Frog care while on vacation..?

[Jussy1629]

I'm leaving in less than a week to go camping for 5 days, and I have a couple of questions about the care of my babies.. How can I keep their humidity high enough for them while I'm gone? I have someone coming 3 days after I leave to mist and feed them, which would mean 2 full days of no misting for humidity... Any ideas?

[Kathryn Dorn]

Um. What species do your babies belong to? (For my Cuban Tree Frog, I would have just made sure he had a full, clean water dish and trusted him to soak himself when necessary, but I'm in Florida, so there's not a shortage of humidity in the first place.) I suppose you could set up a fairly deep water dish and point a heat lamp at it, so that the water will evaporate gradually and humidify the cage. If your guys need a more precise humidity level, though, that may not be a good idea.
I just did a quick Internet search and there seem to be a number of automatic misting devices, but I haven't used one, so I can't really vouch for any of them. (Anyone who does have experience with automatic misters, please feel free to chime in!) Still, if you can get any actual person to stop in more frequently to check on your frogs, that may not be a bad idea, if only to make sure that they're okay. (I know it's not always possible - when I was caring for several class-pet frogs, I had to leave them in the classroom over the weekends - but you'll probably feel better knowing that someone's going to be there in case a frog gets ill or otherwise in trouble. All right, that was my entirely subjective opinion, feel free to take or discard it for whatever it's worth...)

[Jussy1629]

I have 2 whites tree frogs. I live in WA state, so humidity is off and on here... I'd buy an automatic mister, but I don't go on vacation more than once every few years and those things are pretty expensive so... Do you think leaving a clean water dish would be enough for these guys?

[UncleChester]

If they couldn't handle a little drop in humidity now and then, they'd get wiped out during the dry season in the wild.

A clean water dish should be fine. Have your caregiver clean it out and refill it when they come in.