Sunny is our new albino Chacoan horned frog, aka Pac-Man frog ( Ceratophrys cranwelli). Sunny was actually green on the rear end as a neonate but he lost his green pants as he aged. Sunny was a baby, only 1 inch long when we got him on August 31,1998. We named "it" Sunny for the yellow color and that not so sunny disposition of the horned frogs. Sunny has grown to about 3 inches now and is a fat happy frog! Over the years he's been great entertainment with his calls at three in the morning. He's the official alarm frog in our house.

Tree frogs are simple to maintain, as long as your set up is right. A simple set up is easier to disinfect, and it should be disinfected once a week.

A 20-gallon high tank is a good size for one or two. Substrate can be as simple as paper or the fusion carpet will work. Frog moss works best to keep the humidity high; however, there is a problem with the crickets getting lost under it before the frog can eat them. A deep bowl that prevents crickets from getting out are good to use if the opening is big enough that tree frog can walk into it and catch the crickets.

Sources for heat are ceramic heat emitters, placed above the tank. Low wattage incandescent light bulbs; if those are not too close or too bright can be used. Bright lights will damage the eyes. An old fashioned way to heat is to put a regular fish aquarium heater into a glass bottle of water. This will heat the water in the bottle, which in turn heats the tank. This is better than the heat rocks because most of these aquarium heaters have temperature controls built into them. These can be left on at all times, but like heat rocks can be dangerous if the frog touches the glass. Use the infrared or ultraviolet light bulbs for nighttime. Full spectrum lighting is not needed for nocturnal frogs, but it is possibly needed for the diurnal species. The under tank stick on heat pads set on the side of the cage help keep the temperatures up. Temperatures should be in the range of 80-85F, depending on which species you own, and night temperature should be 5-10 degrees lower. They need a warm side and a cool side. For daytime lighting without heat, fish aquarium fluorescent lights will work.

Water should be provided in a shallow dish. The water should be kept extremely clean at all times. Change it daily to prevent disease in your frog. Chlorinated water will burn delicate frog skin, so anti-chlorine products are a must. The water should be deep enough to cover the frog's knees as it sits in the water. Misting a couple of times a day keeps the cage moist & humidity up. Mist the frog too to keep that skin moist. Drying skin will cause problems that lead to disease. A simple, almost bare terrarium is easy to maintain; a tank full of foliage is not really needed. Kits for misting to keep humidity high are available, but expensive. They are good if you have the money to invest in them.

Crickets are the main diet. They must be gut- loaded and dusted. Larger frog species will eat pinkies, feeder fish, and zoophobas. Variety if possible is best. Frog diets are not well researched and it is believed that an eye disease called Lipid Keratopathy that leads to blindness is caused by nutritional deficiencies. Wild caught insects such as June bugs, moths, grasshoppers and pill bugs that are not exposed to pesticides or herbicides may help alleviate the problem.

Set up for this frog doesn't differ very much from the tree frog set up. Gravel is not a good substrate because they may swallow it. This would cause an intestinal blockage that will kill the frog. You can use a large plastic storage container for housing them. These guys can grow up to about a pound, so they are large as adults. Females are larger than males.

When we purchased Sunny he was in a cup of dirt. I didn't like that because you cannot disinfect dirt. He may swallow dirt and cause intestinal blockage. It's better to use large flat rocks, or even the fusion type carpet for the bottom, with moss on top. You can use a container with water on the bottom and then use the large flat rocks as a land area. This idea isn't practical in my opinion because you'd have to change the water every day, it would become too much of a chore and cause you to disturb the frog too often, unless you are able to filter the water with a submersible filter system.

They need a water dish they can sit in and leaves, moss or something else they can hide under. Anti-chlorine products must be used here too. Misting is needed for these frogs, too. Water must be kept extremely clean and changed daily. They absorb water through the vent so that water must be free of contamination.

In the wild they spend their lives buried under leaves or brush and wait for prey to walk by. This needs to be simulated in captivity.

Heating is a bit different than that of the tree frog; these little eating machines can tolerate a bit lower temperature. The 75-80F range will work for them with no lower than 74F at night. The under tank stick on heat pads will also work for these frogs, as well as the ceramic heat emitters. They really are eating machines so never keep more than one in given container, they will eat their own kind.

 Full spectrum UV/B lights may or may not be used, it isn't really known whether or not the lighting is needed, but remember bright lights damage sensitive frog eyes. If you do use them, then don't use them for more than 4 hours a day.

In the water dish you can provide some feeder fish for them until they are big enough to eat pinkies. Pinkies can be fed, but remember they are high in fat and can contribute to the Lipid Keratopathy problem that damages the eyes. Some books recommend that you do not have to feed pinkies at all and that feeder fish will be enough to provide the calcium derived from animal bones that's needed. Gut loaded and vitamin/mineral dusted crickets are a good food for them as are earthworms, cockroaches, any number of insects will make a great diet for them. Variety in diet is the best way to ensure that they are getting what they need.  

Sometimes the horned frogs will flip over on their backs. Juveniles do this more often than adults. You should be able to stop this problem by either sloping the land area or sloping the entire container. This will enable the frog to right himself.

It is a good idea to not handle them. They do carry a variety of bacteria that may possibly make a person sick, but the biggest problem with handling them is that oils from human skin may harm them. They have delicate skin; they do partially breathe through their skin, and they absorb moisture through their skin. Wearing gloves when moving them for cleaning is best. It is best to leave them alone; handling them may stress them causing illness.

Be careful about using any type of household chemicals near an amphibian, they absorb those through the skin, too. Household chemicals such as air fresheners as well as cleansers are some things that can cause what we may think of as unexplained deaths.  Salt can cause toxic reactions, too. Never keep a frog tank near a salt-water fish aquarium, even that can cause damage and death.