Really, the african dwarf frog would meet all the things you're looking for in a pet frog aside from the handling. Since there really aren't any frogs recommended for handling, this might be the way to go.
Pros: quiet, don't take up a huge amount of space, easy to maintain
Cons: can be fussy eaters, prone to fungal infections if too cold, require electricity for heat & filtration
I don't recommend keeping dwarf frogs with fish. Many of them end up starving, because getting the tiny frog pellets past the fish so he can eat is almost impossible without severely overfeeding the tank.
If maintaining an aquatic tank would be problematic, the only other suggestions I could give for a beginner's frog would be either a Pac Man Frog or a bumblebee toad.
Pac Man Frogs are very low maintenance, but offer some unusual challenges for a frog. They get quite large; the males can get more than 5" across, and females almost twice that. These will require insects like small crickets when they're babies, but will graduate to large roaches and mice. They are not fussy eaters, and in fact will consume anything that moves that they think they can fit in their mouth. This includes your hands. Don't attempt to handle a grown Pac Man frog with your bare hands. Feed with long plastic or rubber-tipped tongs. Pac Mans tolerate a fair amount of neglect, and have natural mechanisms for dealing with low humidity that would kill other amphibians.
Bumblebee toads are one of the few little frogs with pretty colors that will tolerate some handling without being instantly stressed. Bearing in mind, again, that frogs in general shouldn't be handled, these guys at least have tougher skin than most. They will also excrete some noxious stuff as a defense mechanism if they get too worried. They do have to eat pretty tiny bugs as they're a small-mouthed amphibian. Fruit flies or tiny crickets are usually the way to go, but culturing flightless fruit flies at home is pretty simple. They're diurnal, so you'll actually be able to watch them be out and about searching for food while you do your homework, unlike most frogs that stay scarce as long as the light's on. They'd need a touch more attention than a Pac Man, as they won't tolerate as much drying. Misting them once a day to maintain humidity is advised. Both the Pac Man and the Bumblebee will require supplemental heat, usually in the form of a heat pad attached to the side of the terrarium (not the bottom).
As far as life expectancy goes, most frogs will live 10 or more years given proper care. The African dwarf frog might not live quite as long, but I can't think of any that will have a natural lifespan of less than 5 years.
Edited by EAHams, 08 March 2016 - 08:40 AM.
. I was worried I had given all the wrong info because I never heard that they needed bugs too!
