Adelaide Zoo
As a conservation charity, every visit, adoption, donation and ticket helps save species from extinction

It’s raining frogs!

The sound of little croaks is ringing out through Adelaide Zoo as we welcome more than 30 Splendid Tree Frogs to the family.

Our female Splendid Tree Frog laid about 300 little eggs which began to hatch into tadpoles on May 1. Since then, the tadpoles have slowly been metamorphosing into froglets; a process which can take up to two years for the frogs to fully mature.

This wee frog has just earnt his land legs and weighs a tiny two grams at the moment!

Green tree frog

These amazing amphibians need a lot of help on their journey to adulthood, and our Envirodome keepers have been run-off their feet looking after our frog nursery to give them a jump-start at life.

Each day, keepers dedicate about an hour and a half to the care of their frog babies, hand feeding them, keeping their environment perfect by monitoring and controlling the temperature and moisture levels, and cleaning.

These little guys have outgrown their exhibit and are now off-display until they are big enough to find a new home, but in the meantime you can visit their mum and dad in our Westpac Envirodome.

When they are big enough, most of the froglets will take the leap and be moved to other zoos to one day start their own frog family.

Splendid Tree Frogs are found in the Kimberley region of north-west Western Australia and prefer moist environments urban areas, forests and wetlands.

Sensitive to changes in their environment, frogs are regarded as an important indicator of the health of many ecosystems.

Sadly, like most species of frog, the wild population of Splendid Tree Frogs has suffered a decline in recent years with water pollution, climate change and habitat loss causing numbers to dwindle.

Luckily, there’s lots you can do in your own backyard to help little frogs just like this!

Keeping the waters around you clean by not littering and using minimal and natural household cleaning products where possible, picking up rubbish and keeping your cat inside are easy ways to help frogs in your neighbourhood!

You can attract more frog friends to your backyard by planting more native plants and installing a fish-free fresh water element.

Did you know?

Frogs have existed on Earth for nearly 200 million years and there are about 5,000 known species occurring worldwide. Australia has almost 210 known frog species that are unique to this country.

Splendid Tree FrogSTF bigger tadpoleSplendid Tree Frog tadpole legs.jpggreen tree frog (2)