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Thread: Alternative substrates?

  1. #1
    absolutionbot
    Guest

    Default Alternative substrates?

    Hey everyone, I was wondering if you could help me out with some questions.

    My girlfriend and I have been taking care of our first ever frog, a WTF, for about four months now. He's been looking pretty sick the past few days so we took him to the vet. She says that he might have an impaction and we're treating him for it and will have him rechecked in a week.

    Now, my question is, what substrate could/should we use when he take him out of his hospital tank? We currently have coconut substrate from ZooMed, but we are having trouble seeing his waste on it, plus we're not sure if he could have eaten some of it and caused this problem in the first place. So we were hoping to find something light in color that we can see the waste against at the very least.

    We found a "moss mat" from Exo Terra that looks promising but I wanted to see what the thoughts were from you all here.

    Thanks very much

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  3. #2

    Default Re: Alternative substrates?

    I use the Zoo Med New Zealand Sphagnum Moss Reptile Substrate - Earth - Substrate & Bedding - PetSmart sphagnum moss with coconut substrate under it. What I do is take my frogs out and feed them in a separate tank with no bottom substrate. So they can't swallow anything but the food I have had no problems with that. I wouldn't do the mat, its not as natural and not great for the skin. Good luck!

    My 15 year old White's Tree Frog Hetfield (RIP 1996-June 4, 2012) and my little girl Lucy

  4. #3
    kevinp
    Guest

    Default Re: Alternative substrates?

    paper towels are light in color. you may consider live moss. check out making vivs info . i prefer live plants and moss because i find it more visually appealing, and if done correctly, it is easier to take care of. i always wondered if animals could tell if a plant was fake, or if they cared

  5. #4
    InfinitysDaughter
    Guest

    Default Re: Alternative substrates?

    Is the sub your using a moss? Moss is notorious for causing impaction when ingested because it just absorbs more water and keeps getting bigger. I use Eco Earth which is coconut husk ground up into a fine soil. It is hard to see poo on the sub because its the same color but I just make it a habit that every day or every other day I take everything but the plant out and do a poop check. Sometimes I have to move my hand around in the soil to find it and sometimes I dont find it because she often poops in the water dish.

    In my opinion its the best sub because even though she ingests some of it, its so fine and dosn't swell when exposed to water so the small amount she ingests it passes easily threw her system. It dosn't keep humidity as well as moss, though, but large leaf live plants keep the humidity pretty well as far as I can tell.

  6. #5
    absolutionbot
    Guest

    Default Re: Alternative substrates?

    Thanks everyone for the replies

    We did have some moss in the viv but we had taken a lot of it out because that's where the crickets liked to hide and we didn't want him to eat any.

    We've decided to go with paper towels. There are some things he's been doing since we got him that the vet said weren't normal, so we're going to keep him a bubble boy lol hopefully he won't get sick again but I'd rather not risk it.

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