Introducing Masterchief Hopper

[Yarjammer]

Now that I've returned from vacation I picked a new member of the family, er crew. He/she is an albino Cranwelli I've had my eye on at the local pet shop for nearly two months. I was tempted to get the baby apricot, but I felt an attachment to this one. It is hard to tell in the photo, but his colors are fairly striking for a regular albino from what I have seen locally. His lime and dark brown markings over tan are pretty neat. He is 3" STV.

I discovered he is quite adventurous this morning. He decided to try his hand at mountain climbing in the tank which I thought was blocked off well enough and the lip of the waterfall basin too high (~3") above the water dish. He gave me quite a scare but he also got back down to the substrate on his own and seemed pretty darn proud of it to boot. He's also shown that he can hop pretty powerfully, but I'm hoping that calms down as he gets acclimated more. When he does it, it only lasts for one or two leaps. Anyways, here's my info...

1. Size of enclosure
18x18x18 Exo Terra

2. # of inhabitants - specifically other frogs and size differences
The COB bunks alone
3. Humidity
77-80%

4. Temperature
Day: 82-85F | Night: 76-79F

5. Water - type - for both misting and soaking dish
Top Fin water conditioner

6. Materials used for substrate
Eco Earth

7. Enclosure set up i.e. plants (live or artificial), wood, bark and other materials.
- How were things prepared prior to being put into the viv.
Artificial plants, Exo Terra waterfall, artificial stone cave hide. Everything was soaked and/or scrubbed in Flukers Super Scrub. Tank walls cleaned with Wipe Out.

8. Main food source
Samurai Pacmanfood with tongs. (Pet store alternated feeding crickets and mealworms daily)

9. Vitamins and calcium? (how often)
Part of food; so far two small marble sized balls every other day (offered daily)

10. Lighting
Two Exo Terra tops (both on for day, one for night) Night bulbs: 1x 15w blue night vision heat, 1x 25w blue night vision heat. Day bulbs in addition to night ones: 1x 25w red party bulb, 1x 25w blue night vision heat

11. What is being used to maintain the temperature of the enclosure
1x Exo Terra digital thermometer | 1x Exo Terra digital combo

12. When is the last time he/she ate
Tonight

13. Have you found poop lately
Not yet (very fresh poop in tank at store)

14. A pic would be helpful including frog and enclosure (any including cell phone pic is fine)
See below...

15. How old is the frog
Guessing 3mo

16. How long have you owned him/her
3 days (joined my crew 8/25)

17. Is the frog wild caught or captive bred
Captive

18. Frog food- how often and if it is diverse, what other feeders are used as treats
See #8

19. How often the frog is handled
Only to move to new home

20. Is the enclosure kept in a high or low traffic area
Low traffic area, I spend a few hours each evening in the room otherwise none of my family use it

21. Describe enclosure maintenance (water changes, cleaning, etc)
Water dish change out before work each morning. Will be doing a substrate refresh each Sunday and a full cleaning monthly

[Mentat]

Hello and welcome to FF! How long is frog from snout to vent (SVL)? If enclosure is too big, sometimes they get stressed and do the hopping & climbing behavior you describe. If it's small. will need a critter keeper type home you can locate inside the enclosure. Hope it calms down soon !

[danfrog]

The blue bulbs might stress your froggy out also since its an albino. Red is usually the recommended. That size enclosure should be for a full grown adult. I would feed nightcrawlers also, they are the best staple food you can get. Use the samurai food more like a weekly or biweekly treat. Get calcium dust with d3, and multi vitamins. Also what your feeding him now might not be enough (might just need some time to adjust). When my frog was your size he was eating a couple big nightcrawlers a night and gut loaded cricket one a week. When you use wipeout cleaning product make sure you rinse the enclosure after you wipe and it drys. You are off to a great start.

[Yarjammer]

Oops, got the acronym wrong; 3" SVL. I'll get a better measurement with a pic when I take him out this Sunday for cleaning.

Thanks for the feedback guys. I didn't realize the blue lighting was bad for the albinos. I thought only the white lights and UVB were bad for them. As far as the enclosure, the store had him in a 5 gallon with all four sides exposed, no plants/cover, white tank lighting, and another Pac tank clearly visible to him with no sides covered next to it. I'm hoping that the ample cover and dim lighting with 3 sides covered will be less stressful than his last home and a suitable size in a short amount of time. I have a 5gal critter carrier for him, but honestly I think he's too big to call that home. Until yesterday morning when he got adventurous, I thought I had successfully shrank the perceived size of the enclosure with plants and structure.

