Habitat questions

[kaygray]

Hi! I'm new to this forum and I am simply bursting with questions about the habitat of my future froggie friends. Tree frogs are my thing. I developed a love for them as a small child when I would spend my afternoons wading through a pond I found in a field close to my house. Green tree frogs were everywhere! I loved to catch and admire these fascinating little creatures (releasing them after of course). My pet frog of choice is the dumpy tree frog. I want to have two of them. I am going to construct a false bottom and get a tank that is higher than it is wide. I want to create a very natural habitat with live plants and a more realistic pond feature. How often do I need to change the water with a built-in pond and how do I do it? Can I put snails in the pond to help clean it or maybe some lilly pads? I am going to cover 3 walls with cork bark. I know to spot clean every day but do I wipe off the cork or just the glass wall? How often will I need to completely take out all of the plants/moss/dirt to clean and replace them? Any information would be very helpful and appreciated! Thanks

[steampunk]

Hey Welcome to the Frog Forum!

Good choice on getting White's (although im biased ).

Regarding changing the water will depend on what type of filter you have. If you go external cannister filter then you don't have to change it as much as filter pump. I have a filter pump for my waterfall, and i do a half change of water once a week. This is done by using a petrol syphoning tube that i got from a car shop(cleaned it) . The lily pads should be fine, but i am unsure on the snails as they could contain parasites? (Can anyone confirm this?). Just remember that the frogs are aboreal, so don't be suprised if they don't use the pond area, as they are not very good swimmers. If you can put plants that climb and make use of the top of the tank. Some good broaf leaf plants are Philodendrons, Peace lily, arthenthium, etc.

With regard to taking the plants out, you shouldn't have to if planted in organic soil mixed with coco fiber as this should be like a natural eco-system. That's one of the benfits of live plants, that and it looks great . I've only got a background on one wall which i wipe down once a week, when i clean down all the glass with a weak concentration of vinegar and water. I don't know much about cork bark, but i presume you can wipe it down?

I also believe there is a care sheet for Litoria Caerulea under the tree frog section of the forum. Which can tell you a lot more info regarding temps, humidity etc.

And remember post pics of your frogs when you get them

And heres the link to the care sheet http://www.frogforum.net/content/whi...-caerulea-121/

[deranged chipmunk]

i see Scott covered mostly everything pretty darned well. but i might be able to add a bit for you. as far as the snails go, i'm not sure about parasites, but if i were going to give snails a test with my white's, it would be malaysian trumpet snails. they stay under the substrate most of the day and only venture vertically at night for air. in a pond, i would suspect they would just crest the water then head back down. i don't believe they will venture onto land.

unfortunately, there are no small, true lilypads, but you can use amazon frogbit. it resembles it very closely in miniature vivaria.

as far as cleaning the bark. depends on whether or not you use a misting system and or have plants growing on it as to how often you clean it and how.

oh, and the best thing you can do for your frogs is research their natural habitat, ya know, where the guy above me is from. ^^ btw Scott, is it true your toilets flush counter clockwise??LOL

good luck on your build and keep us posted

[steampunk]

btw Scott, is it true your toilets flush counter clockwise??LOL

Haha I actually just went and checked, it seem just to go straight but I think there was some counter clockwise swirls ;-)

Do you reckon snails would be ok in a false bottom?

[deranged chipmunk]

Snails in a false bottom is tricky. You need to make sure they can't get under the false bottom and they should be ok.

[HerpDerp]

Welcome to the forum KayGray! I was always the same way as a child. I like to go out in the woods and find frogs and salamanders and whatever else so I know what you mean! White's tree frogs are awesome! I have two of them. It sounds like you're on the right track as far as the set up is concerned. I recommend the exo-terra 18x18x24 (or bigger!!). I love my exo-terra. It made setting up a false bottom so much easier.

I highly recommend posting any species specific questions to the tree frog sub-forum. Very helpful folks over there