The Home of Ozzie and Harriet (and a few questions, of course). :)

[boonfroggle]

Hello,

I'd like to introduce the new additions to our family - Ozzie and Harriet. Ozzie is green, Harriet is brown. Ozzie has mounted Harriet so we're assuming we have at least one male (maybe two… wherever love may bloom, I guess).

We got them on Saturday at PetSmart and they seem to be adapting very well. We got a starter aquarium that doesn't have a mesh screen but this one seems to be working well. It has two incandescent lamps which help bring temps up to around 75-80 degrees. Nice to have in the morning after the temp drops overnight.

The top also helps trap some of the humidity which is helpful here in Colorado where the air can be very dry. Hopefully not too humid. The hygrometer is reading around 80, sometimes higher. I do think I will drill some very small holes to improve ventilation though.

Our starter kit came with a filter that seemed more geared towards a fish tank - it's meant to hang from the side of the tank - so I got a submersible Cascade 300 filter/pump. I read these toads like stiller waters so I've got the water from the tube flowing towards the water surface. You might be able to see the filter/pump towards the right rear of the 10 Gallon tank.

Question: how much/often do you feed your toads? We happen to have a reptile store a mile away so I don't plan on breeding insects. The fellow at the reptile store said to drop about a dozen crickets in every 4 days. I fed them a dozen on Saturday and there might only be one or two left. I haven't seen any floaters yet. As soon as I poured the crickets in Harriet went to town and ate two right away. One of the crickets escaped the other day - I think through one of the wire holes in top of the tank so I'll have to plug that up.

What are your thoughts on feeding these toads moths as a supplement. We'll frequently get moths in and around our home and they're easy to catch. Seems like it couldn't hurt so long as they're small enough, right?

Question: On the left side of our tank I put some of this moss:

Terrarium Moss

But it just seems to be turning brown and mushy. I do have the water level to a point where the 'land' side on the left is still very moist with puddles and pools in the rocks. Is this just going to make more of a mess than it's worth? Should I buy some 'live' moss? Will this moss catch some poop and make cleaning easier? I haven't seen any poop in the water? So they tend to have a preference f being on land/in the water or do they just go wherever and whenever they feel like it?

Question: Speaking of rocks, moss and cleaning. Is the rock/gravel setup I have a good idea? It's what the seemingly very knowledgable and helpful young lady at the Petsmart recommended - the larger gravel is some sort of 'organic' stuff that helps with a natural biodegration. However, I've seen setups with more river rock size material.

I don't mind the idea of maintaining a frog tank but obviously don't want to make it any more difficult, or bacteria/smell prone, then it needs to be.

I'm thinking of making the 'back' third of the tank the land mass and having the aquatic section at the front. Thoughts on that?

I see a lot of people making/buying waterfalls. Do you think these frogs prefer the burbling, gurgling sound of a waterfall? I've read they prefer still(er) waters.

Anyhow, here are some pictures. These frogs love to hide but I think if you look closely you might be able to spot them in some of the pics.

From the front:



Before I raised the 'bridge' for hiding



From the side:



Ozzie hiding under the bridge:



Harriet on the bridge:



Harriet hiding:



From the top:



From the top 2. The vine is a real plant, the other two are artificial:




Would love any feedback on tank setup and/or answers to my questions. I'm sure I'll come up with more as time goes on. If I've done something wrong I'm always willing to learn from the mistakes of others (I haven't got time to make them all on my own).

Thanks!

[boonfroggle]

More pictures because why not: Plus, I realized there was a lot of humidity on the inside of the tank so I wiped it off for clearer pics.





See how brown and nasty the moss is getting?

[emandkel]

First, congrats on your new additions! I have 5 FTB's in a 20-long aquarium.

Personally I'd take out the moss. It's an impaction hazard if they swallow it. Also, these frogs need cooler temperatures (no higher than say 75 degrees) and really need a screen lid. Looks ok otherwise. Anything that can fit into their mouths (including small gravel) should be avoided or well covered or under water.

I have some sheet moss covering the gravel for my land part, and I do have a waterfall type feature. I have seen one or more frogs just sitting in an area where there is water flowing around/over it. The picture below is an old picture, I added more moss at the back, covering the gravel, plus a couple of fake plants for hiding, split the water area into a shallower (about 1" deep) part with java moss and a deeper (2 - 2.5" deep) part with only a little java moss. Most of the water part, though, is pretty still -- I may change that to reduce the possibility of stagnant water. I have a LED light over part of their tank. Flourescent lighting would be ok with a screen cover as heat from the light can escape.



I feed mine every 2 - 3 days, mostly crickets, and mine are food hounds that will hunt and eat every last cricket. I probably put 50 small crickets in there at each feeding. Occasionally I've tried to tong feed other items with some success -- small pieces of earthworm, maybe a small dubia roach or two.

[boonfroggle]

Thanks for the reply.

I did go ahead and pull the moss. Got a nice white ribbon semi aquatic plant and plan to put it in tomorrow after doing a water change and a little cleaning.

I've read that it's best to avoid feeding a lot of 'wild' food because of the risk of parasites and chemical exposure but it seems like the occasional wild moth wouldn't be too dangerous. If nothing else, they might at least like the entertainment, eh?

These little toads are cool and I want to make sure they have a nice stimulating environment, but not over-stimulating, of course.

[boonfroggle]

Scratch that about the moths. I just found this post by John Clare (and I'm pretty sure he knows his frogs). So I'll just skip the moths.

http://www.frogforum.net/food-feeder...bts-moths.html