Where Are The Green FBTs?

[happy toad]

Whenever I go to the pet stores in my area (PetSmart, PetCo) I only see brown frogs. Why is this? Where have the grass green frogs gone?

There was a thread about this on Caudata.org, though it seems to have gone dead so I thought we could start one here since it seems to be a bit more active.

There have been many possible theories, though none of them seem definitive. Here are the ones I've heard:
- frogs imported from different locale, thus different color.
- frogs are juveniles and have not colored up yet.
- frogs are stressed by:
a. temparature
b. humidity
c. air flow
d. light levels
e. water (level, cleanliness)
f. misc.
- frogs can change color to match envoronment
- frog is missing some element in diet preventing full coloration

That's all I can think of at the moment. Please post you theories, experiences, pics, sources for green frogs, ect.

[beckdg]

i think they're all possibilities. there are a couple different species of these little guys and some will produce babies of both color variants from what i understand. i know i can find green and black/brown in the same setup in my area. that doesn't mean they're the same frogs though. just i can find them.

[happy toad]

I was considering that for a while that the petstores near me might be getting the more drab European Bombina, but after looking on-line the body structure on all the frogs at the store look like B. orientalis. But I guess in the end it all boils down to checking all the shipments until I find a few greens.

[beckdg]

maybe if you are familiar enough with the people at the store you could convince them to let you set up a tank or feed them. if they get better care (whatever you see may be lacking) maybe you will be able to tell which ones are green (if any). healthier frogs should sell better anyway. i know that often in the stores they are overcrowded and turn darker. plus they're probably only being fed crickets that aren't too healthy. who knows could work.

[Evilwezal]

I get all my pets from a locally owned petshop. the pets at petco/petsmart in my area are all sick looking. I got 6 green FBts from my local petshop.