
(36:35):
think they call them kitchen rags,but I feel like rag makes it sound
dirty. Um. Yeah, howelscluffum, And so I use those and
I'll wrap them around the frog foam. UM. There is a specific type
that I look for, tight knit, not a lot of fluffies or loose
fibers. UM, nothing that theycould um obviously digest or anything like that.
(36:58):
UM. And something that's easy toclean and literally it's so nice because
with paper towels, you can't usepaper towels, You just have to be
careful because they can eat them andthey're not reusable. You have to throw
them out, and so that's alot of waste. And I find the
kitchen clusts are a lot better.Eventually they do kind of conk out,
you know, when they have alot of coop on them. They do
(37:21):
stain sometimes, so you know,every couple of months I have to throw
them out and get a couple ofnew ones. But overall I just throw
them in the wash with some unscentedbaby so um detergent and then I let
them dry fully before using. AndI haven't had any issues. Um,
So I don't make sure not tothrow the man with clothes or anything,
(37:43):
just in case because dyes and stufflike that. Oh and then that's the
other thing. Um, anything withprint on it is probably not the best
unless it's woven in. So yeah, that's that's what I like to use.
It's easy to clean, it keepsthings looking simple, and and um
it covers up that that blew foam. Um. But the phone is really
(38:04):
nice because it's it's a sponge,just a foam. It's like memory film.
Um. And so all the waterseems to the bottom and it stays
at the bottom, so if there'sany excess and it's gonna stay there,
it's not gonna soak up. Um. And yeah, it just keeps things
nice and clean. And it's reallysoft, so you know, if you
have frogs that are like flinging themselvesonto the ground, it's a nice landing.
Um. I have a lot ofspecial needs frogs, so in all
(38:28):
of their tanks, I use thefrog phone because like they just have trouble
getting around and often flip themselves over. So the frog phone is a very
nice landing for them. Okay.Um. So then I guess that brings
me to my next question, whichwould kind of be what if I travel
or if I go on vacation,Like, how how do the frogs?
Like do do I need to freethe frogs every single day? I guess
(38:51):
right? For them? If I'mgone for like just a week, would
yeah be okay or would they needsomebody watching that? So it'll depend on
the species. Adults, depend onhow old they are. Babies need to
be fed every single day. Soif you get teeny tiny babies, um,
you're probably going to need disider tocome in every day. Um.
And someone who understands baby frogs becausethey are very very sensitive and unfortunately sometimes
(39:15):
babies can just pass. It justhappens M. Yeah, like you know
it's not from their own doing mostof the time, but you know,
like they're they're tiny babies, Likeyou know, it happens, M.
So you want someone who has definitelyspecialized in it or like understands what keeping
(39:37):
frogs is like. But when youhave older frogs, you can leave them.
Um, Like when I go downto my parents place over the weekends,
They're about five hours away from herein Austin, UM, and I
will leave the frogs over one nightand they're perfectly fine. I make sure
their waters filled up. UM,they're fed. Adult frogs, you only
really need to feed every three days. But if you're going to be gone
(39:59):
more than two to three days,let's say like a week, I would
say definitely get a frog sitter whocan either drop in and feed them and
refill their water bowl every day.And that water bowl will also need to
be scrubbed out or replaced with another, so they have to be cool with
doing that. Sometimes finding a sitteris hard, but sometimes what I'll do
(40:21):
is I'll just go on rover andor wag anything like that that has the
sitting and I make a profile forthe frogs, and some people will say
like they've worked with small animals,or they worked with rep piles, or
if I just see someone that I'mlike, I feel like this person would
be cool with it, I letthem go on. Typically they're like,
yeah, okay, I'll do that. That's easy. I just gotta drop
in, drop out perfect, Okay, Wow, that's perfect. Okay.
(40:44):
So then how long can you expect, like a white street frog to live.
So most frogs are gonna live foraround twenty years. Okay, it's
just a long. It's like it'slike a dog. The oldest frog,
white stree frog in the world isactually I believe he's the five Holy cow.
So yeah, it's a lot,and yeah, it's been it's been
(41:05):
wonderful. It's been wild. Andthank you so much for hanging out with
me today, Yana. We'll haveto do a portrait to this definitely.
Thank you for joining us on petOwner Diary. Make sure to visit our
website pet owner diary dot com,where you can sign up for our newsletter,
view show highlights, and download eachepisode via SoundCloud. Make sure to
(41:27):
subscribe to the show on your favoritepodcast app too, so you and your
pet never miss an episode Pet Family. If you like what you here,
please share on your social media andtell a friend to tune in on behalf
of America's Pet Owner Coach Janelle Young. We wish you loved peace and harmony
with your pet. We'll catch youin the next episode.
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