Jerdon’s Tree Frog

1 Overview

Jerdon’s Tree Frog, also called the tree-climber, bamboo king, mulberry king, and rain frog, has a temporarily unclear national protection level. It is a small rain frog with very bright, beautiful coloration.

Chinese Name: Jerdon’s Tree Frog (华西雨蛙)

Chinese Alias: tree-climber, bamboo king, mulberry king, rain frog

English Name: Hyla annectans Jerdon

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Amphibia

Order: Anura

Family: Hylidae

Subfamily: Hylinae

Genus: Hyla

Species: Hyla annectans

Distribution: in China — Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi; abroad — northern India, eastern Myanmar, Thailand, northern Vietnam.

2 Physical Characteristics

The first impression is very spirited; its bright color always carries a magical vigor. The small male’s ideal adult length is about 36 mm, the female about 41 mm.

The snout is broad, round, and high, with an obvious canthus rostralis. The cheek is vertical; the tympanum is round. The tongue is round and thick, with a slight notch at the rear. Vomerine teeth are two small clusters. Finger tips have discs and horseshoe-shaped grooves; toe tips are like fingers. The back skin is smooth; the belly is covered with flat warts. In life the back is green, with purple-gray and golden stripes on the head sides. The front and rear of the thigh and the inner tarsus have 1–5 black spots. The belly is milky white. Numerous, it destroys many crop pests in farmland.

3 Habitat and Environment

For beginners, keeping this frog is hard. Because its market price is low, many buyers won’t invest in a proper tank — imagine most dying shriveled in a few-yuan plastic box. How to solve starting feeding? First relieve its tension from wild capture to new environment; with lush plants it forgets the journey’s stress and starts eating soon.

As the saying goes, keep fish by first keeping water — same for this frog; this is the bioactive tank I prepared. Because it likes to perch on plants, choose ones with sturdy branches so they aren’t crushed.

Water and temperature: without misting, spray twice daily with a water bottle; it does not need overly moist environment — humidity about 60% is fine. Too high humidity breeds excess bacteria, counterproductive. A water dish is best; they won’t stay in water long, at most soaking part of the body to absorb moisture. Temperature 18–30°C is fine, generally no heating needed, but above 35°C consider a cooling fan.

4 Feeding

It is itself very clean and refreshing, so captive care is not troublesome — just change water often and trim dead plant leaves. What to feed?

It is a small tree frog; too-big food won’t fit — small crickets or small mealworms are good choices. Feed 1–2 daily in a dish in the tank; best a white ceramic ashtray so some eaters don’t cling to a transparent box. Once it starts eating, hold food with tweezers in front of it; shy ones may flee — don’t lose heart, keep at it; generally within a week it bravely attacks the tweezers’ bug for the first time. Steady training builds a conditioned response — it runs to beg when tweezers appear. Fun for food-loving friends.