This isn’t my area of expertise, but this is right up @kaijutegu‘s alley. Thank you for being willing to do the appropriate research before bringing it in, and for using the process to educate your kids about what good husbandry takes and appropriate research before bringing home a pet!
OH MAN tree frogs are one of THE best classroom pets bar none, so long as you enforce “look, but don’t touch.” You’ll want to go with one of the hardier species. White’s tree frogs would probably be perfect- they’re cute, a great size, and easy to feed You can also keep them in groups- they’re pretty easy-going and will sometimes call to each other, which is cute. They’re an Australian species, so if you’re in the US, all the ones you’ll find are captive-bred- which means there’s a greatly reduced chance of parasites. Stickyfrogs keeps a really wonderful group of sweeties, if you want to see them in action. A good care sheet for them is located here: http://frogs.org.au/x/media/cs-caerulea.pdf
Now, what you want to look for when purchasing is a healthy frog! Frogs come i a lot of different colors, but generally you should be seeing healthy skin (no wounds, no inexplicable scars). Check the eyes- they should be bright and clear and not sunken in. If the jaw looks floppy, that’s a big no. The frog should be moist and should react when touched- a nonreactive frog is likely unwell.
But before you buy a frog, you gotta have a good frog home! And as far as supplies go, that depends on your budget, really! Josh’s Frogs has a complete tree frog kit that includes everything you need (except the frog). If that’s too much, you can definitely find a cheaper tank (you might be able to crowdsource this through your students’ parents, you’d be amazed how many people have old fish tanks in their garages or basements they’d like to get rid of, and if you clean it well, it’ll be fine) and other sources. Josh’s Frogs also sells tankless kits, so this might be an option for you, too! Your local pet store will have a lot of this stuff, too. The important thing to remember for amphibians is humidity- they need constant access to water, so a good bowl to soak in as well as proper misting is necessary. Since these will be classroom pets, you might even want to look into getting a misting system for overnights. You might even want to have two setups, one at home and one at school, so that you don’t have to worry about weekends or anything.
Craft stores can be good places to get fake plants, but you gotta be careful. Nothing with glitter, nothing too sharp, and nothing with metal. You’ll also want to make sure that any dyes are colorfast- soak any fake plants in hot water with a bit of white vinegar in it and see if any color bleeds out.
One thing I’d be very careful about is finding any materials from outside. Unfortunately, chytrid fungus is a real threat to amphibians, and it’s all over the place. It will kill your amphibians, and it sticks around for a long time- so to be safe, it’s probably a good idea to stick to stuff that’s packaged and purchased from known clean sources.
Good luck! Your kids’ll love having frogs in the classroom.
Reblogging to spread the knowledge! I hope this helps.
Hello you may not be able to help me but might be able to direct me to someone who can. I am a preschool teacher and would like to introduce a tree frog into my classroom. What/where is the best place to look for resources on appropriate habitat in captivity? What should I look for when purchasing? Any resources you can suggest would be helpful, I want this to be a learning experience for myself and my students. Thank you for your time!
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