Red Eyed Tree Frog Beginner

[BArnold]

Hi,

Red eyes are awesome. I got three back in Feb and I just got two (supposed to be three but one was DOA) on Tuesday. I have one albino, one leutino and three regular, I also have two gray tree frogs that I got as tadpoles and are barely turning into froglets. I am not an expert but I can give some tips that I have found along the way and tell you what I have done so far. I haven't read all the comments but I did read that you were going to do a glass top, red eyes need a lot of ventilation and so a screen top is best. As for keeping in the humidity, what I have done is made the bottom of my tank rocks with water and added a filter that pumps the water up and it trickles down the plants, I also put a little wash cloth towel over the back half of the screen top and that helps keep it in with some ventilation also. I have fake plants suctioned on top of the glass and I have arranged it sort of like a canopy that you would find in a rainforest. Then I have wood (make sure it is not grapewood, I had that at first, it grows a dangerous mold when in wet environments, ghost wood and mopani wood are good) for them to perch on and live plants in the rocks below. As you have probably read you will need a dish for them to soak in, I still need one even though I have water on the bottom because they prefer to use it, idk y. I used to feed their crickets straight into the tank, but a lot of them would swim and burrow into the rocks and start to get weird, so now I do the bowl method where you put them in a glass (or plastic) bowl that they can't climb out of. Occasionally they will hop out, but a couple isn't as difficult to deal with. I had substrate once, I used eco earth coconut fiber. I have a heating pad that I put at the top of the back of the tank, since they are arboreal it makes more sense for it to be up where they will be sleeping, but they don't sleep there anymore, just when they were little. They don't require lighting, but I am going to get a light that will help my plants grow. I just keep them by the window so they get the natural cycle and whatnot. The heater to the room is also there so it helps when the room feels chilly. Humidity, mine stays around 78%, and the temp, stays around between 70 and 80 degrees. This may not be what people say it should be at, but my frogs are happy and growing like weeds, so it works for them. For the background I have the regular exo terra styrofoam background, but once my new frogs come out of QT and go with the others I hope to practice some cork bark backgrounds and do something cool with some plants and moss in it. There are YouTube videos of some setups that I have gotten some ideas from, since you have some experience with fish, setting up a frog tank will probably be pretty fun. As for the fogger, I feel like that is more a dart frog thing, They look cool and keep humidity but I think the monsoon one would probably be more natural for the tree frogs. Either probably work. I didn't want to spend the money on it so I made the makeshift waterfall trickle system that I have. As for water I put tap water in gallon jugs and let it sit for at least a day to dechlorinate it, even with seven frogs I don't go through it that fast except when I change the water bottom (I usually empty 50% every week or two using the tube connected to the pump). I also use it to fill their water dish and to mist. People say to use distilled water to mist to avoid water marks on the glass, probably a good idea, but I don't notice a problem, I clean the glass with a wet paper towel whenever I see it getting dirty. I am not sure if I covered everything. Hope it all works out! My red eyes have so much personality, you will love them.

Bridgett

[frogeyes]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Sorry I haven't been replying. I've been busy working on the enclosure. I decided to go with the "great stuff" style background as well as a false bottom. Let me know what you think. I plan on using the Repti-Fogger which will fog through 3 different spots custom built into the background. Tank is a 55 gallon standard.

[jarteta97]

Wow! you really jumped into it, that looks awesome. I just finished putting the great stuff on mine, so I'm hoping it turns out good. Just out of curiosity, did you mix sphagnum moss with the eco earth?

[frogeyes]

Wow! you really jumped into it, that looks awesome. I just finished putting the great stuff on mine, so I'm hoping it turns out good. Just out of curiosity, did you mix sphagnum moss with the eco earth?

Thanks, I appreciate it. Would love to see your build. It's actually Exo-Terra forest moss (I may use sphagnum on the bottom, on top of eco-earth). I didn't mix them together, but rather placed the forest moss on afterwards.

[DigitalPunk]

Frogeyes,

The tank looks great! You have gotten some good advice from other Red Eye keepers so I won't retread things that have been suggested.

You won't regret going with a false bottom - Even if you decide to flood most of it with water to help with the humidity. False bottoms are the way to do in my opinion.

For soil - I saw where you were (at least at the time of the posting) were looking at doing ecoearth. I would recommend you use ABG mix or the NEHERP custom mix soil. It will be much better for the real plants you plant into it and will also be great for a springtail colony to live in. Springs are great with Red eyes. The reds don't feed on them, but the springs will eat any frog poop that lands on the bottom, any dead feeder insects, and decaying plant life. The Springs waist is great nutrients for the plants in the soil. It in a way create a little self sustaining eco system at the soil level . Just buy a spring culture and dump them straight into the soil and they will take care of the rest

As for the glass top vs screened. I find it best to have 50 - 75% of the top covered with glass. It helps lock in humidity and still allow for ample ventilation.

I have an automatic mister and used it for several months, but have since removed it and now I hand mist all my tanks. I just felt like the auto mister was disconnecting me from a lot of the hands on time with the frogs and the tank. Was to easy to just feed them and not look back with the auto mister going.

