Noob In Need of a Frog!

[huey75]

Z

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[Edisons 10K]

So I love Craigslist, lol. I picked up four tanks (3 ten gallons, 1 five gallon) with lids and in good shape for $25. Awesome. However, they look like they've probably been in the guy's garage or shed for about five years. I got all the dust and cobwebs and everything cleaned out using just plain water since everything says not to use cleaners on the tanks, but I didn't know if there was something I could use as a general disinfectant of some sort? They were previously used to house geckos and a tarantula. I'm aiming to pick up two frogs this Saturday at Repticon, so tips on that would be appreciated before then if possible. Thanks!

[GrifTheGreat]

So I love Craigslist, lol. I picked up four tanks (3 ten gallons, 1 five gallon) with lids and in good shape for $25. Awesome. However, they look like they've probably been in the guy's garage or shed for about five years. I got all the dust and cobwebs and everything cleaned out using just plain water since everything says not to use cleaners on the tanks, but I didn't know if there was something I could use as a general disinfectant of some sort? They were previously used to house geckos and a tarantula. I'm aiming to pick up two frogs this Saturday at Repticon, so tips on that would be appreciated before then if possible. Thanks!

You can use a 10% bleach to water solution to disinfect them. Just be sure to rinse them really well and dry them. Make sure no bleach fumes remain. You can also buy a great product made by Zoo Med called Wipe Out 1. You can also use white vineger which also has to be rinsed well and no odor to remain.

[Edisons 10K]

Thank you, Grif. Always so quick with the advice. I love it. Can I ask a quick question on dechlorination? Is it better to get something from the store for that, or I've seen lots of sites that say to either just leave the water out in the sun for awhile or boil it?

[GrifTheGreat]

Thank you, Grif. Always so quick with the advice. I love it. Can I ask a quick question on dechlorination? Is it better to get something from the store for that, or I've seen lots of sites that say to either just leave the water out in the sun for awhile or boil it?

Letting it set for 48 hours will allow chlorine to evaporate, BUT chlorimines do not leave the water nor do heavy metals. It is best to buy a dechlorinating agent like ReptiSafe by Zoo Med or Prime by Seachem.

[huey75]

You can boil it but the bottle you get from the pet store for dechlorantion $10 for a bottle that will last forever well $10

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[GrifTheGreat]

You can boil it but the bottle you get from the pet store for dechlorantion $10 for a bottle that will last forever well $10

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Boiling also does not remove Chlorimines or heavy metals.

[huey75]

Sorry Griff I was misinformed I was told boiling purified water I've never done it because it's so much easier to a couple drops of reptisafe

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[GrifTheGreat]

Sorry Griff I was misinformed I was told boiling purified water I've never done it because it's so much easier to a couple drops of reptisafe

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You could boil purified water. It only contains chlorine.

[Edisons 10K]

Lol, so consensus says Reptisafe is probably the best way to go. Noted. My tanks are all cleaned and disinfected and super rinsed and dried out. Fingers crossed that tomorrow I find my frogs! If nothing else I'll at least be able to pick up everything I need from the con and chat with Mike and the folks at LLL about the babies and anything else I may need to know. I'll post pics if I have a successful frog-purchasing run.

[Kaleen]

I've been silently keeping up with this thread, and excited to see how everything comes together. Good luck tomorrow, I hope you're able to find an awesome frog or two.

-Kaleen

[Edisons 10K]

Success! I wanted Ornates, but alas, the con didn't have any. Buuuut, Mike was selling gorgeous Cranwellis at two for $30. Can't beat that! His frogs are awesome! He's younger than I was expecting, which I thought was funny, lol.

Anyway, I chose two that were slightly more different from each other than I had originally planned, but they look similar enough that I don't think anyone will notice the difference on screen. It's not like I'm going to be using them all the time. No one's going to remember what spots were exactly where between episodes. I thought being able to tell them apart for myself was important, lol.

So, my new friends, I present you Georgie:


And Mason:


Mason's brighter than he looks in the pics. The angle of the light in his tank wasn't quite as good as that for Georgie's. George measures in at about 1 1/4 inches right now, and Mason is a little smaller at 1 1/8. I'm hoping that Mason is a boy and Georgie is a girl, but we'll see when they get older. Either way, I lurve them already! So cute!!!

[GrifTheGreat]

Well people might notice the size difference. Females are larger than males so if you have a pair someone will notice. There is about an inch or more difference between the genders.

Both of these frogs are quite nice. Good choices.

[DesertHeat]

Good looking frogs! I hope you post a link to the result of your filming!

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[Edisons 10K]

Well people might notice the size difference. Females are larger than males so if you have a pair someone will notice. There is about an inch or more difference between the genders.

Both of these frogs are quite nice. Good choices.

They wouldn't ever be on screen at the same time, and mostly I plan on keeping them in the enclosure for their scenes. Even if one turns out to be drastically larger than the other, I can easily play with camera angles to rectify that. Actually, even if the coloring or patterns turn out super different I can probably edit that in post via CG, now that I think about it. It shouldn't really be that much of an issue to make people believe that I'm using the same frog for every scene. Only you experts will be able to tell.

