New Terrarium Project: Running creek

[ukfan1976]

Hey all!

I purchased my new ExoTerra Terrarium (24x18x18) today and using the advice of a really cool guy at Pet Kingdom in San Diego I set up a "Running Creek" environment for my new Azureus. I've transplanted the soil from my old terrarium to hopefully transplant their colony into my new enclosure, added a few plants, and now just waiting about 24 hours for the water (dechlorinated tap) to circulate and warm up before i add my little guy. (He's super excited I can tell). The pool is pretty small and I made sure I sloped the sides so he can easily get in and out. I know he's more terrestrial/arboreal, but the water feature is cool and I think he'll enjoy it.

Does anyone see anything concerning? I plan on adding moss once it gets good and reconstituted. If the little guy likes it i'll probably get him a partner in crime I also plan on adding more plants to give him additional cover, but for purposes of the video I left it mostly open so I could get a good shot. Take a look at my short video of the new setup and let me know what you think!

Thanks!

[Mentat]

From video it appears the soil (dark substrate) is either at or very close to water level. If water logged you will have a bacterial growth leading to swamp conditions in there. How did you built the drainage level and what is the plan to remove excess water out.

My recommendation would be to run any new vivarium for 4 weeks letting it cycle and solving any issues before moving frogs in. Your janitorial population needs a chance to grow out and colonize the substrate. A water feature will normally take a full month to cycle the ammonia and nitrites into nitrates. You can half that if using a seeder like Seachem Stability; but it's not going to be ready in a couple days.

Did you blocked the back channels/holes in that ExoTerra foam background? Asking because if not, they will become food and even frog accessible. What parameters are you holding now for temperature and humidity? Hope the information and questions help out and prevents problems that could affect frogs later.

[ukfan1976]

From video it appears the soil (dark substrate) is either at or very close to water level. If water logged you will have a bacterial growth leading to swamp conditions in there. How did you built the drainage level and what is the plan to remove excess water out.

My recommendation would be to run any new vivarium for 4 weeks letting it cycle and solving any issues before moving frogs in. Your janitorial population needs a chance to grow out and colonize the substrate. A water feature will normally take a full month to cycle the ammonia and nitrites into nitrates. You can half that if using a seeder like Seachem Stability; but it's not going to be ready in a couple days.

Did you blocked the back channels/holes in that ExoTerra foam background? Asking because if not, they will become food and even frog accessible. What parameters are you holding now for temperature and humidity? Hope the information and questions help out and prevents problems that could affect frogs later.

Thanks for the reply, Carlos!

The soil is actually quite a bit higher than the water level (maybe 3-4"). It does slope down towards the water but theres a deep layer of stone underneath it. The creek is basically running through a valley in the middle so the soil surrounding should drain ok. It was hard to tell that there was any slope at all because I filmed it from above. I followed the pet shop guys advice pretty close so I'm hoping I don't run into any swampy problems.

I thought about letting the tank cycle also. I'm currently cycling a freshwater shrimp tank and adding Biozyme and checking ammonia/nitrite levels regularly, sounds like I may need to do this with the terrarium as well. As tiny as the frog is i can't imagine ammonia levels would build up to toxic levels too quickly before the beneficial bacteria get established but i'll check it out with my test kit. I agree letting it cycle for a little bit may be a good idea. I'll let the little guy chill out in his old enclosure for now.

I'm planning on blocking the channels on the top when I install the lid, I have the pump wiring running up the channel on the right currently. The bottom of the foam wall is covered with anywhere between 3-6" of stone and soil. A little less in the pool but I have the pump right up against where the channel is, so I think it'd be pretty difficult for frog to get behind it, but i'll double check to make sure. It fit pretty snug against the back so hoping there won't be any issues with it.

