Possible Problem?

[Maheekens]

I have recently acquired 3 red-eyed tree frogs and it's he first time I've owned frogs. They live in an 18"x18"x24" glass terrarium with the grilled top (is this big enough for them? I was told that it should be by petstore people, but they're not always the most experienced people..). The humidity and temperature seem top be stable. I got the first frog about a week and a half ago, and got the the others a few days later, as I was told that they are happier in groups. When I first had the lone frog I made a mistake... I used tap water to mist and also put it in the water bowl. The frog seemed to be doing well, it woke up at night and I saw it eat crickets. When I introduced the new ones it was still active along with the others at night. During the day they would all bunch together to sleep. This was all going well for a few days, and then I noticed that the first frog hadn't been moving from its sleeping spot. I tried observing them at night and the other two are active, but I didn't see the first one move at all. I can see that it's still breathing when it's sleeping though. Also, the other frogs haven't gone to sleep with it in their regular spots for two nights now (which was under some leaves and they would all be close together), and they now opt to sleep at the other side of the terrarium on the glass out in the open.. Should I be worried? Could the tap water I used at the beginning have affected my frog??
Also, for the water.. I have an automatic mister which uses distilled water, so that shouldn't be a problem anymore. For the water bowl, can I use water that went through a Brita filter, or could water which was left out 24hrs to get the chlorine work also?

[Badger]

I can't comment on the water issue, but the frog sleeping could be a couple things. 1.) just the frogs personality, one of my white's is really lazy and only is active a couple hours every night. 2.) Do you have a steady 12 hour day/night cycle? If it's not steady they can get confused.

[Maheekens]

Ohh, I hadn't thought of that. Maybe that could be a problem... sometimes I don't turn on/off the light at the same time every day.. I have a 5.0 UVB light that I turn on during the day. That is the one they sold me, but I think usually 2.0 is better maybe. During the night should I just have no light at all or should I put one of those blue "moonlight" bulbs?

[Poly]

Ohh, I hadn't thought of that. Maybe that could be a problem... sometimes I don't turn on/off the light at the same time every day.. I have a 5.0 UVB light that I turn on during the day. That is the one they sold me, but I think usually 2.0 is better maybe. During the night should I just have no light at all or should I put one of those blue "moonlight" bulbs?

You should purchase an "appliance timer" so your light will come on, and switch off at a schuduled time each day (i.e. 6:00am-6:00pm).

Also, a 5.0 bulb is far to high for a Red-Eyed Leaf Frog, the maximum size you need is a 2.0. The Exo-Terra "Repti-Glo 2.0" CFL bulbs are a good choice.

~Royce

[Badger]

Yeah, phibs don't need uvb like reptiles do actually. Tree frogs are mostly nocturnal, so they don't need any uvb to be honest, they hide from it during the day. Any household CFL would work, I use GE 6500k ones. 2.0 uvb won't necessarily be bad, but not needed in my opinion, though this is a big topic of controversy. Anywho, like Royce said, you can grab an appliance timer to set a day/night cycle.

[Maheekens]

Thanks for the tips. I'll definitely go get myself an appliance timer. I had thought about getting one but kept putting it off. Yeah I was surprised to see that I had a 5.0 UVB since I had thought that they gave me an Exo-Terra Repti-Glo 2.0 CFL bulb, but I hadn't really checked to make sure. I guess I have to double-check everything next time instead of relying on petshop people..

[Shanny]

They only difference I know between the blue and red is that the frogs cannot see the red, the blue mimics moonlight. But I've used both and just prefer the red. I find with the red that night time viewing of your frogs is much better, you can see better in the tank. With the blue, I can only see limited areas like only where the light is shining directly, whereas the red lights up the whole take enough that I can see


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[Badger]

Red is for night time viewing, the frogs can't see it. Black light bulbs work also, but blue is for daytime, and will screw up their day/night cycle. Blue is only to mimic the sun. I use red because they throw off a good amount of heat and you can keep it on 24/7

[Maheekens]

Thanks for the info. And they seem to be doing a lot better now that they have a regular day/night cycle using the timer.

[Badger]

Awesome!

[Shanny]

Yay!


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