🐾 LandCare difficulty: BeginnerLegal complexity: Low
White's Tree Frog
Litoria caerulea · also called Dumpy tree frog, Australian green tree frog, Smiling frog, Green tree frog
A large, plump, easygoing green tree frog from Australia and New Guinea, prized as one of the most beginner-friendly and tolerant pet amphibians.
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Quick facts
| Size | Adults reach roughly 3-4.5 in (7-11 cm) snout-to-vent; females larger than males. |
| Lifespan | 10–16 years |
| Social needs | group |
| Native region | Australia and New Guinea |
| Origin | Old World |
| Climate | 🌴 Tropical |
| Family | Pelodryadidae |
| Genus | Litoria |
Part of the Tree Frogs
Arboreal frogs adapted to climbing with expanded toe pads, kept in tall, planted, humid terrariums. Most are nocturnal display animals that should be handled minimally and only with clean, wet hands to protect their sensitive, absorptive skin.
Habitat & space requirements
From the minimum an animal needs to be kept humanely, up to the ideal setup. Bigger is almost always better — minimums are floors, not targets.
Life & growth stages
How this animal changes through its life — each stage often has its own care, diet and space needs.
Color & pattern variants
Natural variants occur in the wild; selectively bred (man-made) variants were developed in captivity.
Habitat & enclosure
House White's tree frogs in a tall, front- or top-opening glass terrarium of at least 18 x 18 x 24 in (45 x 45 x 60 cm) for one or two adults, scaling up for a small group. They are arboreal, so vertical space, sturdy branches, cork bark, and broad-leaved (live or artificial) plants matter more than floor area. Use a moisture-retaining substrate such as coconut fiber or a bioactive soil mix, and provide a shallow, easily climbed-out water dish with dechlorinated water that is changed daily.
Keep daytime temperatures around 75-82 F (24-28 C) with a few degrees cooler at night, and maintain humidity around 50-70 percent by misting once or twice daily while allowing the enclosure to dry between mistings to prevent stagnant, soggy conditions. A low-output UVB source (such as 5 percent UVB) is increasingly recommended for long-term bone health, paired with a basic day/night light cycle. This species' waxy skin lets it tolerate lower humidity than most tropical frogs; avoid sustained dampness, which promotes bacterial and fungal skin disease.
Substrate
Use a moisture-retentive bioactive mix of coir/coconut fiber and topsoil topped with leaf litter and live moss, or a simpler coir/sphagnum base for non-bioactive setups. Keep it damp but never waterlogged, and provide a shallow dechlorinated water dish big enough for soaking. Avoid loose small particles like gravel or sand that could be ingested during feeding.
Equipment & setup
House in a tall, mostly arboreal terrarium with sturdy branches and broad-leaved (live or artificial) foliage for climbing and hiding. Maintain warm temps around 75-82F day with a slight night drop, gentle ambient heat from a low-wattage bulb or heat panel (avoid hot spots), and 50-70% humidity via misting and good cross-ventilation. A low-output UVB (5%/T5) bulb is beneficial, paired with a 12-hour photoperiod.
Diet
White's tree frogs are insectivores. Offer a rotation of appropriately sized live crickets, dubia roaches, black soldier fly larvae, and the occasional earthworm or silkworm; very large adults may take an occasional pinky mouse, though this should be rare to avoid obesity. Gut-load feeder insects and dust them with a calcium plus vitamin D3 supplement at most feedings and a broader multivitamin once a week.
Feed juveniles every day or two and adults two to three times weekly. This species is notoriously prone to overeating and becoming obese, with visible fat ridges over the eyes, so portion control and feeder variety are important. Always provide clean, dechlorinated standing water, which the frog absorbs through its skin rather than drinking.
Behavior & temperament
These frogs are docile, slow-moving, and largely nocturnal, spending the day tucked against glass or perched among foliage. They are among the few amphibians that tolerate occasional gentle handling, but handling should be brief, infrequent, and done with clean, wetted, fragrance-free hands because their permeable skin readily absorbs oils, soaps, and lotions. Males call with a low repetitive bark, especially after rain or misting.
They can be kept singly or in small groups of similarly sized individuals, since cannibalism risk is low among size-matched adults, though feeding should be supervised. Enrichment comes from climbing structures, hiding spots, live plants, and varied feeding methods such as tong-feeding or scatter-feeding insects.
Health
The most common problems are obesity from overfeeding, metabolic bone disease from inadequate calcium or D3, and bacterial or fungal skin infections (often appearing as redness on the belly and thighs, sometimes called red-leg) linked to dirty water or chronically wet, dirty enclosures. Chytrid fungus and ranavirus are also concerns, particularly in wild-caught or poorly sourced animals.
Prevention centers on a varied dusted diet, correct temperature and humidity gradients, scrupulous water and substrate hygiene, and quarantining new arrivals. Any persistent skin discoloration, bloating, lethargy, weight loss, or refusal to eat warrants evaluation by a veterinarian experienced with amphibians; this entry is informational and not a substitute for veterinary diagnosis or treatment.
Tips, DIY & hacks
These frogs are prone to obesity, so feed appropriately sized gut-loaded insects only a few times weekly and dust with calcium/D3, not daily. Always use dechlorinated/reverse-osmosis water since amphibian skin readily absorbs chlorine and toxins, and wash hands before handling to protect their delicate skin. A timer-controlled automatic mister or fogger plus a digital hygrometer/thermometer takes the guesswork out of maintaining humidity cheaply.