For temperature I plan on just having it room temp. I'm stationed here in Southern California and theres rarely any big swings in temp. Sunny and 70s most days As for humidity I have a reptifogger that I am planning on using and the pet shop gave me sheets of transparency plastic (the kind the teachers used when I was a kid for the overhead projector) to put over the screens keep the humidity in. The guy I bought the frog from used the fogger during the day and off at nite and I'm planning on doing the same with a timer. I'm hoping the isopods like the new setup too. A lot of the soil you can see in the video is soil from the old terrarium so theres quite a bit of isopod action going on in there.

Thanks again for the advice!

[ukfan1976]

Here's a better quality version. I had some issues uploading it from my phone last nite so hopefully this shows it a bit more detail. Same vid, just higher res.

[Happy Frog]

I'm not a big fan of water features, that's my personal preference, but I am curious as to how that stream was created. It does look good.

I'm like Carlos and will say it's best to cycle a new vivarium for at least 4 weeks. I will let mine grow in for at least six weeks. Besides letting the foliage grow, it also gives you the chance to "fine tune" the landscaping, take notes on the temperature and humidity, and save up for the frogs and other things.

I have to admit something - I have a Exo Terra 18x18x24 that houses a trio of D. Leucomela and I never sealed up the back channels on the styrofoam background. In the winter all three of them climb into the channels and only come out in the morning when they are hungry. They like to stay back in the channels till spring time and then come out into the enclosure. When they feel like hiding they'll utilize the cork tubes, leaf litter, and other parts of the vivarium. That's one thing your tank is missing, leaf litter. I see a lot of beginner's tank that don't have leaf litter. Leaf litter is very important to the frogs. Leaf litter helps grow springtails and Isopods, gives frogs a hiding place, and is used as a surface to lay eggs; my pair of D. tinctorious azureus lay a lot of their clutches on magnolia leaves and the leaves of living plants.

It's all a learning experience so if you ever decide to start another vivarium you can learn from all this and take your time and build it up The right way.

[ukfan1976]

I'm not a big fan of water features, that's my personal preference, but I am curious as to how that stream was created. It does look good.

I'm like Carlos and will say it's best to cycle a new vivarium for at least 4 weeks. I will let mine grow in for at least six weeks. Besides letting the foliage grow, it also gives you the chance to "fine tune" the landscaping, take notes on the temperature and humidity, and save up for the frogs and other things.

I have to admit something - I have a Exo Terra 18x18x24 that houses a trio of D. Leucomela and I never sealed up the back channels on the styrofoam background. In the winter all three of them climb into the channels and only come out in the morning when they are hungry. They like to stay back in the channels till spring time and then come out into the enclosure. When they feel like hiding they'll utilize the cork tubes, leaf litter, and other parts of the vivarium. That's one thing your tank is missing, leaf litter. I see a lot of beginner's tank that don't have leaf litter. Leaf litter is very important to the frogs. Leaf litter helps grow springtails and Isopods, gives frogs a hiding place, and is used as a surface to lay eggs; my pair of D. tinctorious azureus lay a lot of their clutches on magnolia leaves and the leaves of living plants.

It's all a learning experience so if you ever decide to start another vivarium you can learn from all this and take your time and build it up The right way.

Bryan

Thank you for the reply! I created the stream using a small pump i got at the pet shop for like $20, a thick garbage bag to line the channel only, and some flat rocks and coarser aquarium gravel as the substrate. I ran the tubing from the pump under the soil up to the head of the stream and covered with rock/soil. I was careful to only line the stream channel with the garbage bag so not to affect drainage of the surrounding soil in the rest of the vivarium. Its hard to tell from my video but there is a slope up from the pool to the head of the stream and I made sure the surrounding soil was above the stream so there shouldn't be any major drainage issues with the soil. Was super easy, took me about 2 hours total to set up the whole thing.

After reading the feedback I've received so far I'm super scared to add the little guy to the vivarium until it cycles. I am currently cycling a freshwater shrimp tank (gonna raise some red cherry shrimp) so I have the necessary testing supplies to check the progress of the cycle.

I like the idea of leaf litter. If it'll help the isopod colony i'll definitely add some.

I'm definitely on a learning curve here so any advice/constructive criticism is more than welcome.