Time to start...

[LisaGarcia]

Today we went to Repticon in Baltimore! Saw everything, got to see and touch all the plants. Saw what we needed to see, ask a bunch of questions and were able to walk away with nothing but a pretzel and a goodie bag! (I am somehow proud of that) There WAS this gorgeous female blue wtf but she wasn't for sale. The guy DID let me hold her! I guess it was good he wouldn't part with her, I would have paid STUPID money for her. We DID stop at home depot on the way home. We now have 2 egg crates, 4 2' long 2" dia pipes, 100% GE silicone and a roll of screen! We have a ton of zip ties already so we were good in that dept. I will take pictures as I go along and post them here as I go. I am still trying to find the best place to get my wtf's once we are ready. I know the petco here has them but I worry since reading that one post about someone getting them from there and they were sick. (I don't want to buy sick frogs)..

[Mentat]

Can't believe you walked out of Repticon empty handed . If thinking about Petco White's; talk to local store manager and ask if he can order you some. Tell them to contact you upon arrival and have them keep frogs in shipping containers. That way frogs will not come into contact with anything at store. Once home, put them in quarantine for a month and do 2 fecals 2 weeks apart. Then if clear, introduce them to enclosure and you are enjoy .

[LisaGarcia]

I can't believe it either! Hubby even offered to buy something. Paid the OUTRAGEOUS atm fee to pull out money and everything! I just was not happy with the quality of the WTF's the ONE guy had. He had some amazing snakes but that is a whole different issue. We even tossed around the idea of converting our old tank over for a pixie frog. A table had some really nice babies! I was going to pick up some ABG mix and some hydroballs from the guy with the blue wtf but it's a little too far out for that at this moment. I really wanted this brom that the exo-terra table was selling but again, where would I be able to keep it so my plant killing cat wouldn't get to it? I don't have a room that is warm enough. I didn't want to spend $12 on a plant that would end up dying on me. I would have felt horrible! I have enough plants out in our sun room hiding from the cat as it is. In the winter the poor things are stuffed into one of the spare bedrooms (I need to get a rack for them to sit on this winter...) The cork bark and the other wood was great but just no quite what I am seeing in my head. I am holding out for "that" one center piece.

There are more Reptile shows popping up all around us. There is one that happens about an hour south of us, one 2 hours south and then the Baltimore one (2 hours north). If we get hard pressed we can drive to the one in Raleigh too. My cousin lives there and we can always take the dogs and crash at his place. (He would LOVE that)
I was a little disappointed. I thought there would be a lot more frogs. I know the darts are HUGE but I really thought there would be a lot more variety. I was looking forward to possibly seeing the morphs of the wtf's (snowflake, honeyed blue eye, etc) but it looked like wtf's just are not the frog to have. Sad (to me anyways) They are great frogs. (yea, I'm weird, I love the chubby ones.) I did hear from Josh's Frogs that they are working on breeding their wtf's so they might have some come spring. I can hope.

Can you (or anyone) reccomend a good water pump? I have found a few that will work for what we are trying to do but I just want to make sure I am on the right track. I know head height is important but the water flow part, not sure how to figure that one out just yet. I like the adjustable flow option. Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

The rio 1000 pump Rio Taam Plus Water Pumps | 1700 & 1100 & 1000 & 600 & 200 & 90
Aquatop NP-306 Aquarium AquaTop Submersible Pump NP-306

[deranged chipmunk]

the best thing about shows is just grabbing what you know you will (or in my case MIGHT LOL) need down the road!! but then again, i am a pack rat. i still have 6 big bins of supplies i have yet to go through. i think one bin is just pumps and powerheads lol

sadly, white's lost their trendiness when they became "beginner frogs". the blue phase had some popularity for a time, but you don't hear much about them ever since all the new dart morphs have hit the market. check LLL reptile. i remember seeing white's on their site a while back. and you know they are housed in much better conditions than petco or petsmart.

as far as the pump, how high are you planning on making your water feature? and how much water volume (guesstimate is good) are you working with?

