Just to make sure I am doing everything right

[loganste123]

Okay so hey guys my name is Logan. And 2 days ago I bought my self a christmas present. I got a white lipped tree frog aka (white's frog). he is about 6 months old when I bought him. The pet shop lady gave me the tank and the bedding and informed me about how to take care of him. Thats not my problem.. My problem is Winston (my frog) has not eaten. When I bought him yesterday the lady said she fed him. So when I got home I changed the water in his bowl with warm water and put a dozen crickets in his cage. My sister tells me since she breeds these weird exotic creatures at her house that putting all the crickets in the cage is not good because they will actually bite the frog. So I took all of the crickets out bought new ones and a little carrier and dusted them with calcium powder and put 4 in there. So when I bought the cage it came with a piece of wood, well I didnt think that would be very fun if I was a frog so I went to petsmart today and bought fake plants and this avatar looking tree thing. I also bought a 50 watt night heat lamp. Its pretty much a black light. I have been reading about how to care for the white's frogs and I think I got it down its just the eating factor. I also know that it takes a few days for these frogs to unwind and become less stressed from all the moving and he played around the new cage when I installed it, (washed with warm water when I got home) and he went to sleep. I sprayed in the cage to get it moist and the humidity up and he went to sleep and has moved twice. I currently have the lamp on, I figured I need to turn it on at night. So I will post the spec's about the tank and what I have in it. And pictures to follow. Please help me out about the feeding situation and let me know if im doing the right thing with the light or I need to get a UVB bulb. Thanks!

Whats in the tank:
10 Gallon Tank
1 50 watt night time heat lamp
water bowl
natural bedding
plants
avatar tree looking thing.

[Lija]

ok first things first

what do you use for bedding exactly, whatever that is doesn't seems right or may be it is picture

water - what kind of it are you using? humidity and temps - what are the readings?

whites frog is a tree frog, they needs trees or at least more foliage to feel safe. you need to cover 3 sides with something, aquarium background would do, or anything similar. then you need more foliage on the sides, it is very empty and a frog is stressed out.

[loganste123]

Im not sure what the bedding is exactly but the lady said its natural and not harmful. Water is tap water, and i have a plant in the back i am going to move it and buy more plants tomorrow. anything else? Thank you so much.

[loganste123]

I rearranged the plants alittle . I put some infront of him and changed his water and took the top off the cage and wet my hands and stroked him softly a few times and he started moving?

[Lija]

NEVER use plain tap water, you have to get a water conditioner and use it for a tap water.
do not touch him now, in general the less you touch him the better.

did you cover 3 sides of the tank?

I don't like the bedding, it seems like some wood chips are here with some soil, if so you need eco earth ( fine coconut fiber), wood chips if ingested will cause impaction, that you don't want to risk.

[loganste123]

i covered the 3 sides with something green and took the lamp off of him. I am going to the store first thing in the morning to get some distilled water and some more plants. Im not quite to sure what the bedding is, its like a my description: very fine mulch . Is there away we can skype or something to get your imput more fast?

[loganste123]

I put green clothes on 3 sides of the tank and it went dark andhe instantly started moving. now he is swimming.. this is good right?

[loganste123]

he's eating!!!

[steampunk]

Don't use distilled water, if you are going to buy water, get spring water. Distilled water actually contains zero minerals and is actually harmful to your frog as they drink through their skin.
Also what are your temps and humidity readings. Temp readings for hot and cold side?

[loganste123]

in my room it is about 70 ish and cae around 60%

[Lija]

ok, that is what i want you to do:
- change substrate to eco earth or plantation soil. using yours is a very high impaction risk if ingested.
- get a dechorinating agent - prime or exo terra and use it to treat your tap water. Use treated water for everything, you can use spring water too, but it gets pricey eventually
- get a thermometer and hydrometer to place in a tank.
- if you have funds - get hydroterm,with that thing you don't need thermometers/hydrometers, it will do control climate for you if plugged into heating and fogger/mister.
- get Calcium with vit D and multivitamins, dust food every second feeding with calcium and once a week with vitamins, but not together.
- provide day/light cycle - 12/12 hours. I would use 2 or 5% UVB for that.
- your temps are too low, you need to stay at about 80 day with hot spot at about 82-85, night temps 77

after you do all that sit back and enjoy your happy frog

[loganste123]

I made a run to the store today. I got more plants now it looks like a forest where he can hide. I got a backdrop of a rainforest and also I bought a meter that tells the humidity, and i got rid of the tap water and went out and got a few gallons of spring water and put that in his bowl. But guess what?! Last night i went to bed and had no noise and he ate a few crickets. then he was jumping around all night playing in the water and I woke up this morning he was sleeping happily!!

[poison]

how sure are you that thats a whites tree frog? in the pics it looks like im seeing a white lipped tree frog. Have any closer pics?

EDIT: i just read what you said and at first i was just looking at the pics

[loganste123]

hahaha i coulda sworn it was a white lipped tree frog xD

[Sasha]

Are you plants real or fake? If you are using real plants you want to make sure they are clean and free from pesticides before you put them in the tank with your frog. Also, not sure if you read it here yet, the easiest way to feed crickets and prevent impaction is to put the crickets in a glass bowl, they can't climb out. It also helps you to see how many crickets your guy is actually eating AND prevents the crickets from hiding in your substrate.

And yes, when night comes they love to play and in the morning you should wake up to smudge glass with foot prints all over! Keep in mind that they like vertical space and you might need to get a taller tank eventually. When I first got my Whites I had them in a 12x12x18 exo tera tank and a few months later had to get something taller because they kept trying to get out the top!

Great gift for yourself! They are great frogs to have!

[loganste123]

im going to try that glass bowl thing, I also bought a pare of tongs today . But my frog only eats about 2-3 a day according to the lady.