How to choose your first frog

[Punchfish]

I have noticed over the past couple weeks there have been several similar posts asking what would be the best beginner frog. So, instead of answering each person with the same answer I thought I would write this to help all those who want help on choosing their first frog.

You may ask yourself if a frog be would suitable for you. Well I can answer that and say YES, frogs are awesome little creatures; they are pretty stupid, which in turn makes them fairly comical. They are also pretty cute and are not the most demanding of pets, but they do still depend entirely on you to survive.

I think if the soon to be owner properly researches BEFORE they buy, any frog can make a great first frog. They are not like snakes where you need a lot of experience before you can go for the very large, aggressive or poisonous species. So as long as you know what you’re doing and really care for the little guys they won’t know if they are your 1st or your 20th frog.

So when someone asks what would make a good first frog and they are willing to fully research it and mature enough to truly care for it, I would say anything you want.

So now all you have to ask yourself what you are looking for in a frog, something large and aggressive, or perhaps a group of small cute ones.

There is no way I could write about every frog as there is just too many, so I will just write a few Pros & Cons about a few species that either my friends or myself have kept in the past.

Whites Tree Frog

Pros

• Easy to maintain
• Good eaters
• Can be kept in groups
• Can be cute
• Cheap
• Pretty hardy

Cons

• Not very active
• They move at night

Red Eye Tree Frog

Pros

• Gorgeous frogs
• Can be kept in groups

Cons

• More expensive than Whites
• They move at night
• Their care is more demanding than Whites

Horned frog

Pros

• Get fairly large
• Easy to care for
• Good eaters
• Don’t require large tanks
• Pretty hardy
• Cheap
• Look good (opinions may vary)

Cons

• Pretty lazy, don’t move much at all
• Spend a lot of time burrowed under substrate (may cause new owner to lose interest in frogs if it doesn’t excite them)
• Do very big poos
• Best kept alone

African Bullfrog

Pros

• Can get HUGE
• Easy to care for
• Pretty hardy
• Very aggressive eaters
• More active than horned frogs

Cons

• Can get HUGE
• Not cute looking
• Do monster poos

Budgetts Frog

Pros

• Looks very comical
• Will try eat ANYTHING

Cons

• Need to be aestivated

African Clawed Frog

Pros

• Easy to care for
• Very cheap
• Fairly hardy

Cons

• I find these can smell
• Not cute looking

Poison arrow frogs

Pros

• Absolutely gorgeous colours
• Very cute little guys
• Can be very bold (depends on species)

• Very active during the day

• Can be kept in groups

Cons

• Expensive
• Eats tiny food
• More demanding than some species

I hope this helps out people looking for their new frog and if anyone has anything they want added just post and I’ll add it in.

[spend_day]

I like it.

just an idea u could add some stuff about how to spot a healthy frog in a pet store

[Axel01]

Proper Job

but missing (No apologies for copying )

Fire Bellied Toads

Pros

• Dramatically coloured
• Easy to maintain
• Good eaters
• Can be kept in groups/ fleets
  
• Are cute
• Competitively priced
  
• Pretty hardy

Cons

• Insert cons here

[Punchfish]

Thats a toad my dear sir . I will add it man but for some reason I don't see the wee 'edit' thingy, wheres it gone? Or is there a new way to edit posts?

[Axel01]

OK point taken. (over excited in their defence)

Mossy frogs then

Green
spikey
nocturnal
deffo not cheap.

(I think the edit thingy has slipped off the page )

Ah ha there's an edit button on this post.

[Punchfish]

Haha I was just joking man. Yeah true I forgot mossies and milk frogs and loads more. It will be annoying though if I can't edit that first post, as it would be nice to keep it all in one post.

How odd I can edit this post but not my ones above it. Can anyone explain this?

[Bigjim]

Its so you can't edit a post after someone has replied to it - standard forum etiquitte mate.

Best thing to do is reply to your original post as a 'quote' and then fudge it from there. Admittedly when you post it will default to the end of the thread - but better than nothing.

Failing that you could send your edit to a moderator who can edit any post - whether they have enough time to do this though is another matter

HTH

Jim

[Punchfish]

Ahhh thanks for that Bigjim, makes sense.

[Trillian]

Could you also add the pros and cons of African Dwarf Frogs? I already have one but would be interested in your opinion of them.

[Punchfish]

Lol, well if you want my opinion here it is (remember I have never kept these so some things could be wrong)

African Clawed Frog

Pros

• pretty comical looking
• are fun to watch trying to eat
• easy to keep
• cheap
• they look funny when swimming

Cons

• not the prettiest of frogs
• don't make any cool wee calls (may not be true, as I said i've never kept them)
• not as cool as budgetts