[deranged chipmunk]

just saw on facebook that michael novy of rainforest junkies has white's. $25/frog

[jarteta97]

That's a steal! I would jump on that if I were you

[LisaGarcia]

http://i1376.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1411303786

Here is the tank

http://i1376.photobucket.com/albums/...psxnfxb4wd.jpg

Is this silicone safe for gluing the pipe to the bottom of the glass for the false bottom?

http://i1376.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1411303802

The bamboo that was cut and is drying (That is all one baboo!)


I will get ahold of rainforest junkies once I am at that stage to get the wtf's. Hopefully they will still have some.

[deranged chipmunk]

You could use a piece of those plastic hamster tubes. Some of them already come cut in half and they are made of plastic.


Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world ~ Nelson Mandela

[LisaGarcia]

There is a reason why you are a moderator. THAT is a PERFECT IDEA! If I recall, they already come with "ridges" so I wouldn't have to "scuff" them up... Hmmm.. Thanks Deranged Chipmunk!

[deranged chipmunk]

Every now and then, I come up with a half decent idea


Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world ~ Nelson Mandela

[LisaGarcia]

Well, as wonderful as your idea is, I don't have to use it. One of the "Dads" at my work has a band saw. He said to bring in the pvc pipes and he will rip them in half for me! ( I really miss my Dad and his collection of tools that I only need once a year) This weekend, I should be able to get the false bottom roughly set up and some sort of measurement of how much water I will need so I can figure out what pump to get!

[canadian frog]

instead of ripping pvc down to half lengths, I used pond liner in my fbt tank, paid like $3 for like four foot length about 2 feet wide I just cut what I need, just an idea

[deranged chipmunk]

Pond liner works too. That probably explains the 8'x2' sheet I have laying around. I probably used it for something or other lol


Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world ~ Nelson Mandela

[LisaGarcia]

We thought of using pond liner as well. Our concern about it was that full grown wtf's LOVE to redecorate and were worried that one might manage to dig under the liner and possible mess up the entire flow of the water. One of our previous wtf's (I blamed Pumba since he was always in the water) managed to move some pretty large rocks and block the water in their tank from the water pump. I had to replace the pump. The fact that I am a plumbing designer and using 2" pvc just tickles me pink in a weird demented way. My boss would be proud.

I figured we would try the pvc and if it didn't work the way I want during trial runs (And there WILL be trial runs), I will run out and pick up some liner. Maybe even just lay some liner over the pvc? Overkill?

[LisaGarcia]

Look what I found at the last "family owned" pet shop in Woodbridge! Sadly, they are going out of business Sunday is their last day. I picked these up and will be going back this weekend with the DH and his wonderful CC to pick up some "extra" tanks and maybe pick up some more wood.









I am thinking about attempting to use one for part of the waterfall. The other for climbing and planting! If I can't use the largest piece for the water feature, It will also be planted and used for climbing and probably hiding as well! So excited!!

[jarteta97]

Beautiful pieces! May I ask what kind they are?? I'm not that good at determining wood type, lol . . . yet

[LisaGarcia]

They are african mopani root wood. She had a bunch inside her aquariums that were still set up with live fish. She said they were wonderful fully submerged or in high humidity. Since White's don't need SUPER high humidity and mopani is touted as good wood for vivs I thought they would be perfect. They were also less than 5$ a lb.

[Mentat]

I see a cat .

[deranged chipmunk]

That's some sweet wood!! I like mopani, it has a lot of character!! I'm really looking forward to see what you come up with for this Lisa!!


Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world ~ Nelson Mandela

[LisaGarcia]

Ok so I didn't get to use a table saw I DID however manage to get my pipe cut! The lengthwise one is NOT pretty or even but it's cut! This is the idea so far:




I have hallowed out the bamboo and am going to drill a hole (I already have THOSE tools) and attach a piece of bamboo to the end to create a "nozzle"


I want the water to fall into the mopani wood and down into the pvc pipe (or maybe another piece of bamboo?) I worry about the bamboo pieces degrading.. any thoughts on that?



I will have to find a bigger and longer piece of bamboo but you get the idea



This would be where the pump would sit with a false eggcrate area over it and enough room for the tube to come up past the eggcrate and into the bamboo



This the front "pond" corner. The far back area would be left loosely tied down and easily movable to get to the filter







Alight guys and gals, ideas, helps, critiques?

Thank you for looking

Oh and Yes, I still have all my fingers and toes