i've had my two juvenile whites' tree frogs for about two weeks now, and i have been using a loose, mossy substrate from petsmart on top and so far have had a more mulchy coconut husk on the bottom, which i recently switched out with a finer fibrous soil, also from petsmart. these are all the compressed kinds which one adds water to for them to expand. the frogs seem to like the moss because it doesn't stick to them and one sinks itself into it a little when it sleeps during the day. is that an okay substrate to use? is it necessary to have two layers of substrate? i read that frogs can accidentally ingest substrate and it will cause an impaction, but i wasn't sure if the moss, mulch, or soil would be the most likely to cause problems. also, i'm sorry if there is a better category for me to start this forum. i wasn't sure where it might fit best. thanks!
Problem with moss is that it can lead to impactions unless covered with leaf litter. I've had an impaction on moss with a pacman frog. I had to bathe him and then use tongs to slowly remove the moss from its anus - not good! Sheet moss, the one that comes in slabs, is fine. You could also use bark chips, then top with leaf litter to prevent the frog from eating any of the bark. This looks nice and natural. Coco finer is also fine but you need to buy it in bags as the blocks you rehydrate will raise the humidity too high and takes a while to dry out but yeah it can stick the frog and irritate them, so I don't like it much.
thank you so much, this makes sense!! i will look into sheet moss or leaf litter depending on which i can find. i guess the general rule would be that if the substrate is big or long or chunky enough it's more likely to be harmful.
Exactly, the chunky stuff can be dangerous.
From my experience, coco fiber, repti-carpet (soft one), and plain paper towels were the best. As long as you sanitize them well, these substrates should have no problem. Just make sure not to use substrate that your frog can possibly swallow and get impaction.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)