# How To Sex White's Treefrogs



## ladybird

Both males and females call, but only males call by inflating the throat sac. Size isn't an accurate measure either until the frogs are fully grown. Dark throats are another red herring, I have a female with a dark throat, and a male with a light throat, so that's nothing to go by.
I find the most accurate way to tell a young frog's sex is to look at the front feet for nuptial pads. They appear roughly the same time as the males start to call frequently, which is when they are about 2" (5cm) snout to vent length. To be sure, I'd leave it until they are 2.5" (6cm) SNV.
So, this is how you do it. The nuptial pad is a brown patch on the inside of the thumb of the male, which is totally absent from females. It's present all year round, though it's darker during the breeding season.



First of all, here is my big female












This is what her thumb looks like, no nuptial pad











Now here is a male, you can already tell because his throat sac is inflated :lol2:











Here is his thumb










See the brown area at the base of his thumb? That tells us he is definately a male.

Now, here's a few more examples. Try to guess whether it's a male or female :2thumb:



Frog #3











Thumb shot












Frog #4











Thumb shot












Frog #5











Thumb shot











Incase you couldn't tell, frog #3 was female and frogs #4 and #5 were males : victory:


By the way, none of these frogs are fully mature, except maybe the first one there, but as you can see you can tell well before breeding age what sex your White's treefrog is.

Thank you very much and I hope this guide helped you :notworthy:


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## Salamanda

I think this needs to be a sticky:no1:


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## sean k

*whites tree frog*

hi what type of whites tree frog is this? 

the look great by the way.
thanks


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## tuckerboy

F...m...m


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## tuckerboy

Salamanda said:


> I think this needs to be a sticky:no1:


2nd that


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## ladybird

sean k said:


> hi what type of whites tree frog is this?


They are just ordinary CB White's treefrogs. Probably originated from Australia rather than Indonesia, but I could be wrong. I think there might be a blue-phase or two in there as well (though the camera doesn't show it very well)


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## million1

Just a quick note on how to maybe get your frogs to call so you can see if they inflate or not......

i have a few methods, here are my best 2

1) download a frog call from the net, my male sometimes talks to the comp when i play it.

2) turn on the hoover or similar piece of equipment as he also talks to these.

once calling see if the throat is inflating or not.

TADAH!!!!:mf_dribble:


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## blackbat67

ooh yeah sticky this, loads of people ask this question lol


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## tuckerboy

any good links with whites calls on?


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## ladybird

tuckerboy said:


> any good links with whites calls on?


 
2 links to WAV files near the bottom on this page White's Tree Frog


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## ladybird

million1 said:


> Just a quick note on how to maybe get your frogs to call so you can see if they inflate or not......
> 
> i have a few methods, here are my best 2
> 
> 1) download a frog call from the net, my male sometimes talks to the comp when i play it.
> 
> 2) turn on the hoover or similar piece of equipment as he also talks to these.
> 
> once calling see if the throat is inflating or not.
> 
> TADAH!!!!:mf_dribble:


I find the hoover works every time!


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## ladybird

Salamanda said:


> I think this needs to be a sticky:no1:


Come on mods!


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## Heavenlyhogs

Very informative thank you:2thumb:
My son bought a baby whites today and is hinting to another..:whistling2:


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## cacoonkitty

*Tree frogs*

YEP MY WHITES MALES GO OFF WHENEVER THE HOOVER OR HAIR DRYER GOES ON THEY THINK ITS THE RAIN COMING I WAS TOLD HA HA!!:lol2:, TRY IT YOU MIGHT BE SURPRIZED!! 
MALES ONLY CROAK, FEMALES MAKE A SOUND TOO BUT NOT A CONTINUOS CROAK LIKE THE BOYS!!. ALSO MALES ARE ALOT SMALER THAT FEMALES BUT IF HES JUST ABABY YOU WONT KNOW TILL HE/SHE IS BIGGER. GOOD LUCK! : victory:


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## ladybird

cacoonkitty said:


> YEP MY WHITES MALES GO OFF WHENEVER THE HOOVER OR HAIR DRYER GOES ON THEY THINK ITS THE RAIN COMING I WAS TOLD HA HA!!:lol2:, TRY IT YOU MIGHT BE SURPRIZED!!
> MALES ONLY CROAK, FEMALES MAKE A SOUND TOO BUT NOT A CONTINUOS CROAK LIKE THE BOYS!!. ALSO MALES ARE ALOT SMALER THAT FEMALES BUT IF HES JUST ABABY YOU WONT KNOW TILL HE/SHE IS BIGGER. GOOD LUCK! : victory:


Yeh and also, when a male croaks the throat sac inflates like a balloon!


