Chubby Frog Burrowing Habits

Originally Posted by Poly

I notice my Chubby frogs burrow down, deep into their substrate and will stay under for up to 4 days at a time (only happened once, no idea why? They normally stay under during the day). I keep a fresh bowl of water in their viv, but they never soak in it. I think it is because we keep our home at about 30% humidity, so even though it is 80% humidity in my chubbies viv, about 1/4" of the top layer of coco-fibre becomes dry daily (The GE 6500K CFL's throw a good bit of heat too), so due to this I mist very frequently to keep the top layer moist, and as a result, the bottom layers are very damp, almost water logged so my frogs must be absorbing water from the coco-fibre...?

I'm wondering, because when they burrow, it's upwards of 6" down, the area of the soil that is very damp, and I barely ever see them on the surface, except at night when they come up to feed and burrow elsewhere.

I keep their humidity at 70-80%, even higher at night, and their temperatures between 70F and 75F.

What do you think?

Thanks,

~Royce

Sounds very normal for a nocturnal burrowing frog. I believe your observation on the upper layer of the substrate being dry to be true. Its in their nature to seek a moist spot in which to sleep during the day. Even with humidity high from your misting they would burrow to seek more shelter from the lights and seek a dark moist sleeping place. Pacmans will occationaly do this as well. Sometimes I think they prefer moist soil over just being wet in a water dish to absorb the water they need.

Its very interesting behavior non the less.