The Baw Baw frog is only found in sub-alpine wet heathland and in gullies within montane vegetation at high altitudes on the Baw Baw Plateau. It breeds between September and December, when males may be heard calling for mates around special breeding sites. Females possess specially modified fingers, which they use to whip the mucous that surrounds their eggs into a protective foam nest. Adult frogs remain inactive during the cold months before the breeding season, sheltering in refuges. Numbers of individuals have drastically declined from over 10,000 in the 1980s to just 250 individuals in the 2000s. The cause of this decline is enigmatic, although possibilities include climate change and diseases, such as chytridiomycosis.