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## ladybird

Also, females grow bigger than males. But, don't rely on that alone!


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## andaroo

Great thread had this one bookmarked for a while, sorry to resurrect it but my 2 are just a little over 2 inches now and I hear calls from one of them every night. I've only seen one of them do it so I know that one is male. The other i'm not sure, I heard noises before that were constant and the one i thought was female was on the bottom on the tank and the male was hiding in the bushes sleepy and just waking up.


I took the male out just now to inspect it's thumbs and they are looking like the females on the pictures that are posted there are no brown marks at all. Also I took macro pictures of the other ones thumbs and there's no brown markings on it either.


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## jennlovesfrogs

thanks for this thread, it will help a lot of peeps  must be made a sticky!!! we need stickys!!!


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## ladybird

andaroo said:


> Great thread had this one bookmarked for a while, sorry to resurrect it but my 2 are just a little over 2 inches now and I hear calls from one of them every night. I've only seen one of them do it so I know that one is male. The other i'm not sure, I heard noises before that were constant and the one i thought was female was on the bottom on the tank and the male was hiding in the bushes sleepy and just waking up.
> 
> 
> I took the male out just now to inspect it's thumbs and they are looking like the females on the pictures that are posted there are no brown marks at all. Also I took macro pictures of the other ones thumbs and there's no brown markings on it either.


The brown marks aren't there all the time, they disappear right after they shed for example. And you can rub it off by mistake as well (I've done that lol) so it takes a short while for them to 'grow' back in. So keep checking!

If they are calling like 'wok wok wok wok wok wok' (many times) then you can be sure it's a male. Females don't call like that, they just go 'braaak braaak' a couple of times, on occasion. It's raspy and un-musical and not nearly as long as a male's call


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## andaroo

ladybird said:


> The brown marks aren't there all the time, they disappear right after they shed for example. And you can rub it off by mistake as well (I've done that lol) so it takes a short while for them to 'grow' back in. So keep checking!
> 
> If they are calling like 'wok wok wok wok wok wok' (many times) then you can be sure it's a male. Females don't call like that, they just go 'braaak braaak' a couple of times, on occasion. It's raspy and un-musical and not nearly as long as a male's call


The tanks lights went off and a few minutes later I heard a really loud bbRAAAWK noise, raspy and off key lol so I guess that was Chips and she is female like I guessed all along!
I saw Fish sat on the floor of the tank and i turned on my tower fan near the tank and he started croaking with his throat inflated about 6 times. So he is a male like I guessed all along! How lucky to have picked 1 of each when they were little babies!:flrt:

Edit: I just played some croaking videos on youtube and turned up the speakers and i saw fish croaking back on the leaves at the top of the tank, while chips was croaking back but only once at a time and crawling around the side of the glass like crazy. I took a closer look and saw the white spots on their face and realised it was CHIPS on the leaves croaking and fish was the one crawling around! Ugh so confused! I'm sure i've seen them both do it now so I guess I have 2 males!


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## ladybird

andaroo said:


> The tanks lights went off and a few minutes later I heard a really loud bbRAAAWK noise, raspy and off key lol so I guess that was Chips and she is female like I guessed all along!
> I saw Fish sat on the floor of the tank and i turned on my tower fan near the tank and he started croaking with his throat inflated about 6 times. So he is a male like I guessed all along! How lucky to have picked 1 of each when they were little babies!:flrt:
> 
> Edit: I just played some croaking videos on youtube and turned up the speakers and i saw fish croaking back on the leaves at the top of the tank, while chips was croaking back but only once at a time and crawling around the side of the glass like crazy. I took a closer look and saw the white spots on their face and realised it was CHIPS on the leaves croaking and fish was the one crawling around! Ugh so confused! I'm sure i've seen them both do it now so I guess I have 2 males!


Got any pics of them? From the side? Do they have no brown mark on the thumb?


