Horacio: RIP.

[Poly]

Ahh, I have a slight issue with needless apolgizing, call it some old fashioned British modesty

Unfortunatley I believe I may have underestimated the evaporation rate. His tank was an exoterra faunarium, exactly like this http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6083/...6c52ee0075.jpg

I used mosquito netting over the top, partly to avoid food escapee's and partly to help keep the moisture in, however I didn't always have the netting on.

I was feeding him around 3 small locust/ 1 wax worm/ 1 cricket every other day, though this fluctuated in terms of amount +/- 1 insect. Feeding response was good.

And as you enthusiasticly mentioned Royce, that is exactly the moss I used, and I did also feed him in the terrarium due to me wishing to limit stress on him. This is what I am leaning towards for causing his death, more so now. I almost wish I'd not buried the lil guy in order to disect him and check if there was an impactation, however I'm not sure I'd have felt too comfortable with this.

I had a feeling that the thermometer would not have been too accurate. This was my point about the Hydrometer gauges commonly available. I have seen a Lucky Reptile digital Hydrometer available, think it's about £49.99/around $75-80 I think in usa terms, possibly higher in Canadian $?

No the mould killer was never sprayed into the air in the room, only ever on a cloth outside and rubbed on the offending patches of damp. The smell was never that pungent.

I'll get those pics of his enclosure up later, and again, many thanks Royce, also I'll show the Whites tank, see if you have any suggestions. Lessons to be learnt from this unfortunate death.

I have my baby pacman in the exact same size tank, and to keep his humidity up, I keep dish towles over the top vents, and just leave the side ones partially uncovered. The mosquito net would have worked great to keep in his food, but not humidity.

His diet sounds good, although, you might have wanted to try some nightcrawlers too.

Now your making me feel bad... I didn't mean to "enthusiasticly" mention the moss, I was just happy that we found a culprit.
I'm going to go ahead and say, he most likely, accidently ingested a strand of this moss when trying to eat an insect, this then got stuck in his intestine, caused impaction as the moss was bloackage and no food could pass, and this is what killed your poor little Horacio.

The chances of this being the cause of his death, IMO are very high, he had three things stacked against him (not because of you).

1. His size: He was still very small, so moss of this size in such a small frog would/could certainly cause impaction.

2. Moss: Most moss is dangerous as an impaction risk, unless it is short strand moss like sheet moss, but just the fact that it was dried, long strand, sphagnum moss (which I utterly despise) is a scary thought.

3. Feeding technique: With his combined small size, moss, and then the fact that he was fed in his vivarium with sphagnum moss present makes my believe 99.99% that he accidently ingested a piece of moss.

The humidity and temperature is not that hard to regulate in a small tank like that, just block off 90% of the vents with something like a dish towel or plastic wrap, and that will be sufficent to hold 70%-80% humidity.

I don't think the mold killer had anything to do with it, but the frog killer did... That's what dried sphgnum should be killed... frog killer moss... or impaction moss... -.-

Sure, the more photos the better!

I've worked with a vet for a a year now, just part time, (cleaning, helping out here and there, etc.) and she's taught my alot, I'd definitely liked to see the "auotopsy" if you will, photos to see if the moss was the cause.

The important thing, as you said is to learn from Horacio's truely unfortunate death!

Once again, I am very sorry for your loss!