Do you have to have a substrate?

[ulyssis]

Building a new home for my Red Eye Tree Frogs.

Is it necessary to have a substrate or can you just use the glass floor?

Reason I ask is that I used coconut husk as my substrate in my last vivarium and the frogs tracked it all over the place. Especially on the glass. I want something a little more cleaner.

As for keeping the humidity up, I plan to have automatic misters to do that job.

[LilyPad]

How do you feed your frogs? Since I started bowl feeding mine, my frogs pretty much never touch the substrate in the tank....and yet the glass is still dirty. I could wash it every day without them even getting substrate on it, it's just dirty from them hopping all over it. Auto misters will work for humidity, but will they keep it level? I could see some extreme highs and lows without any substrate to absorb and balance it. Do you not have any live plants? If not, I'd consider getting some as it'd make for a really nice environment in the tank for your frogs. Half the fun for me is having a beautiful planted vivarium. At the very least, I'd use some paper towels in the bottom.

[deranged chipmunk]

No, substrate is not mandatory. Unprinted, unbleached paper towels work just as well. You could use just the glass bottom, if you don't mind wiping it out constantly. The paper towels allow you to just pull the waste out. Lynn's red eye tank is spectacular and has a paper towel substrate and her frogs are happy and healthy.

As Amy mentioned, live plants will go a long way towards keeping humidity levels stable.


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[flybyferns]

After a while , I got tired of buying $$$ paper towel.
However, I think paper towel is a perfect substrate for red eye enclosures because they have to be kept so clean.
Plus, they could care less about the substrate.

If you are interested , I use a reusable substrate ( for years).
This does require getting to a fabric store and doing extra laundry .....yes laundry !




I use 'pill free' polyester fleece fabric / cut to fit the bottom of the tanks.
It holds a ton of water. Comes in great green, brown and even foliage patterns

I change it 3 times a week- wash it in hot water ( by itself) in the washing machine ( full tub of water ) with 2 caps of bleach
and 2 a double rinse.