Worried about my WTFs

[MissElla]

Hi there, I have recently got 3 WTFs, 2 females 1 male for around 2 weeks and worried about their eating habits and viv temps. Only one of the females ate one locust and pooped. I got some waxworms to try and persuade them to eat and the other female ate one waxworm and pooped but that’s it as far as food.

The male has not eaten anything. I have covered their tall exo viv with a large towel to recuse stress. Tried leavinglocusts/waxwormsin there, tried tong feeding, tried feeding/leaving food in different enclosure, left them a good 4-5 days to de stress and tried again but nothing. All my locusts are dead and waxworms slowly turning into moths. I’ve been really stressed about this. How long can frogs survive without food?

Wondering if it’s something in my viv I need to change! The male and female are always at the top corners of the viv resting. The other female is in the hideout usually or in the water bowl. I use wet paper towels for substrate, after deciding against coco fibre and repti carpet. Is this ok? I mist around 3 times a day. Am I meant to spray the frogs too or not as I do spray them if they look very dry but read that it’s best not to directly spray WTFs?

I have a 25 watt bulb shining through the top of the viv but I keep turning it off as the two frogs that always climb are literally right underneath it and I can see they are getting REALLY dry.... is this normal?? I put bubble wrap between the lamp and top of the viv, not sure if good idea or not. I had a 7 watt heat mat on the side of the tank, recently got a 15 watt mat to replace it as my brother kept saying he thinks itÂ’s too cold in there for them, but it seems very hot like the glass is about to crack and Ive heard around that heat mats arenÂ’t great for frogs. Im at a complete loss of what to do for the temperature as I just keep running into problems?! I’ve probably wasted a good £80 on bulbs, heat mats, substrate options... after researching a lot with lots of conflicting opinions. I really am at a loss

Im extremely worried that the frogs are not eating too? I just feel like something has gone amiss here... people have reassured me WTFs are very hardy and easy to care for but I feel like it’s been an uphill battle so far! at this rate I fear my WTFs wont even make it for the new year :’( I was so happy to get them as they’re bigger and easier to view than the poison dart I’ve had 6 months, still love her tho. Please help a WTF novice.... Many thanks!

[elly]

What's the temperature? If you don't have a thermometer those can help. Maybe the frogs are nervous from being moved.

When you say they get dry, do you mean their skin looks dry? Because if it does that's a problem.

How big are the locusts? Do you know what the frogs ate before you got them? Maybe they don't recognize the food so much.

Paper towels are fine, but they grow bacteria pretty quickly so should be changed every 2 days or so.

[MissElla]

I don't have a thermometer I should definitely get one of those. Yeah I figured they were nervous - 2 weeks though, is it ok to go without food? Yeah I'm very concerned about their dry skin. The previous owners I bought them from said they prefer it dry and only spray once a day. But I've sprayed about 3 times a day, the small male especially looks quite dry as he's just in his top corner all the time. Humidity is about 50-60%. Is there anything I can do to help this?

I change the paper towels every day. I heard crickets can bite the frogs and breed/smell etc so I was recommended locusts by the store even though they were fed on brown crickets before. The locusts are the size between the two of the larger frogs eyes, similar to the size of the crickets I saw when I went to pick the frogsup from previous owners.

[elly]

50-60 sounds like a good range.

Two weeks without eating isn't a good sign. Maybe it's stress, an illness, the temperature, (or depending on how dry they actually are), dehydration. But 50-60 doesn't sound too bad though. If they've had fresh water in their bowl before and they went to soak in it daily they might not be too badly off.

It might be helpful for them to see familiar food, but the locusts should look familiar enough to eat.