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Defining Characteristics:
Name: Yellow-Spotted Climbing Toads go by the scientific name Rentapia flavomaculata, formerly Pedostibes hosii. They're typically called Yellow-Spotted Climbing Toads, sometimes shortened to YSCT in internet shorthand, and are also known as Common Tree Toads or Asian Yellow-Spotted Climbing Toads. They're in the family Bufonidae and are considered true toads. This species has been separated out from Rentapia hosii as of 2020. R. hosii is found only on the island of Borneo and the females are visibly different from flavomaculata.
Recommended Vivarium Size & Setup: Housing Rentapia flavomaculata can be very simple. These anurans require a lot of space, but they do not need a very complex habitat. Something the size of an 18x18x24 glass terrarium can house 1-2 adults, while a 29 gallon could house about the same amount of toads. Ventilation is a must, as these toads will not tolerate stagnant moist air for very long. A screen top will help provide this.
Substrate recommendations vary considerably, but ground coconut fiber works well for Josh’s Frogs. Provide plenty of décor that your toad can climb on, such as manzanita wood, cork bark tubes, artificial vines, or artificial plants.
A shallow water bowl should be provided, as well. Yellow-Spotted Climbing Toads do benefit from UVB lighting such as a 5.0 or UVB100 UVB bulb.
If you'd like to keep housing yellow-spotted climbing toads simple, check out our Yellow-Spotted Climbing Toad Care Kits!
Temperature (°F): They can tolerate temperatures from 65 to over 85 degrees, but ideally are kept at about room temperature, from the mid to high 70s. A low wattage basking spot may be utilized, especially by gravid females.
We recommend a quality thermometer to monitor temps within the enclosure.
Humidity: In the wild, precipitation and humidity fluctuates based on season, with a heavy rainy season in the early part of the year. Yellow-spotted climbing toads can handle a wide range of humidity levels, but prefer humidity levels around 50-70% with plenty of ventilation/air movement. Moist, stagnant air is a big no-no when keeping older Rentapia flavomaculata, while very young animals dry out easily. Routine spraying and a full screen top will aid in providing proper humidity levels. Yellow-Spotted Climbing Toads handle short periods of low humidity much better than most tree frogs.
We recommend a quality hygrometer to monitor humidity within the enclosure.
Size: Adult yellow-spotted climbing toads are fairly large, and there is a drastic size different between males and females. An adult male may reach about 4 inches, but most will be closer to 3 - 3.5 inches. We have one large wild caught male that measures almost 5 inches! A large female will be much larger and bulkier than a male, and may measure up to 5.5 inches. All of the Yellow-Spotted Climbing Toad toadlets Josh's Frogs sells are well-started juveniles, and measure 3/4-1 inch long.
Age: There is not any good data surrounding the average lifespan of yellow-spotted climbing toads, but wild caught animals have lived in captivity for 10 or more years. All Yellow-Spotted Climbing Toads for sale at Josh's Frogs are well started juveniles, and are 2-3 months old.
Feeding: It is reported that YSCTs come down to the forest floor at night to pursue prey, and that is certainly in line with what we've observed at Josh's Frogs. Yellow-Spotted Climbing Toads can eat rather large food, and easily consume adult crickets as adults. At Josh’s Frogs, we feed our adult yellow-spotted climbing toads primarily adult crickets, as well as Blaptica dubia roaches, and the occasional superworm, waxworm, or hornworm. Young yellow-spotted climbing toads start life feeding on pinhead crickets. At the size Josh’s Frogs sells captive bred yellow-spotted climbing toads, they are eating 1/8" to 1/4" crickets. All prey items should be dusted with a quality vitamin/mineral supplement.
Sexing: Sexing them is quite easy. Once the toads are about 10-12 months old, they display obvious sexual dimorphism. Females are about 1/5-2 times larger then males, and much more rotund. Males are smaller, more slender, and typically call when kept in a wet or more humid environment. Color between the sexes varies widely - please read the Color/Pattern section below. A yellow-spotted climbing toad's call is very loud and hard to miss! CLICK HERE to hear it!
Color/Pattern: Yellow-Spotted Climbing Toads can be a very variable species, at least when it comes to females. Offspring start off dark brown with yellow bands on the legs. Males change colors as they mature, and generally appear as a solid gray/brown animal, with very, very faint yellowish bands on their legs. Females are much more brightly colored, especially during the breeding season. Females may have a base coloration of green to teal to blue, with yellow band on their legs and spots over the rest of their body.
Social Behavior: These toads are not outwardly aggressive towards each other, and do great housed in groups. Josh's Frogs recommends housing adult females and males seperate from each other outside of the breeding season, to avoid stress. Males may dominate each other by mounting/climbing over their cagemates (as shown above) - this generally is only a momentary inconvenience, and seldom results in any long term harm.
Breeding: Captive breeding of yellow-spotted climbing toads is few and far between, with most recorded breeding resulting in only a couple dozen toadlets. The earliest captive breeding we could find was reported in 1994. From what I've been able to dig up, it appears Rentapia flavomaculata has only been bred a handful of times in the United States, and even less frequently overseas. We believe the primary reason for this is the horrible shape most wild caught animals arrive in when they reach the US—even with veterinary care, most will not make it. With wider availability of healthy, captive bred yellow-spotted climbing toads, Josh's Frogs hopes captive breeding will be a more frequent occurrence, and negate the need for wild toads to be imported for the pet trade.