Good looking frogs! I hope you post a link to the result of your filming!

Thanks! I quite like them! I'm already seeing the personality differences. Mason likes to hang out in his water dish, which is funny to me because the character I named him after not only can't swim, but had an incident in an episode of the show where he was in the water and got struck by lightning, lol! He is a bit more hyper, though, which actually does fit that character quite nicely. Georgie, on the other hand, seems to be pretty chill from what I can tell, which is very true to the character I named her after. She didn't seem nearly as rattled by the whole transport home and subsequent adjustment to her new tank thing as Mason did. If they stay this way I'm thinking Georgie will be the one that can maybe be handled on those rare occasions, and Mason will be the one filmed from in his enclosure who may actually do more than just sit there looking pretty for the camera, lol.

But, yeah, we've got some months of growing to do before either of them are ready to be big stars. That gives me more than enough time to get my locations and crew and actors nailed down more securely, plus getting any changes in the scripts blocked out. I'm hoping to shoot the promo video for the crowd sourcing campaign maybe in late Februaruy/March (this will consist of the actors running around doing exciting things in the woods, mostly, so the frogs may have like a blip of a shot if even that as they'll still be too young at that time), then I can get going on the first season shortly after that. There'll definitely be links for you guys as they go live.

[Edisons 10K]

So we made it through the night, which I was clearly very paranoid about since I'm wide awake at 5:30 in the morning for no other reason than to get up and check on my babies, lol. I'm concerned about the heat inside the tanks, though. I have ten gallon tanks, on which I stuck a 10-20 gallon Zoo Med Reptitherm heater on the side (following the provided instructions for best placement location). The humidity levels inside the tanks stayed where they needed to be all night, but the heat never seemed to rise above 72 degrees F. Granted the temp in my room probably dropped to about 55-57, so hoorah that we held in the 70's, but doesn't it need to be in the high 70's to low 80's range for these guys to be happy? Should I try sticking another pad on the tank, or maybe get a heat lamp? Granted right now I'm not worried about them freezing to death because the external temps haven't dropped too drastically yet, but even in Los Angeles the night temps in Dec - Feb can get down to freezing. I don't have central heating in the loft, so while our individual little room heaters keep us from becoming human icicles, I want to make absolutely that my frogs stay warm, too!

[GrifTheGreat]

You will need to raise the ambient room temp with a space heater or buy a Fluker's (5.5" clamp lamp with dimmer switch. Use incandescent bulbs no higher than 50 watts.

Have you covered 3/4 of the lid with plastic wrap?

[Edisons 10K]

Not plastic wrap, but I did cover most of the top and three sides with a bath towel just for the hope of trapping in some of the heat. Didn't seem to make a difference. The lid is one of those that's 2/3 plastic with slits in it, 1/3 wire mesh down the center for the tube lights, and some round lids I can screw off to dump crickets into. It's the one that came with the tank, so I'm sure I can go get a different one if I need to. Do they make just straight heat bulbs for the tube lighting? Or do those only come in clamp lights?
*Edit - Nevermind. I just answered my own question on the tube lighting via Googling, lol. Seems a heat bulb isn't really an option for those, only different types of lighting.

In regards to the room as a whole, my bedroom is oddly huge for an LA loft space. Heating the entire thing would be difficult enough as is, but I have a hatch in the ceiling that gives me roof access. The lid to the hatch is just a metal thing that doesn't seal shut, so even closed it allows for a lot of air to escape. The space heater works just fine for me when I keep it up close to my bed because it'll definitely heat the space around where I'm sleeping, but I don't think it'll accurately reach the frogs' space (at least not without paying both my arms and legs on the electricity bill, lol!). I mean, it never drops to freezing or anything inside even during the coldest winter nights, but when it gets super cold I won't be able to raise the full room temperature any higher than it is right now.

...Pondering...I'm getting a couple long tables from a roomie of mine that's moving out. I've got a little tiny space heater that I could maybe just place up on the table with the tanks. It'll heat the air just around that spot in the room. If I plug that thing into my tank thermostat and keep it at a low setting then maybe it could work.

[GrifTheGreat]

Well you MUST maintain proper temps or the frogs will eventually become ill and die. Their Kidneys and Lymphearts will suffer damage. You will not be able to place the space heater pointed at the tanks or their will be to much heat buildup inside the tank. Try using a heat lamp and see if that helps, but you might want an entirely metal lid as well.

Hopefully you can solve this problem quickly. They must have temps from 78° to 82° to remain healthy. If kept at anything lower for extended periods their will be health problem.

[reptileszz]

What if you could somehow heat a much larger box of some sort and put the smaller enclosures inside that, also with heat tape on the back or side? I'm thinking a large fish tank such as a 55 gallon. 75 would be better. You could heat the 75 gallon with a ceramic heat emmitter from the top in the center, cover most of the top with tin foil or saran wrap, put the smaller enclosures inside also with supplemental heat (that I think you would still need. Perhaps the background temp in the 75 gallon would come up to like 70 and then you would be dealing with a "normal" ambient temperature.

Good luck,
Carole