Vivarium Help

[Heatheranne]

Hello. Your plan is a good one. You can keep your red eyes in a quarantine tank while waiting for the silicone to dry and cure. Do you have any extra tanks?

If you rinse the plants, bake any natural wood at 325'-350'F for 30 minutes, rinse down the tank, change all substrate (leave bare with no substrate when using the dry ice), and use the dry ice you should minimize if not rid of all pests.

I prefer only using springtails and isopods. Centipedes love to hide up in substrate tangled within plant roots. Be sure to rinse them well.

It seems you have a perfect ecosystem for them all to thrive in there (insects). Unfortunately they can be a nuisance.

90 gallon is a nice sized tank. What are your dimensions?

[starofwhitelight]

Two of my frogs died. One passed the day after getting into the new tank, the other 2 days after that. All other frogs (6) seems health and happy. I placed the frogs in totes for two days to let the silicone to dry and cure in their tank. Two totes were solid colors non-see-through and one tote was clear and see-through. All the totes were place in a bathroom with heating pads. An Ultrasonic Humidifier was also place in the bath room. I had two temp alerts one for above 83 one for below 72. No alerts were triggered. I also place roaches in tupperware containers in each tote. Every tote held 3 frogs for 52 hours. I noticed quickly that the frogs in the clear tote were not eating. Soon one frog in the clear tote started to be active during the day; this same frog formed a nose rub. The next day two frogs in the clear tote were active during the day. The newly day active frog formed a minor nose rub. These two frogs were the ones that passed away. I wonder if it was due to the clear tote .

I decided not to use dry ice after all. I removed all of the substrate and rinse all the plants to the bare roots. I sprayed all plants with 91% alcohol after I took them out of the tank and before I put them back in. I also baked the wood. I reseed the tank with springtails and isopods.

The tank’s dimensions are 36X36X16.

[Bolisnide]

I'm so sorry!
I'm curious about these 'totes.' Were they bags of some sort?
I would PM Lynn and Heatheranne to get their feedback.
Again, I'm so sorry.

[flybyferns]

Hello, ( sorry I don't know your name)
Some thoughts
What kind of soil did you use ? What kind of drainage / bottom design did you set-up?

I have never put a plant into a tank with out doing a diluted bleach dip first ( leaves and cleaned roots) / then a long soak in a bucket of de- chlorinated water.
A little OCD --- ya think ?

Spider mites - in a red eye tank - I am going to say that these are a big deal since the frogs are not going to be eating them. You don't' want them crawling on the frogs - stresses them out - or nipping at the frogs.

Centipedes--- yikes -- I agree with you....... they hitch-hiked in.

Ants- not good - you will want to do everything you can - to get rid of these - most will bite.

Red worms --

The frogs the hate them or ate them ? Either way ----they won't hurt anything. If you get a really lot of them you might notice a distinct odor though?

Isopods and springs should be your best friends ! Especially if you have other dying insects in the soil.

I'm no bug expert; I'll throw Jeff a PM ........He will come to our rescue !

TWO QUESTIONS for JEFF :
1)is there competition going on! Will one bug ie ants - cause the demise of your very important Iso and spring population ?
2) Centipedes - What kind --a photo would be good ( if you can ) Is there is any worry about toxicity if eaten by the frogs?

Lynn

[JeffreH]

TWO QUESTIONS for JEFF :
1)is there competition going on! Will one bug ie ants - cause the demise of your very important Iso and spring population ?
2) Centipedes - What kind --a photo would be good ( if you can ) Is there is any worry about toxicity if eaten by the frogs?

The ants may be feeding on a variety of things in the enclosure; but regardless they are not good. They will be competing with springtails and isopods for various useful organic material and may pose a direct threat or stress factor for the frogs in numbers.

I'm honestly not that well versed in my myriapods, but the centipedes should still be removed manually with tweezers as you see them. They likely won't cause any harm to the frogs by ingestion but depending on the size they may be able to inflict a bite, and most species produce a type of venom to aid in subduing small prey and I'm not honestly sure how hazardous a bite would be for a frog... The centipedes should spend the vast majority of their time hiding within loose substrate and cage decor and are thriving from the warm and moist microhabitat you have in the frog enclosure; feeding on developing red worms and smaller invertebrates. Their pretty generalist predators, and will eat most any of the other inverts in there if they can overpower it, making them a threat to the useful organisms and potentially hazardous to the frogs themselves.

I would wager that replacing the substrate and taking proper quarantine measures (i.e. baking the wood/decor) will virtually eliminate the centipede and ant problem. You may get the occasional pede pop up again if there was any minute larvae or eggs that managed to survive but if you are thorough they shouldn't be an issue = )

[starofwhitelight]

I'm so sorry!
I'm curious about these 'totes.' Were they bags of some sort?
I would PM Lynn and Heatheranne to get their feedback.
Again, I'm so sorry.

The totes were 20 Gallon Storage Totes made of plastic. They were vary similar to the ones here: HDX 20 gal. Tote-2020-0108 at The Home Depot
All totes were soak and rinsed in water and dipped in a bleach dilution and left to dry over night.

[Bolisnide]

The totes were 20 Gallon Storage Totes made of plastic. They were vary similar to the ones here: HDX 20 gal. Tote-2020-0108 at The Home Depot
All totes were soak and rinsed in water and dipped in a bleach dilution and left to dry over night.

Were ventilation holes made in the totes?

[starofwhitelight]

Yes 3 2in diameter holes cover with screen mesh were added to the totes. Hot glue was used on the mesh to glue it to the totes.

[CJ PELCHER]

It seems you have a perfect ecosystem for them all to thrive in there (insects). Unfortunately they can be a nuisance.

HA ... i think the 500 crickets a week i bring into my house are a nuisance!!! ALL OVer MY HOUSE!!

[CJ PELCHER]

Yes... you should have completely broken down the tank before putting red eyes in there... Replaced all the substrate and washed all the pants again. Bbased on the super fast death rate.. have you investigated the water quality? Also are you keeping the vivarium at 65-85 percent humidity. (Do you handle your red eyes without washing your hands) Those (besides disease already carried) Will kill your frog the fastest. Photos would be greatly appreciated.

-Corey

[starofwhitelight]

The humidity always stayed between 65-95 percent. The frogs lived in the tank for over 10 months. I really think something happen when I tried fixing up the tank. When I was fixing the tank I wore vinyl disposable gloves when I handled my frogs. I tried to never to handle my RETFs. When I did it was with gloves or sometimes I was hopped on when cleaning/feeding, but I always washed my hands well before and after cleaning.

The vet did not see any signs of infection and the stool was all clear. However, the vet did give the new owner some antibiotic just in case.
I deiced to just enjoy the tank with only the plants in it for a few months and thoroughly clean it later on.

[CJ PELCHER]

I sent you a private message. Please respond when you can. Thank you.