The good news is that he seems to be grasping tong feeding and didnt go all crazy again last night or this morning. He was contently watching me, half buried, while I changed his water this morning. It is also promising that my wife already is in love with him.


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[danfrog]

Well I'm not 100 percent sure about the blue lights. Thats why I said might. I do know that red is the preferred color. Lets see what the others say about blue lights and albinos.

[GrifTheGreat]

No daylight Blue bulbs. They are full spectrum light and will harm the frog. No daylight bulbs of any kind.

[Yarjammer]

Just to be sure I'm understanding you right Grif, blue nighttime heat bulbs are acceptable and blue daytime bulbs are bad for albinos?

Here is what I'm using for the blue bulbs:


Is the red glass party light going to be an issue for daytime use?

[GrifTheGreat]

Just to be sure I'm understanding you right Grif, blue nighttime heat bulbs are acceptable and blue daytime bulbs are bad for albinos?

Here is what I'm using for the blue bulbs:


Is the red glass party light going to be an issue for daytime use?

Yes. Blue night time bulbs are to simulate moonlight not sunlight.

[Yarjammer]

After a week with Masterchief, I have a few questions. The conditions haven't changed from my answers above. I still haven't found poop and he/she has been taking food every other day until last night.

1. Is okay to remove portions of substrate to re-wet them during the weekly touch up cleanings? I've noticed that my Eco earth is starting to dry out a bit and my humidity isn't staying as constant as it used to be even with misting.

2. What is the safest way to locate a buried Pac? I really freaked mine out while looking for poop the other day when my scooper bumped his/her face.

3. If stressed, is it better to forgo a feeding when hiding out than to try and feed? I assume the reason Masterchief hasn't come out for two days is the event in number 2 really bugged him.

4. Is it okay to turn on my bright red lamp during feeding so that I can actually see what is going on? The nighttime blue lamps are so dim that I practically need night vision goggles to tong feed.


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[Hypnotic]

1. Is okay to remove portions of substrate to re-wet them during the weekly touch up cleanings? I've noticed that my Eco earth is starting to dry out a bit and my humidity isn't staying as constant as it used to be even with misting.

Don't remove them, I honestly mist like amazonian rain. I don't have it set to pure mist, more like mist/slight rain. If you take a piece with poop out, just dump it, and rewet the rest.

2. What is the safest way to locate a buried Pac? I really freaked mine out while looking for poop the other day when my scooper bumped his/her face.

Hand digging, that's what I do. You shouldn't need to locate them, they will surface when hungry and if they stay down for a long time and you need to locate them, use your hands carefully.

3. If stressed, is it better to forgo a feeding when hiding out than to try and feed? I assume the reason Masterchief hasn't come out for two days is the event in number 2 really bugged him.

Mine is stressed right now because I moved her to a bigger enclosure, it really depends on the frog, I've offerd her food, she has declined, when she is burrowed I can't dig her up, my male on the otherhand, I dig up nightly to feed him, he doesn't care. Most frogs tend to be grumpy when unburrowed though.
Mine has now missed a feeding, and since she only gets fed twice a week, she missed out on one. It's better then reoffering food again and again and stressing your frog out.

4. Is it okay to turn on my bright red lamp during feeding so that I can actually see what is going on? The nighttime blue lamps are so dim that I practically need night vision goggles to tong feed.

I know what you mean, I use my cellphone flash light on the top of the enclosure. It should be okay to turn your infrared light (infrared doesn't bother frogs!) or another light on. Remember, the enviroment needs to be darker then normal, that doesn't mean you can't use a dim light.

[Yarjammer]

Got a chance to do my first major cleaning today and used the opportunity to give Masterchief a bath. I'm happy to report I managed to coax a poop out as well since I didn't manage to find any in the enclosure. I was amazed at how tame and "relaxed" he/she was during the transfer out and back into the enclosure; no attempts at escape or taking a finger off. I checked for the nuptial pads but I didn't see any however, I did hear 3 croaks that sounded like a duck about a half hour after returning to the enclosure. Not sure if that was a stress croak or male calling since we are having a bout of thunderstorms and heavy rain. A quick measurement yielded a SVL of roughly ~3.25".

Heres a few pics from today: