purple-ish Australian Frog....

[elly]

Is this what you mean by "purplish"? In that case it's not a morph.

Anyhow spagnum moss will work to hold humidity. You don't want to put it where the frog can get it while trying to eat a bug. It's been known to stop up frogs.

You might want to put aquarium gravel or lighter clay LECA balls or other material meant to soak up water on the very bottom of your tank if you want to avoid having the substrate sit in water.

I wasn't suggesting a ceramic heater on the sides: that might be a bit much for the glass. I was thinking of the heat pads they sell for reptiles. I have not found any of those that are controlled by thermostat. Personally I use overhead heat emitters in heat lamps. I have a large one and a small one and I switch them out as needed.

Covering up the open side part way with glass or plastic seems like a good idea because keeping warmth and humidity in can be very important in the winter. In any case, that's ambitious and I hope to hear more about how it goes.

[mrcaptainbob]

Here's a pick of our frog. Looks just like yours, Elly! We use marble sized/larger round river rock in the fish aquariums and plan on setting down a layer of that, maybe an inch or so, followed by two 8qt bags of sphagnum moss. That tower build will be 15" wide x 12" deep x 24" tall. That will give Mr. Frog an area to play on some pretty long branches. The tower will be plastic sided and have a screened top for summer and a plastic cover for winter. The heater I'm considering is this:
http://stores.cllpetsupplies.com/25w...r-submersible/.
and will be attached to that side of the tank near the bottom. My wife says she plans on misting the environment twice a day when she feeds the fish. We will get a humidistat to verify proper humidity. Any suggestions on what size heater? I'm thinking the 200. Too much? Too little?
For branches I'm considering something about two/three inches across and cut from one of the area's cherry trees. Remove leaves and most small twigs.
Are we on the right track to provide for our new friend?
By the way....I live with Mother Nature. I even have pictures of her feeding a skunk on the front porch from a few years ago! She enjoys all creatures and cares for them all.
Thank you all so much for your help.

[mrcaptainbob]

Phase one was getting M. Frog. These pics are of phase two. The aquarium has about an inch of the rounded river rock and the obvious layer of peat. M.Frog can be seen just in back of the Roman pillars. Wife empties the swimming pool once a day. M. Frog apparently takes midnight swims. Hard to see, but the temp shows it at 72* and the humidity is over 80%. We have the unit set on 2x4's for now. Creates a space beneath where we placed a heating pad. There was no movement of temperature, so I enclosed it both sides about 3/4's the tank length. We'll see if the temp climbs over night. M. Frog appears to be doing okay so far. I hope we're on the right track with this stuff. Phase three will start in maybe a week or so. Some other projects are in the way right now. Already late putting in the garden. Darned rain!

[elly]

It's good she's changing the water once a day, I notice the waterbowls double as frog toilets. Looks good. If it gets too messy you try leaf litter, durable leaves like Magnolia from a place that doesn't use pesticides, boiled and baked well to kill bugs. Or you can put around some large, flat rocks that are too big for the frog to eat.

[mrcaptainbob]

Well, M. Frog seems to be doing fine. I made a new screen today from 1/2" mesh hardware cloth and will place wood molding around that to dress it up some. The tower is on hold for now. For heat she places two heating pads atop the screen grid and covers them with a towel to keep heat and humidity in. Temp hovers from 79 to 84 degrees. Humidity is around 70% (right now at 80*) and will vary depending on when misted and when tank top gets opened. She mists the tank interior twice a day. M. Frog gets hand fed every other day. Yesterday three meal worms were for dinner. It appears that M. Frog is 'molting'. Looks like the skin layer comes off and M. Frog is eating it. How often does this happen? Is it even normal? Is it seasonal? Any suggestions to help M. Frog be contented are welcome. By the way, there's also a low watt night light in the tank near the top so M. Frog is easily viewed in the evening hours. It's off throughout the night.

[BossFrog]

It's perfectly normal to have a frog shed its skin, just keep checking on him to make sure he isn't stuck or injured. My toads do it too and they always look so fresh and clean after!

[elly]

Shedding is perfectly normal, however if the frog's left with patches of old skin after shedding, that might be a symptom of a problem