Hi everyone,

There was a nice sized tank lying at the back of my brothers new house so I've nicked it and have started turning it into a painted reed frog home for my nephew. I can find much info on reed frog (African painted) tanks so any advice will be gratefully received. I'm in the middle of making the waterfall and rocks out of styrofoam/kaylite and expanding foam.. polyurethane.. is this the correct stuff to use? I have seen others use it in their how to build tutorials online but I really want to make sure its not going to poison them. I plan to cover all with grout, acrylic paint then I have to seal it with something but I'm not sure what to use. I'm sure varnish is not the right thing, so what do I use? The local pet shop has florescent tube grow lights which help plants in aquariums grow.. will this work for the frog tank? Also I want to put in night lighting so they can be watched while active, but I need a light that they cant see. Was thinking of putting in blue leds.. can frogs see blue light? Luckily as these frogs occur naturally here I don't have to bother with heating. The next issue is that meal worms, flightless fruitflies and crickets cannot just be bought from a store in Zimbabwe. I can see I'm going to have to get creative. Also we don't get springtails here in Zim, or that I know of, but we do get pillbugs. which are the same size and do the same thing as springtails.. we actually call these silverfish here but I guess they arent the same thing exactly. Does anyone know if they will be ok to have in the tank instead? All feedback from you experienced viv builders would be great thanks