WTF Habitat Maintenance Schedule

[deeishealthy]

With the plants in there, the terrarium seems quite the little ecosystem. How often do I strip the tank right down and clean it top to bottom or is that necessary? I need to get more detailed info on spot cleaning and maintaining the ecosystem properly. I've not seen any specific "do this once a week, do this every day, do this every two weeks" in my internet travels.

I've read on this site till my eyes bled, back to 2009 in a lot of cases, but it seems that this is one of those "general knowledge" things that everyone knows so nobody elaborates on.

Care to elaborate?

[deeishealthy]

And what about the plants... I've mentioned that I do NOT have a green thumb, so could you please chime in on how often to water them? Or is misting fine considering the humidity the habitat is being maintained at (hovering around 60 with a daytime temp of 78 right now).

[deranged chipmunk]

ahhh......you noticed that there's no set schedule on what to do and when to do it huh? there's a reason for that. every single tank is different. there is no golden rule, so to speak. just as if you were to go to an aquarium forum and ask "when should i vacuum my gravel", you will get 100 different responses from 100 different people.

my advice, spot clean your tank on a daily basis. change your water weekly, daily if using a water bowl. remove non eaten food as soon as you can after they are finished eating. you'll build your own schedule over time. also, and most importantly, is watch your frog(s). they are your best indicator of the conditions in there

good luck and enjoy those little guys!!

[deranged chipmunk]

oh, i forgot. plants, a daily mist is nice, but try to water them at least once per week. they too, will tell you what they want. you just need to watch them if they start wilting, water twice/week. remember, as far as plants go, sometimes a change comes in weeks or months, not in days or hours

[deeishealthy]

Ha, exactly!! There is a wealth of information out there and this must be why, with all the different answers. Thanks for clarifying, Bill. You helped!!

[poison]

I never change my cages they are all bio-active i only spot clean obvious dried up waste.

[deeishealthy]

And that's exactly what I want to create. I have new knowledge (had no idea that a friend of mine is passionate about tropical terrariums till he visited today and saw my setup) and will be creating an ideal ecosystem soon. Sticking with my current setup for a couple weeks but will tear it all down and build it properly then. Plus between now and then I'll have a better idea of my pair's plant preferences, where they like to hang out, etc, so will be building to their needs. Pretty excited about it, not gonna lie.

[deranged chipmunk]

best thing you can do is to research their habitat in Aussie-land. then you can plant to what they instinctively know. now, you may not be able to acquire an entire viv full of native plants, but between this forum, and your friend, you can come up with very suitable analogs