Cope’s Grey Tree Frog is a tree frog that is larger than many other tree frogs. This Treefrog can be found all over the Southeast and in some mountain ranges.
What Does the Cope’s Grey Tree Frog Look Like?
Cope’s Grey Tree Frog is around 1.25 to 2 inches long and can be either gray to green, depending on how much they move and the environment around them. Under their eye is a spot that is lighter than the rest of their body and their inner thigh has a very bright orange or yellow color.
This Cope’s Grey Tree Frog is larger in body than other treefrogs and is considered to be wider. It has large toe pads that can help it to hold on to trees and its skin is rough or granular and not smooth.
Where Does the Cope’s Grey Tree Frog Live?
Cope’s Grey Tree Frog lives in areas throughout the Southeast including areas of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. It can also be found in the Piedmont and in the Mountain regions.
Most of these treefrogs live in wooded areas such as deciduous forests or in wetlands that don’t have fish.
Behaviors of the Cope’s Grey Tree Frog
Most of the time, the Cope’s Grey Tree Frog spends its days high in the trees. When it is time for them to find a mate, they will leave the trees and go to the wetlands or the forest floor.
Cope’s Grey will often times spend their time hiding in holes found in the trees or they will find areas that are hidden under brush, tree branches, logs or high grasses to hide.
The Cope’s Grey Tree Frog is nocturnal meaning that it does most of its activity at night.
Finding a Mate
The Cope’s Grey Tree Frog looks for a mate between May and August and they make a special call to find a mate that sounds like a flute. This call has around 45 trills each second and is short and forceful so that the female frog can hear it.
The female Cope’s Grey will lay around 40 eggs at a time and will lay these eggs in small ponds or in small areas of water. It will take around 5 days for the eggs to hatch.
Protection
The Cope’s Grey Tree Frog secretes a toxin from its skin when it is fearful or threatened. This poison can cause there to be numbing of the lips, eyes and face area and can be uncomfortable for the mucus area in the nose and if the poison gets into open cuts or places on the skin. It is important to always wash your hands if you handle one of these tree frogs.
What Does the Cope’s Grey Tree Frog Eat?
The Cope’s Grey Tree Frog is a carnivore which means it eats meat or other animals. This frog will eat small insects that do not have a backbone or invertebrates. It eats mosquitos, flies, ants and other small insects.
Facts About Cope’s Grey Tree Frog:
- The eggs that the female lay need to be close to fallen branches or where there is vegetation for the female frog to stay close by.
- The Cope’s Grey is an opportunistic feeder. This means that they will eat where there is opportunity to eat, so if they are in trees, they will eat bugs from the leaf but if they are near water, they will eat bugs that fly around the water.
- The Cope’s Grey Tree Frog goes through metamorphosis. This means that the body of the frog changes so that it can live in both water and on land.
- A Cope’s Grey Tree Frog becomes an adult frog at the age of 2 years old.
- There are two different species of grey treefrogs and the only way to tell them apart from one another is the call that they make when finding a mate.
What Did You Learn?
- What is the Cope’s Grey Tree Frog? The Cope’s Grey Tree Frog is a larger sized tree frog that is found in Southeastern United States and other areas.
- What does the Cope’s Grey Tree Frog eat? The Cope’s Grey Tree Frog is a carnivore which means it eats meat. It is known to eat small insects that are invertebrates.
- Where does the Cope’s Grey Tree Frog live? The Cope’s Grey Tree Frog lives in areas of a forest that are close to some type of water area such as a pond or a wetland.
- What is special about the Cope Grey Tree Frog? The Cope Grey Tree Frog is bigger than other tree frogs and is wider, so it is easily known.
- What does it mean that the Cope’s Grey Tree Frog is an opportunistic feeder? This means that it will eat any opportunity it gets, wherever it is.