Beginning in November or December, reduce the mistings and feedings of the toads down to about half of normal. Maintain this for a couple months, gradually increasing the humidity and feedings in early January. Females tend to develop eggs in the late winter/early spring, and become visibly gravid in late February or early March, which is towards the end of the rainy system in Malaysia. Once females appear gravid and begin to actively escape their enclosure to get to calling males (males tend to call year round, and should be housed separately from females to avoid unneeded stress during the off season), add a female and 2-3 males in a basic rain chamber with at least 4-5 inches of water at the bottom, and wait! Within a few days, thousands of small eggs, laid in 2 parallel strings, are laid underwater wrapped around plants.
Please read the Josh's Frogs Yellow-Spotted Climbing Toad Breeding Journal for more information.
Natural Range: Yellow-Spotted Climbing Toads hail from subtropical and tropical lowland rainforests in Thailand, Malaysia, Borneo, and Sumatra, with most animals in captivity hailing from peninsular Malaysia. Rentapia flavomaculata is one of two true arboreal species of toad, and populations tend to be concentrated in primary forest near streams, in which they breed. Young initially live at the ground level, then move up into the trees as they grow. Unfortunately, the Yellow-Spotted Climbing Toad cannot adapt to altered forest, and requires a pristine environment to survive. It's population level is decreasing, although it is currently considered a species of least concern.
History in the Hobby: Imported infrequently from Malaysia, Yellow-Spotted Climbing Toads have been in the US hobby since at least the 1990s. In the past, males were very difficult to acquire due to the more colorful females being collected, and the brown and rather dull colored males thought to be less desirable by importers. In the past several years, many more males have been imported than females. Bred very infrequently in captivity, Josh's Frogs acquired a wild caught 2.1 group (actually 3.0, with a very large old male!) in 2011, then a wild caught 4.2 group in 2013 a hobbyist had successfully bred in small numbers earlier that year. We are working to breed a second female and create an additional line to contribute to genetic diversity. Due to recent changes in Malaysias import/export laws, it is unlikely that Rentapia flavomaculata will be exported in the future, at least in large amounts.
A Special Note on Shedding: All frogs and toads shed, but they don't always do it in public! Yellow-Spotted Climbing Toads are not shy about it whatsoever, and will typically shed at least once a week. They'll develop a shiny appearance for a few hours, before using their legs to peel off the old skin, then eat it. During this time, the toad will generally hang out at the bottom of the tank. Do not be alarmed - this is completely normal behavior, even though it looks a little strange!
Links of Interest:
Still not sure if Rentapia flavomaculata from Josh's Frogs are the right pet frog for you? Read the reviews below and see what other customers are saying!
After placing an order containing a live animal, you will receive a scheduling email containing our JotForm scheduling link to schedule your new pet's delivery date.
With this scheduling link, you will be able to schedule your order's delivery up to 30 days in advance. You will be able to choose a date of delivery for Tuesday-Saturday (Saturday arrival depends on the carrier's service availability) with the estimated time of arrival generally being 12pm, or 4:30pm for more rural areas. Overnight lows must be above 40°F to ship directly to you (or above 30°F for FedEx Ship Center/UPS Customer Center pickups) as well as below 90°F by estimated time of arrival.
If you require further assistance, or prefer to talk to one of our Customer Service agents, please feel free to reach out to our [email protected] email or our phone line 1-800-691-8178.
Based on 8 reviews
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Last April (2015) my two toads were delivered in great condition. They even started eating without hesitation that evening. Now 10 months later, they are still very active at night and readily will climb onto my hand if I do anything to fuss with their environment. They have also eaten right out of my hand. Their light cycles off in the early evening so that we can enjoy them. They are quite entertaining and fearless. As of late they have started to croak which is quite fun to hear and puzzles our dogs.
Received shipment of 3 YSCT today. They were happy, healthy, and hopped right out of the packaging into their new terrarium. They settled right in and were gobbling crickets by bedtime. Thanks!
I recently purchased 5 YSCT from Joshs Frogs and they are amazing. They where all in great health when I received them and climbed out of their cups immediately. They are already climbing all over their new vivarium and are very active. I would recommend to anyone thinking about purchasing a YSCT from Josh's Frogs to do it. You won't regret it.
We have an amazing menagerie of amphibians, reptiles, exotic plants, insect feeder colonies and two fur babies roaming our house at all times! Our latest additions are 2 Yellow Spotted Climbing Toads, we named Mando and Grogu that arrived safe and sound last week from Josh’s Frogs. I’ve been a lover of all things herp my entire life but had yet to acquire any of my babies via the mail. I’ll admit, I was wary and kinda scared! Let me assume you the team at Josh’s has this totally under control! I purchased our first toad months ago in February, knowing we would have to wait due to temperatures being so low, but I didn’t want to risk them selling out. The employees answering the phones are excellent. I can recognize most of their voices and know their names now because I must have called over half a dozen times during the last few months! They guided this worried momma with understanding, answered all of my numerous questions and showed actual care for the animal’s well being. The invertebrate shipping team called me personally the day before we planned on shipping Grogu. We made the last minute decision to have Grogu arrive at a FedEx pick up location due to temps being kinda low but Josh’s Frogs was still able to make it happen on my son’s actual birthday! Grogu arrived healthy and jumping around. This toad was so much more adorable then I bargained for, that I had to immediately get another one! A few days later Mando arrived (within higher temps) directly at our door and jumped right into a it’s new bioactive paradise. It’s been a few days now and both are settling in nicely, eating and basking, hanging out in the centers of the bromeliads (also from Josh’s btw). I’m totally in love with their little “old man grumpy looking faces” and orange toes. I’m hoping we end up with at least one female who gets huge and one male to hear their impressive call. Thank you everyone at this exceptional company for doing such an awesome job!
Love this breed of toad do much! I originally ordered two, but ended up getting two more. They are very healthy and growing fast! Highly recommend
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