Common Name: Red-Eyed Tree Frog, Red-Eyed Leaf Frog
Scientific Name: Agalychnis callidryas
Family: Hylidae – Tree Frog family
Location: Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Panama
Size: 3 inches (77 mm) for females and 2.3 inches (59 mm) for males
Red-Eyed Tree Frogs are a species of true tree frogs that are found from Mexico down to the top of South America. They are a nocturnal species, they sleep on the underside of leaves during the day and are active at during the night. The Red-Eyed Tree Frog tucks it’s legs under it’s body to try to hide the blue color so that the frog blends more into the leaves. If the frog is found by a predator, the frog stares at them with their bright red eyes. Sometimes, this can scare them off. They mainly eat insects such as moths, crickets, etc.
The frogs start mating during the wet season from May to November, following the first rain of the year. For breeding, the females lay their around 40 eggs on leaves overhanging pools and cover them in a jelly-like substance. The eggs are kinda cool in that they can hatch when threatened by predators. The newly hatched tadpoles fall into the pond below.
The Red Eyed Tree Frog is often found in the pet trade. Sadly, a large chunk of the frogs are caught from the wild and sold. Besides the conservation problems that arise from harvesting frogs from the wild, wild caught frogs are not used to being in the captive environment. They stress out easily which can result in their death. If you want a Red Eyed Tree Frog, make sure that it is captive bred.
