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Gliding Tree Frog
Agalychnis spurrelli
One of the most acrobatic frogs in the world. Famous for its extensive interdigital 'flying membranes' which it uses to glide dizzily from canopy trees down to the swamps below. Requires enormous, vertical terrariums, perfect humidity cycles, and excellent ventilation to avoid lethal eye infections.
Class:Amphibia
Order:Anura
Family:Phyllomedusidae
Subfamily:Phyllomedusinae
Genus:Agalychnis
Species:Agalychnis spurrelli
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Environment
Terrestrial
Humidity
60 - 85 %
Day temperature
26 °C
Night temperature
23 °C
Ambient temperature
26 °C
Minimum enclosure
>= 45 L
UVB
Low
Species description
Geographical Origin and Habitat: Undisputed sovereign of the lush canopy from southern Costa Rica to northwestern Colombia. It is an aerial creature that inhabits the crowns of giant trees over 65 feet (20 meters) off the ground. It descends to lower levels exclusively driven by reproductive fury during torrential rains, gathering by the thousands on overhanging branches above forest pools to mate in total darkness.
Taxonomy and Genetics: Phyllomedusidae family. A close relative of the incredibly famous red-eyed tree frog (Agalychnis callidryas), it shares the elegant physiognomy but differs radically in palmar morphology. A. spurrelli possesses massively hyper-developed hands and feet with extensive interdigital webbing. These are not used for swimming (it would drown in deep water), but function as perfect leather parachutes for actual controlled glides through the air from tree to tree.
Behavior and Habits: Diurnal ghosts and nocturnal hunting demons. During the day, they defy predators by blending in: they flatten themselves against a large, smooth leaf (like a Monstera), hiding their colored hands, feet, and huge eyes to appear as a lifeless green bump. At dusk, the spell is broken: they open their dark-gold rimmed crimson eyes and begin agile, methodical, and measured explorations among the high fronds, interrupted by prodigious leaps toward prey.
Morphology: Large, lean, and extremely supple bodies (females 2.5 to 3.5 inches / 6-9 cm, males visibly slimmer and smaller). The back is an impeccable leaf-green velvet, but on the inner thighs and webbing they show off orange or amber flash colors. The vertical slit pupil reveals their strictly nocturnal habit. The true distinguishing mark is the dermal fold (a fringe) running along the outer edge of the forearm and hind leg to slice through the air.
Care, breeding and tankmates
Terrarium Setup: A vertical glass colossus (minimum 24x18x36h inches for a pair). Ignore the floor: the fundamental furnishing must be aerial. It requires a spacious labyrinth of smooth vines, robust horizontal branches (without thorns or sharp bark that would lacerate their soft belly), and plants with huge, wide, waxy leaves (giant Philodendrons, Pothos) indispensable for diurnal sleep. Narrow leaves stress them out because their bodies would overhang, ruining their stealthy camouflage.
Lighting and Heating: Cold-blooded reptiles of the tropics. Requires a very strict and warm thermal range: between 79°F and 82°F (26-28°C) during the day. Night drops are fundamental at 72-73°F (22-23°C) so as not to wear out their metabolism. Being purely nocturnal, UVB light has long been debated, but a low-intensity tube (Ferguson Zone 1) projected high on the leaves immensely helps prevent lethal MBD (metabolic bone disease) during passive diurnal exposure.
Humidity and Hydration: The mortal breaking point. They DEMAND high humidity (70-85% at night for hunting), but a terrarium without air circulation and wet like a swamp during the day will kill them in a week. During the day the terrarium MUST dry out (60% humidity). If the glass is perennially fogged and the leaf they sleep on is soaked with water, their skin will develop irreversible necrotic spots (Bacterial infections) amazing pale sadness.
Feeding and Supplementation: Ruthless devourers of winged and jumping insects. In the wild, they hunt moths and arboreal crickets. In captivity they must be fed every other day at dusk, turning off the room lights so as not to induce stress. Provide blond crickets, young locusts, and very rarely mealworms (chitinous armor obstructs the intestines and causes lethal fecal impactions). Prey must be strictly dusted with Calcium and Vitamin A to avoid renal collapse and useless blindness.
Compatibility: Intraspecifically tolerant if the space is abnormally huge. A group of 3 or 4 (1 male and 2-3 females) can live together in tanks over 4 feet (120 cm) high. Males may compete vocally, emitting low buzzes, but without the violent greco-roman brawls of dart frogs. NEVER mix with other frog species, especially not from the same family, to prevent hybridization, ruthless competition, or mutually cruel fatal stress.
Health and Common Diseases: Glass frogs in captivity. The number one lethal error is an ophthalmic infection: swollen, glassy eyes caused by stagnant water and feces accumulated on the bottom (ammonia vapors that blind them purely). They quickly develop rectal prolapses if fed abundantly with hard hyper-caloric insects. If the frog wakes up during the day or sleeps on the glass instead of the leaves, it is communicating acute environmental stress and imminent pale fatal agonizing unexplored lethargy.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
Undisputed sovereign of the lush canopy from southern Costa Rica to northwestern Colombia. It is an aerial creature that inhabits the crowns of giant trees over 65 feet (20 meters) off the ground. It descends to lower levels exclusively driven by reproductive fury during torrential rains, gathering by the thousands on overhanging branches above forest pools to mate in total darkness.
Origin
Extra-Amazon South AmericaCentral America and Caribbean
Amphibian profile
- Diet
- No verified data available
- Life expectancy
- No verified data available
- Adult size
- 9.3 cm
- Lifestyle/Microhabitat
- No verified data available
- Activity cycle
- No verified data available
- Sociality
- No verified data available
- Reproduction
- No verified data available
- Toxicity
- No verified data available
- Life stage
- No verified data available
- Handling tolerance
- No verified data available
- Brumation
- No verified data available
- Molting
- No verified data available
The catalog's scalar value is 9.3 cm. The AmphiBIO v1 source reports a maximum adult measurement of 9.3 cm for this species, recorded as snout–vent length (SVL). These figures are not interchangeable: the first is the profile's editorial reference, whereas the second is a published maximum under a specific measurement convention; differences among sources can reflect sex, population, life stage and measuring method.
Image gallery
Licensed images linked to the species or, when marked, to the closest representative taxon.
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