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## Mbar

Spot the males


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## ladybird

Haha yes look at those dark throats! I've also noticed that males don't seem to get as fat as females do. Females are much more greedy, in general. That pic shows it nicely as well


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## Weenoff

To the post above, I have no idea what the hell you're on about, or where that fits into this thread so I'm just gonna go with:

Tell your dad he's a bit too old for those kind of games.. :grin1:


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## aidney

does anyone have any white tree frogs out there for sale looking for about 5cm in size.thanks


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## [email protected]

Anyone be up for trying to determine the sex of mine if i post pics up?​


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## mrblue2008

[email protected] said:


> Anyone be up for trying to determine the sex of mine if i post pics up?​


go on then we'll have ago........


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## andaroo

pff i've tried this method on mine every so often and i still dont have a clue! But i think i have 1 of each because both genders croak but males call for a while and females do a couple of raspy croaks back kinda like she's saying i'm here come get me boys! :lol2:


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## violawench

That's really handy (no pun intended), thanks cause I just bought one and have no idea of it's sex so we called it Oh Froggy One, but now I'll have to check it out, I reckon its female cause although its only little, theres no throat sac when it calls. I think the name will stick though :lol2:


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## Uromastyxman

ladybird said:


> Both males and females call, but only males call by inflating the throat sac. Size isn't an accurate measure either until the frogs are fully grown. Dark throats are another red herring, I have a female with a dark throat, and a male with a light throat, so that's nothing to go by.
> I find the most accurate way to tell a young frog's sex is to look at the front feet for nuptial pads. They appear roughly the same time as the males start to call frequently, which is when they are about 2" (5cm) snout to vent length. To be sure, I'd leave it until they are 2.5" (6cm) SNV.
> So, this is how you do it. The nuptial pad is a brown patch on the inside of the thumb of the male, which is totally absent from females. It's present all year round, though it's darker during the breeding season.
> 
> 
> 
> First of all, here is my big female
> 
> image
> 
> 
> 
> This is what her thumb looks like, no nuptial pad
> 
> image
> 
> 
> Now here is a male, you can already tell because his throat sac is inflated :lol2:
> 
> image
> 
> 
> Here is his thumb
> 
> image
> 
> See the brown area at the base of his thumb? That tells us he is definately a male.
> 
> Now, here's a few more examples. Try to guess whether it's a male or female :2thumb:
> 
> 
> 
> Frog #3
> 
> image
> 
> 
> Thumb shot
> 
> image
> 
> 
> 
> Frog #4
> 
> image
> 
> 
> Thumb shot
> 
> image
> 
> 
> 
> Frog #5
> 
> image
> 
> 
> Thumb shot
> 
> image
> 
> 
> Incase you couldn't tell, frog #3 was female and frogs #4 and #5 were males : victory:
> 
> 
> By the way, none of these frogs are fully mature, except maybe the first one there, but as you can see you can tell well before breeding age what sex your White's treefrog is.
> 
> Thank you very much and I hope this guide helped you :notworthy:


Hey ladybird, thank you for that it was very useful and it has made me want whites again.
Andy:2thumb:


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## frankiie

This is really good advice!! thanks for posting it lol!!


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## tomkinsm

how long does it take for them to call generally? mine are 5/6 months old and still not calling


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## Maz1968

I have 2 white tree frogs that I got on mothers day, I have always thought I have a male and a female as the are both the same age but one is a lot bigger than the other untill last night, they are now a year old and as I was taking pics I noticed brown pads on the thumbs of my so call female..

Pic 1 thought to be female the bigger of the 2










Here is also a picture of my males thumb, sorry it's not very good but you can just see a faint brown pad starting to show.. He is a lot smaller than the other frog in picture one....

Pic 2 male smaller of the 2










Here is a picture of both my frogs together so you can see the size difference.

Pic 3 both frogs together










So as you can see I'm now confused do I have 2 males or a male and female.
They both sound different when they croak, the small male his throat stays inflated for a wile after he stops, the bigger frog only croaks for a short wile and is a lot deeper in tone, and never noticed her throat still inflated after croaking....


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## Wolfenrook

You have 2 males. Females don't inflate their throats to croak. Size is an unreliable way to sex White's tree frogs, we have 3 males and 2 are big and 1 is much smaller but slightly older. Just like you get tall humans and small humans you get big frogs and smaller frogs.

Ade


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