I have inherited one red eyed tree frog in a terrarium with 2 artificial plants and a styrofoam "wall" at the back. What is the best way to clean the terrarium? Should I take the frog out? I understand that they should be handled rarely, but I want to make sure that the tank is clean.
Hi SiS, i would think to take all the decorations out if the frog
is sleeping on the glass and wipe the glass with warm dechlorinated water
to get water stains and poop stains out, try not to disturb the frog as much
as possible. If the frog is sleeping on any decor, i would leave all decor items
in the tank and wipe the glass the same way.
"A Righteous man cares for his animals" - Proverbs 12:10
1.0.0 Correlophus cilliatus
2.1.0 Bombina orientalis
0.1.0 Ambystoma mexicanum
0.0.1 Ceratophrys cranwelli
1.0.0 Litoria caerulea
1.1.0 Dendrobates auratus "Nicaraguan"
0.0.2 Dendrobates tinctorius "Azureus"
the handling of frogs....
the safest advice is don't touch, do not disturb.
that being said, frogs(like other critters) that are around/handled by humans since early on and semi-regularly are not very stressed by it. My Big girl Stitch and older boys Eric and Tyler were in petco for months before I got them, hardly handled, hid in back, only ever had to tolerate kids tapping the glass, they will skip eating for one night after handling or tank cleaning. my others that I've had since they were penny sized are used to me and dont even open their eyes/wake-up if I peel the leaf out from under them onto my hand. I also find that giving them a good misting around the night of rain or snow helps kick their mindset to breeding instead of dwelling on the weird looking tree janitor that cleaned their room.
Do your best to not handle your frog. I actually started leaving my frogs in the tank undisturbed and found it to be quite effective. CLEAN AROUND YOUR FROG. If you NEED to remove the frog for ANY reason...
Where nitrile surgical gloves and make sure they are wet. Prior to putting on the gloves wash your hands with non-sented anti-bacterial soap. I use DIAL original (orange color). Your hands are abrasive to the frogs skin and can harm the frog leaving (invisible to human eye) abrasive tears in the frogs belly giving bacteria a chance to enter the underlying skin layers.
Every 3-4 days I clean out all the POOPS / Dead crickets from the enclosures while working around the frogs.
Once a month a do a full breakdown (removal of the frogs in quarantine tank) temporarily and Use dial Antibacterial soap and scrub the entire enclosure top to bottom. Haven't had a problem since I started doing that. I also use antibacterial soap DAILY when I clean the water dish out. Every morning I wake up to POOPS and skin layers in my water dish. Rinse everything thuroughly to get any soap residue off and rinse with dechlorinated water. This system works great for me since I used potted plants in my tanks and washcloths or paper towels as my substrate instead of soil/moss to keep bacteria levels to a minimum. Washcloths hold the moisture in better than the paper towels. Lynn uses a Fleece substrate which has proven effective as well and washable =). Hope this helps.
On a side not, I recommend getting another 'friend' for your frog (or 2). They are very social creatures.
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