Terrarium advice needed

[Julia]

It is possible to ship plant material cross border, but it's expensive. She said in another post $60 to ship $10 worth of leaves:

http://www.frogforum.net/vivarium-te...er-canada.html

Hardly seems worth paying $70 for dead leaves when I can literally seen forests from my bedroom window. I read about boiling the oak leaves, letting them cool, and then adding them to enclosure. Do they have to be dead leaves or can I use freshly picked ones?

[Kurt]

Hardly seems worth paying $70 for dead leaves

Thats not so bad. What is the like $5 American?

I read about boiling the oak leaves, letting them cool, and then adding them to enclosure. Do they have to be dead leaves or can I use freshly picked ones?

Dead.

[Julia]

Okay so I spent all afternoon going from store to store trying to get everything i need to get going on my new terrarium project.

The flower nursery was extremely unhelpful. I made a list of recommended plants for frog terrariums that I found online from various sources. Unfortunately I made my list too large, and when it came time to recognize the plants from their names I was lost. I ended up choosing plants that looked sturdy and their description/care seemed to fit into my terrarium conditions. I ended up with:
Dieffenbachia
Philodendron
Fern
and two Tillandsia air plants.

Does anyone foresee any problems with these plant choices?

Second problem of the day was find LECA. I went to a Hydroponic store, two pet stores and a nursery and NONE of them had it. I remember reading online that I can use pea gravel instead of LECA...as long as the water can pass through I dont think it should make a huge difference? Please correct me if im wrong...

Third question, I bought a T5 fluorescent light to help the plants grow. Is this safe for my tree frogs?

I apologize about all the questions, I just want to make sure I do it all the right way. TY in advance!

[UncleChester]

Second problem of the day was find LECA. I went to a Hydroponic store, two pet stores and a nursery and NONE of them had it. I remember reading online that I can use pea gravel instead of LECA...as long as the water can pass through I dont think it should make a huge difference? Please correct me if im wrong...

LECA is lighter than gravel and inert. I have also read that pea gravel can be used as an alternate. I'm new to this and haven't tried either.

As for where to get LECA, you could try Home Depot, the one near me said they had a big display of it last year, but none this year. I'm not sure if it's a nationwide thing to not carry it. ebay as you pointed out in another thread (of course you know this, just wanted to say thanks! ). There's this place:

hydroponic supplies and equipment for hydroponic grow systems : Canadian Wholesale Hydroponics. 1 (877) 226-4769

has 50L bags for $66 including shipping. In your searching, try "Hydroton", I've seen it under this label at a few other greenhouse supply places in Canada (none near me of course!).

[Julia]

Finally finished....10 min after putting my frogs in their new tank they all started croaking! I think thats a good sign, now I just hope they dont destroy it. Here is a link to a video of the tank,
YouTube - Whites Tree Frog Terrarium

[Ebony]

Very cool Julia, Definitely a good sign if they are croaking. Well done.

[Tropicok]

Very, very nice....love the pic of frog sitting and enjoying the decor of his new home.

[Julia]

Thats not so bad. What is the like $5 American?

Lol! Close...maybe $10 American?

[Kurt]

I am glad you apprieciated my sense of humor.

[JimO]

I'm not sure whether you want to buy a packaged waterfall set or make your own. I've made several by creating a false bottom to accommodate a pump and allow for some water storage capacity. Then I run tubing from the pump and up through the substrate and through a piece of cork bark (after cutting an appropriate hole). I secure the tubing with silicon glue and then build up around the cork bark with rocks, substrate, sphagnum moss, etc. I usually have a pebble lined pool at the bottom of the waterfall. The circulation keeps the water oxygenated so it doesn't get stagnate.

Actually, I sell a lot of leaves in bulk quantities, but shipping to Canada is a problem. If you look for leaves in your area, look for thick leaves that won't break down too fast. If you want to sterilize them, put them in boiling water for a few minutes and then dry them out. If they can't stand up to that treatment, they probably won't last long in the vivarium.