Blog Comments

After thinking a bit more on how to make a track for the camera to move in side of the side of the enclosure I have had another thought of moving parts inside of the enclosure that could possible injure a fog sitting on the rails is not good.
I would use this in a enclosure that doesn't have tree frogs.
Or a frog that could jump high enough to land on one of the rails.
So toads and packman frogs will be the subjects.

A friend of mine has a 3D printer.
And will print just about anything I want as long as I cover the cost of supplies.

So I am thinking of plastic half round rails that have a gear teeth on the bottom side,
And small holes for suction cups to secure the rails.
I could also embed the end of travel magnets in the plastic.

I have checked my shop and I do have 4 reed switches in my parts bin.

To delve in a little bit deeper on the mechanic's.
Considering that this environment is humid and a little warm and corrosive to open contacts.

The limit switches are definitely not waterproof so I think I'm going to substitute the mechanical limit switch with magnetic reed switches.
For two reasons. Number one the position switches are made so when the camera would rotate from one side to another it would push the switch into different directions.
Since I'm no longer going to be rotating a platform I am now going to be sensing a linear motion.
So splitting that left and right switch to two separate switches to be on one side of linear action and on the other side will work perfectly.
And since read switches are in a glass envelope there by default waterproof as long as I keep shrink the solder connections everything should be good. the only thing I have to do is put a small magnet on the shuttle so when it comes in close contact with reed switch it will close it and the microcontroller Will stop the stepper motor from turning.

Waterproofing the camera board is going to be a little bit more tricky.
I do have a clear lacquer spray that is made for insulating high-voltage points on a PCB and that should waterproof the back of the PCB and all the little tiny components on it.
The biggest problem is the front of the camera PCB board it has the CCD element which is very sensitive to water.
What I could do is vacuum form a small piece of plexiglass into a dome and seal the camera in that. But I will have to see how that dome is going to affect the optics of the camera.

One thing is for sure I will have to cut in half the amount of infrared LEDs on the LED board because that board is designed to aluminate up to 15 feet not 12 inches so it would be way too bright.

Unfortunately I had to find new homes for all my frogs since I travel so much.
since my wife is deathly afraid of them and can't take care of them as they should be so it just wouldn't be fair to the frogs to leave them with out proper care.

All the terrariums have been broken down cleaned and mall called until the day I have a job that doesn't have extensive travel.

It broke my heart but it was the best thing to do for the frogs welfare.

Any more updates since you've had it for more than a month now?

Today I did a full clean and wipe down of the enclosure with a 10% of distilled vinegar and hot flittered water.
Just changing out the paper towel substrate didn't get rid of the funky smell.
So I scooped up everyone and put them in a container with warm moistened paper towels.
and covered it with a dark towel to block out the light. Hopefully that calmed them a bit.

I wiped down everything with the solution and wiped it down again with just plain water.
Now it smells nice and clean.
I tiook this opportunity to mixup a little more quickset to fill up the rest of the flower pot
that holds the fake leaves in place and filled a large ziplock bag with the remaining quickset
to fill up the voids in-between the flower pot and two walls to keep crickets from hiding.
25min and the stuff is hard enough to take off the plastic and rinse off the dust.
Put down a double thick layer of towels and put everything back in and let the temp
and humidity stabilize before I put the frogs back in.
They were fast asleep.
Brownie is still very brown but when she goes into the water dish her legs go green.

Originally Posted by deeishealthy

I'm surprised to hear Brownie is a girl if she croaks! I was led to believe by all my reading that females NEVER croak. This now makes me eyeball Bert. I've only seen him do it once. Ernie is constant, he loves the sound of his own voice.

When she tries it is very soft and short. Unlike the boys. They are loud. I will have to find my db meter and check how loud it is.
I am in Florida now and I miss my babies.

I love having my lights regulated. Now I can sleep in and not worry about the frogs.

I'm surprised to hear Brownie is a girl if she croaks! I was led to believe by all my reading that females NEVER croak. This now makes me eyeball Bert. I've only seen him do it once. Ernie is constant, he loves the sound of his own voice.

I just got back from taking the terrible trio to the vet,
I was right there was something going on with Brownie she had a tapeworm under her skin on the underside of her right leg.
The Dr. made quick work making a 2mm incision and removing the worm with a pair of tweesers.
At first look it looked like a fat deposit but they confirmed it.

The Dr. prescribed a 3hr soak in a solution of Praziquantel (droncil) and warm dechlorinated water for all three today and then agin in 15 days then one more time in another 15 days

Other wise the Dr. said all three are in great shape.

the Dr. also confirmed that brownie is a girl.

now as soon as they are finished soaking I have to get on a flight to Birmingham AL then as soon as I am finished there I have to fly to Ft. Lauderdale FL for a 4 day job there.
I will miss my babies.

I think Brownie is getting ready to shed her skin.
what do y'all think?

Here is feeding time for today.
Bubba is a bad boy he nearly peed on my phone LOL
I guess he doesn't like being videoed. watch at the 3:20 mark LOL


And yes Brownie was a piggy.

So other observations,
I am so surprised about how different their personalities are.
Bubba is laid back and likes to hang out on his fav leaf look ing out the den window.
He doesn't mind handling when needed but he will strike up a conversation.
" why are you picking me up for now." in a laid back kind of a grunt.

Buster is the spaz of the group. It might be that the soundings are new.
He hasn't found his spot yet but he likes to be near Brownie on the floor of the
enclosure.
He also likes the water he will try to swim in it but the water isn't deep enough.
He will act like he is having a problem getting out of the water bowl but as soon as you
go to try to help him out he hops out on his own.

Brownie is a bit of a mystery,
I am pretty sure she is a female but will try to croak when she hears the boys or me.
She also likes the water and will stay in there for a good soak.
She likes hanging out on the floor for the most part.

Update: I called Dr. Foster and Smith and the nice lady there said she will send me an email with
a UPS return shipping label,
I checked my email and to my surprise there is a fedex shipment of a 2.4lb package.
So I can safely assume that they are sending me a new unit.
Time will tell.
Caio

After a few weeks the controller has failed, the light comes on when it wants to and goes off and does not stay on for the settings. and has a slight burnt smell.
I am going to return this unit and begin the task of building my own.

Sad news everyone,
I havent seen signs of "Lady" in the new enclosure so I moved some of the moss around and found her dead. There were no signs of illness or injury.
I could only assume something in the new enclosure caused her demise.
After adding a under tank heater I did notice nematoads (very small worms) crawling around on top of the moss.
I didn't think those would harm a young bull frog that was born in the wild.

So I have broken down the enclosure sterilized everything with a 10% solution of clorox and water for 10 minutes and rinsed with filtered water.

I laid her to rest at a local pond where she was probably was born.
She was a private little sole that was very timid. She spent most of her time under her hide during the day but at night I could hear her hopping around and hunting.
If she wasn't in her hide away spot she was using the repti-filter as a Jacuzzi.
She never jumped out of my hands when I would handle her to check her to see if she was eating and make sure she was well.
She only had 4 months left before I would have released her back into the wild.

Well I am planning on getting a few blue dumpy tree frogs to put in the enclosure as full time pets.

Farewell little girl you will be missed.