Pacific Tree Frog

Nat'l History

schmied/reid©2007 all rights reserved!

click frog to see the questions!
Pacific Tree Frog (Hyla Regilla (also Pseudacris Regilla)

Description:

• Pacific treefrogs can come in brown, gray, tan and other earth tones as well as green

• Their color can lighten or darken in a few minutes.

• Adults are about 1.25 to 1.5 inches long, and not really slender.

• The males have a noticeably darker throat, yellowish to dark brown in color.

Behavior-

• This frog is chiefly a ground-dweller, living among shrubs and grass near water. Its large toe pads allow it to climb easily, and cling to twigs or grass.

• Active both day and night

Diet:

• Diet consists of a wide variety of invertebrates. (insects, worms etc !)

• Prey is located by vision, then a large sticky tongue is used to catch the prey and bring it into the mouth to eat.

Habitat:

• Found in a wide variety of habitats often far from water, including forest, woodland, chaparral, grassland, pastures, desert streams and oases, and even urban areas.

• From sea level to near 11,600 ft. (3,540 m.)

Breeding:

• Mating and egg-laying occurs between November until July, depending on the location.

• Fertilization is external. Males chorus from in or next to breeding waters, primarily at night, but sometimes during daylight.

• Breeding locations &endash; slow water, ponds etc

• Females lay small, loose, irregular clusters of 10 - 70 eggs, and attach them to sticks, stems, or grass in quiet shallow water.

• Eggs hatch in two to three weeks. Tadpoles metamorphose from June to late August.

• Often in summer, one can see large congregations of new metamorphs along the banks of breeding pools.

Range:

• California including the high mountains, except for most of the southeast deserts, Nevada, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, into Canada and extreme southern Alaska, and south in scattered localities throughout Baja California.

Capture:

Another bit of info that might be interesting is that it is illegal to keep these animals as pets without a license -

 

Scientific Method Index
Project Page

Home

© 2007 John Schmied & Mike Reid all rights reserved