Hi All...New Terrarium Build...any advice? Also tray for Terrarium?

[MikeyD]

Hi All,

I'm still new to this site...I have 4 pacific tree frogs that I am placing into this new Terrarium I just finished with my 7 year old daughter. These are the first Amphibians we have ever raised period. My daughter and I got them as Tadpoles and they somehow made it to the frog stage Owning them for about a month now I felt it was time to upgrade them from a 5.5 gallon glass tank to the this 16" x 16" x 30" screen terrarium (that by the way I got for only $10 from local feed store because of 1 tiny rip on screen that I fixed already . The 2 real plants in there are the Fern towards the front left and the Bromeliad in the back right corner. I used a substrate of small and large aquarium rock then mixed Eco Earths Coco Fiber with Black Gold Soil that I found at my local Orchard Supply hardware store and made it a 1:1 mix. I also put about 20 earth worms in there and so far they seem to love it as they are not coming to the surface at all I followed the steps I found online regarding prepping new plants in a bleach solution and did so successfully. This terrarium is still new at only 3 days old but it's looking good so far. I then put some branch and sticks in there with a couple of fake plants hanging off of the big stick. I have a medium water bowl in there for them which they seem to love. Other than that they seem to be hopping around happily. For the light I'm using a regular 9w LED bulb that puts out 40w of light. From what I've learned these Pacific Tree Frogs don't need any special UV lighting. Plus they are near my front door and windows and get indirect lighting so hopefully that is ok for both plants and frogs. Oh it's important to mention and you might be able to see it in the picture, I place a black trash bag at the bottom and cut it so that it fits perfectly in the square and comes up about 4" inches on all sides and that's what's holding all my soil in and seems to be working fine.

Picture of Terrarium - http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps8wr8segi.jpg

I have 2 questions:

First - Since they have only been frogs for about 3 weeks now, and one of them for about 2 days now, can I feed them crickets and if so what size? Pin Heads? I saw somewhere on line they had 500 pin heads for $19.95 is that a good price? Right now I'm feeding the frog, newt and tadpool green pellets diet from a company called "All living things" that I got at Petsmart I crush some of the pellets even though they are small to be sure they can eat them ok and I leave some whole. I have a small natural rock that I put the food on that is directly behind the water bowl. Will they be ok with just this food until I can get pin heads or should I look for flightless fruit flies? I'm just concerned the fruit flies will escape through the screen.

Second - My most pressing issue right now is this - I so somewhere on this forum or maybe another one that there was a nice acrylic tray that terrariums like this sit in and the walls looked to be about 4" inches high or so, but for the life of me I can't find that post and I can't seem to find a tray like that online. Any help would be much appreciated.

Again I'm open to any suggestions anyone wants to give me or point out no worries I'll take it with open arms Thanks for all the help and knowledge from this site!!

Take care - Mike

[privet01]

Most of your questions seem to be more concerning the tree frogs themselves and whether this build is suitable for them. So if you don't get many responses here, I'd try in the sub-forum for tree frogs.

I will say that cricket are easy to raise that will be much cheaper in the long run. Though not desirable if you don't have a garage with a 2ft x 4 ft area to devote to them or an outbuilding.

Crickets grow fast. From hatch to feeder size in four weeks. To big for food a week or two later and dead in eight to ten weeks.

So that 500 count box of crickets will mostly go to waste, though that is a good size to start raising your own with.

[MikeyD]

Privet01 thanks for the response. Ya I guess it's more about the crickets, but I also do want to be sure my build sounds good enough to sustain plant and frog life without issues or is there anything I should be doing different? As for the crickets, not sure if I want to devote more time to something else I already have tons of animals I care for lol. Will the pellets I'm feeding them suffice? or ?

Thanks again for the response!

[privet01]

but I also do want to be sure my build sounds good enough to sustain plant and frog life without issues or is there anything I should be doing different?

What I was trying to get across is that your question really are not about building a viv. It seems you are wanting to know about the correct habitat you should have in your viv for the tree frogs. That's why I feel most of your original post more properly belongs in the tree frog sub-forum.

This sub-forum is more about the nuts and bolts of constructing a viv and not about whether it is proper for the type of frog/toad you want to keep in it.

[KMAC]

Hello There,

If you have your temps, humidity ok then you are on to a good start.

In my eyes most animals need uv as in the wild although they may hide they will get some exposure.

Having semi mesh/ glass at the bottom is great for ventilation and also for a small filtered, cycled and dechlorinated pool.

Substrate you need a good drainage layer that will also house beneficial bacteria, on top of this a layer of substrate mesh similar to that is used for weeds in a garden and then your top soil that is suitable for your frog species and if you can have your soil bioactive, this is not suitable for all enclosures though but should be ok for you.

Crickets are ok roaches are better if they eat them. If the food is within the space between the frogs 2 eyes your sorted.

If your looking to breed find out about when your frogs rainy season it is and then its hydroponics sprinklers during that season, I would to be honest have this season anyway,

Some more foilage will also set this tank off.

I like it though, its well done.