They will love the 55G tank and all the space. They love to be up off the substrate so 21" hight is great for them.

The fogger is going to be great for helping to control the humidity. You could even look at connecting it to a ZooMed HydroTherm and let that turn the fogger on and off as needed to maintain proper humidity. As with any automatic fogger or mister. You want to make sure it isn't running so much it swamps out the substrate, but the false bottom will help you avoid that if you are checking it regularly. Are you going to install a way to access the False Bottom so you can siphon out excess water if needed?

[frogeyes]

Frogeyes,

The tank looks great! You have gotten some good advice from other Red Eye keepers so I won't retread things that have been suggested.

You won't regret going with a false bottom - Even if you decide to flood most of it with water to help with the humidity. False bottoms are the way to do in my opinion.

For soil - I saw where you were (at least at the time of the posting) were looking at doing ecoearth. I would recommend you use ABG mix or the NEHERP custom mix soil. It will be much better for the real plants you plant into it and will also be great for a springtail colony to live in. Springs are great with Red eyes. The reds don't feed on them, but the springs will eat any frog poop that lands on the bottom, any dead feeder insects, and decaying plant life. The Springs waist is great nutrients for the plants in the soil. It in a way create a little self sustaining eco system at the soil level . Just buy a spring culture and dump them straight into the soil and they will take care of the rest

As for the glass top vs screened. I find it best to have 50 - 75% of the top covered with glass. It helps lock in humidity and still allow for ample ventilation.

I have an automatic mister and used it for several months, but have since removed it and now I hand mist all my tanks. I just felt like the auto mister was disconnecting me from a lot of the hands on time with the frogs and the tank. Was to easy to just feed them and not look back with the auto mister going.

They will love the 55G tank and all the space. They love to be up off the substrate so 21" hight is great for them.

The fogger is going to be great for helping to control the humidity. You could even look at connecting it to a ZooMed HydroTherm and let that turn the fogger on and off as needed to maintain proper humidity. As with any automatic fogger or mister. You want to make sure it isn't running so much it swamps out the substrate, but the false bottom will help you avoid that if you are checking it regularly. Are you going to install a way to access the False Bottom so you can siphon out excess water if needed?

Thanks for the information Paul!

I will definitely look into the springtails and ABG mix, and possibly the hydrotherm down the line. On top of the ABG ill put some Sphagnum moss, and maybe a bit of leaf litter. For the top, would eggcrate be okay to use (the top of the tank)? At least for now? I am actually using a canister filter to pull water from the false bottom, and then flow back in on the right side of the tank.

Do you think I need anything inside of the false bottom other than water? I don't want to clog where the canister filter pulls the water through.

[DigitalPunk]

nah just the water is fine. I don't put anything in my false bottoms other than water and Air.

You will want to cut some notches in the bottoms of your PVC supports. Water will drain from the soil down into them and if there is no way out you will end up with stagnant nasty water in the supports, 2 small v cuts is enough.

The Sphagnum above the soil is amazing help with the humidity as well as keeping your frogs clean when they venture the to substrate.

If you wrapped the egg crate in fiberglass screening that would be fine. I would be worried about the frogs escaping through the egg crate if it wasn't wrapped in something. A roll of fiberglass screen at a Home Depot or Lowes is very very cheap. You might even be able to get some glass cut for the top (cut it small to leave room for some ventilation) cheaper than you can buy the egg crate for. You don't need anything super thick. Though for your size of tank (unless it has a brace running across the middle on the top) you may want to go with 1/4' glass just to make sure it doesn't flex to much.

I would do the cut glass and then the egg crate wrapped in screening for the top. You will need to be able to open the top to feed them and clean the tank so having some or all of it removable will be key.

[frogeyes]

nah just the water is fine. I don't put anything in my false bottoms other than water and Air.

You will want to cut some notches in the bottoms of your PVC supports. Water will drain from the soil down into them and if there is no way out you will end up with stagnant nasty water in the supports, 2 small v cuts is enough.

The Sphagnum above the soil is amazing help with the humidity as well as keeping your frogs clean when they venture the to substrate.

If you wrapped the egg crate in fiberglass screening that would be fine. I would be worried about the frogs escaping through the egg crate if it wasn't wrapped in something. A roll of fiberglass screen at a Home Depot or Lowes is very very cheap. You might even be able to get some glass cut for the top (cut it small to leave room for some ventilation) cheaper than you can buy the egg crate for. You don't need anything super thick. Though for your size of tank (unless it has a brace running across the middle on the top) you may want to go with 1/4' glass just to make sure it doesn't flex to much.

I would do the cut glass and then the egg crate wrapped in screening for the top. You will need to be able to open the top to feed them and clean the tank so having some or all of it removable will be key.

Ok thanks, I'll figure something out for the top. I just figured I had some leftover eggcrate to use.

I actually already cut notches in the PVC supports. There are 4 notches per support.

Thanks again!


Another question...

Are there any types of plants that I cannot use? Any that you recommend?

I also like drooping plants... are there any you can recommend?