Free Amphibian Care Cheat-Sheets

Pick your critter. Each sheet is a free, printable one-pager with the specs that keep them alive — plus the warning signs that mean “see a vet.” No gatekeeping, just good bog info.

• Axolotl Intermediate The perma-smiling cold-water salamander. Get the water and temperature right and everything else is easy.
• Poison Dart Frog Intermediate Living jewels — tiny, dazzling, and active by day. Best kept in a planted bioactive vivarium.
• Tree Frog Beginner–Advanced Big-eyed nocturnal climbers. Pick your species to match your experience.
• Toad Beginner The chunky, charming ground-dweller. Low fuss, big personality, decades-long companion.
• Salamander Intermediate From tiger to fire salamanders — cool-loving little dragons. Check your exact species first.
• Newt Intermediate Semi-aquatic cousins of salamanders — a foot in the water and a foot on land.
• Pacman Frog Beginner A "mouth with feet" — a low-drama, sit-and-wait blob that spends most of its life comfortably buried.
• African Bullfrog (Pixie) Beginner The giant pacman-cousin — one of the biggest frogs in the hobby. Same simple care philosophy, scaled up to a decades-long commitment.
• Dyeing Dart Frog Intermediate The bold, chunky beginner's dart frog — hardy, forgiving and endlessly varied in colour.
• Blue Dart Frog (Azureus) Intermediate The famous electric-blue dart frog — a striking morph of the hardy dyeing dart frog.
• Green-and-Black Dart Frog Intermediate A hardy, active, endlessly-explorative dart frog — a top pick for a first dendrobatid.
• Bumblebee Dart Frog Intermediate Bright black-and-yellow bands and a cheerful call — a robust, showy beginner dart frog.
• White's Tree Frog Beginner The friendly, dumpy beginner tree frog — placid, hardy and long-lived.
• Red-Eyed Tree Frog Advanced The iconic jungle poster-frog — beautiful, delicate, and best for experienced keepers.
• Fire-Bellied Toad Beginner A bright-bellied, always-busy semi-aquatic "frog-toad" — a classic hardy beginner kept in a group.
• Tiger Salamander Beginner The big, food-motivated "puppy dog" of salamanders — a hardy, long-lived burrower.
• Fire Salamander Intermediate The striking black-and-yellow European classic — a cool-forest salamander that can live for decades.
• Chinese Fire-Bellied Newt Beginner The classic beginner newt — small, hardy, with a bright warning belly.
• Spanish Ribbed Newt Beginner The largest, toughest aquatic newt — a genuinely bomb-proof first amphibian.
• African Dwarf Frog Beginner A tiny, fully-aquatic frog for the planted tank — endearing, social, and easy to overlook.
• Golden Poison Dart Frog Intermediate Famously toxic in the wild — yet captive-bred, it's a bold, harmless, beginner-friendly showpiece.
• Mimic Dart Frog Advanced A one-inch jewel famous for its devoted parenting — a rewarding step-up for the experienced viv keeper.
• Strawberry Dart Frog Advanced The famous 'blue jeans' frog — stunning, but an advanced dart that raises tadpoles on its own eggs.
• Amazon Milk Frog Intermediate A big, boldly-marbled tree frog with real presence — hardy, but it gets large.
• American Green Tree Frog Beginner A slim, bright-green native climber — hardy, affordable and a great beginner tree frog.
• Gray Tree Frog Beginner A lichen-patterned, colour-shifting native climber — bomb-proof and happy at room temperature.
• Vietnamese Mossy Frog Intermediate A living clump of moss — a cool, semi-aquatic frog that's a master of disguise.
• Cane Toad Beginner A giant, notoriously invasive toad — impressive and hardy, but heavily regulated and very toxic.
• American Toad Beginner A classic, warty native toad — low-fuss, full of character, and able to outlive a dog.
• European Common Toad Beginner The classic garden toad of Europe — hardy, long-lived and undemanding.
• Japanese Fire-Bellied Newt Intermediate A larger, longer-lived cousin of the Chinese fire-belly — striking, and often decades-long.
• Paddletail Newt Intermediate A stocky, fully-aquatic stream newt — hardy, but a territorial loner that needs cool, oxygen-rich water.
• Eastern Newt Intermediate The native newt with a famous land-going 'red eft' teenage phase before it returns to the water.
• African Clawed Frog Beginner A big, tough, fully-aquatic frog — hardy and long-lived, but not the tiny dwarf frog it's confused with.
• Asian Painted Frog Beginner A round, easy-going 'chubby frog' that spends its days burrowed and its nights hunting.
• Budgett's Frog Intermediate A flat, wide-mouthed, perpetually-grumpy aquatic frog with a huge appetite and real attitude.
• Tomato Frog Beginner A striking, tomato-red ground frog — a hardy, low-drama burrower that sits and waits.
• Waxy Monkey Tree Frog Advanced A slow-motion, waxy-skinned climber from dry forest — a fascinating specialist that walks rather than hops.
• Tiger-Leg Monkey Frog Advanced A slow, striped-legged climber that walks hand-over-hand — a charming warm-forest specialist.
• Clown Tree Frog Intermediate A tiny, boldly-patterned Amazonian climber — a delicate jewel for a mature planted vivarium.
• White-Lipped Tree Frog Intermediate The world's largest tree frog — a big, calm, green-and-white arboreal giant with real presence.
• Phantasmal Dart Frog Intermediate A small pinstriped dart frog with a cheerful, bird-like trill — hardy and rewarding.
• Golden Mantella Intermediate A brilliant-orange Madagascan frog — dart-frog-like to keep, but its own family, and a conservation priority.
• Colorado River Toad Intermediate A big Sonoran Desert toad — impressive and hardy, but with a genuinely potent toxin.
• Green Toad Beginner A small, bright-green native toad of the dry Southwest — hardy and easy to keep.
• Spotted Salamander Intermediate A glossy black native salamander with bold yellow spots — secretive, and astonishingly long-lived.
• Marbled Salamander Intermediate A short, stocky salamander with bold silvery-white bands — a hardy, low-fuss terrestrial native.
• Tiger Salamander (Aquatic/Neotenic) Intermediate A tiger salamander that has stayed aquatic — often sold as bait 'waterdogs', and kept much like an axolotl.
• Mudpuppy Advanced A big, permanently-gilled, fully-aquatic native salamander — a cold-water specialist's animal.
• Siren Advanced An eel-like, front-legged, gilled aquatic salamander — a hardy, secretive oddity.
• Amphiuma Advanced A big, muscular, eel-like aquatic salamander — hardy and long-lived, but it bites hard. Experts only.
• Alpine Newt Intermediate A cool-climate European newt with a vivid orange belly — hardy, if you can keep it cool.
• Emperor Newt Advanced A rugged orange-and-black 'crocodile newt' that spends much of the year on land.
• Kaiser's Spotted Newt Advanced A dazzling black-white-and-orange newt — nearly lost to the pet trade, now a captive-bred success story.
• Surinam Toad Advanced A flat, leaf-like, fully-aquatic frog famous for embedding its eggs in the skin of its back.
• Aquatic Caecilian Intermediate A limbless, nearly-blind aquatic amphibian — the fish-store 'rubber eel' that's really a caecilian.

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