Red Eyed Tree Frog - Habitat Questions

[DonLisk]

Hi All,
I have my habitat top substrate as the ESU Jungle Mix and was wondering if I should have a moss layer for him too? Maybe some leaf liter instead?

He is slow to acclimating to his new home and only comes out when its really dark and quiet. As soon as he notices someone near the enclosure hes out of sight and hiding.... guessing he had some incident at the store prior to me obtaining him.

He has a ton of hiding places so its sometimes impossible to find him but thats what hiding places are for.


Thanks for any replies.

[Tony]

I use a top dressing of long fiber sphagnum moss to prevent small soil particles from sticking to the frogs. I have not used leaf litter with tree frogs but I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work except that it may offer too many hiding spots for feeder insects.

He will probably become bolder as he settles in to his new home, my red eyes do not seem to be bothered by my presence and I have several well established males who consistently wake up and start calling about 30 minutes before the lights go out.

[bshmerlie]

Your tank as you describe it sounds perfect. He should be Able to completely hide from you if he wants. Just give him time. My tank is like a thick jungle and all of my red eyes could completely hide from me if they wanted to that makes them feel secure. Now they spend all of their time out in the front watching me. When I got my first red eye he did the same thing as yours and I started to wonder why I even got him. But over time he got use to me and realized I was the cricket God and now he doesn't mind anything that I do even inside his cage. You've got to understand that in the wild frogs are always afraid of being dinner. So when they see some animal (like you) they hide. But soon he will realize that you're not a threat. So keep the cover as you have it. Keep him in a location in the house that is quiet and completely dark as you said and I guarantee you he will relax. Just give him time. Soon enough he will be front and center for you to enjoy. Try a cricket bowl so he can find the crickets and they don't get lost. My cricket bowl is up front and i often have many of them hovering on the branches above waiting for me to drop in crickets. Over time you wont have to go searching for him he'll be sitting on a leaf watching you.

[John911]

I use a top dressing of long fiber sphagnum moss to prevent small soil particles from sticking to the frogs. I have not used leaf litter with tree frogs but I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work except that it may offer too many hiding spots for feeder insects.

He will probably become bolder as he settles in to his new home, my red eyes do not seem to be bothered by my presence and I have several well established males who consistently wake up and start calling about 30 minutes before the lights go out.

Beautiful pics and frogs as always. Would you be able to post pics of the full habitat? Trying to set one up for them.

[Tony]

Beautiful pics and frogs as always. Would you be able to post pics of the full habitat? Trying to set one up for them.

Thanks John. Here is a full viv shot:

you go:

[John911]

Tony, do you even use a background on something like that or is it almost all plants?

[Tony]

Tony, do you even use a background on something like that or is it almost all plants?

The original exo terra background is in there but has been taken over by pothos vines.

[John911]

The original exo terra background is in there but has been taken over by pothos vines.

Is that the 24x18x18? How many do you keep in there?

[Tony]

Is that the 24x18x18? How many do you keep in there?

18 x 18 x 24, and I think there are seven frogs in it. I shuffled them around a bit during breeding and don't remember exactly how many went back in there.

[DonLisk]

Wow, thanks for the responses. I stopped by a local landscaping place and picked up some live plants to put in since the plastic ones are pretty flimsy. That will be tomorrows job while he sleeps behind the cork round he has taken too.

I did change out the moss in my Whites viv since I thought I saw some black dot specks that worried me. I came to find a worm in the soil, and the specks were only the coco bottom layer working its way through the moss.

Man thats a nice viv. I did the Exo 18 x 18 x 18.

Cheri, thanks for the reply too. I guess I'm just impatient and want to see he is doing well. :-)

[DonLisk]

Do any of your Red Eyes use the water dish/bowl?

My plans for today are to add some live plants so I picked up some plantation soil to add some filler as I place the plants.
I'll add some areas of the New Zealand Moss I picked up to some areas while modifying the enclosure.

He was out some this morning and aas the sun hit the glass he decided to go back into hiding. Good signs for me :-)

[bshmerlie]

Do any of your Red Eyes use the water dish/bowl?

My tank is 36x24x18 and I have a waterfall that goes onto a pond section that takes up about 1/3 of my tank and all frogs tend to spend the majority of their time on that side of the tank. The water is not that deep because I have flat stones in it so they can just sit there and it doesn't go above their chins. They love the water. If they're not sitting in it theyre sitting in branches or vines above it. Do you need to have a large water section? No. I'm just telling you that my five red eyes like it. I originally only had it this size to help with humidity as I live in So Cal and it can get really dry here in the summer. But now that. I've noticed they all spend so much time on that side of the tank I was thinking of expanding it next summer. Water bowls are perfectly fine and you definately should have them. Change the water every day.

[Balvennie]

Hi all,

I have recently finished constructing my new red-eye terrarium, and realise that I could get a lot more critters in there! It's 1.2m long x 1m high and 41cm deep. It has a waterfall, pond, and sculpted background with plenty of plants (and more still to be added). Right now I have only 3 red-eyes, and while I'm planning on getting a few more, I'd like to know if anyone can suggest another species I can safely put in there? I'm open to other treefrogs, toads, small lizards, but not snakes.

This is my first post, but will try to add a photo of the setup. You can also see a (not very good quality) video here: Log in | Facebook

[DonLisk]

Nicely done Belvennie.

[bshmerlie]

Hi all,

I have recently finished constructing my new red-eye terrarium, and realise that I could get a lot more critters in there! It's 1.2m long x 1m high and 41cm deep. It has a waterfall, pond, and sculpted background with plenty of plants (and more still to be added). Right now I have only 3 red-eyes, and while I'm planning on getting a few more, I'd like to know if anyone can suggest another species I can safely put in there? I'm open to other treefrogs, toads, small lizards, but not snakes.

This is my first post, but will try to add a photo of the setup. You can also see a (not very good quality) video here: Log in | Facebook

Red Eyes are very prone to stress and would freak out if there is another species in with them. You can get albino or xanthic red eyes if you want to add variety. That way you'll have yellow and green frogs.

[DonLisk]

Red Eyes are very prone to stress and would freak out if there is another species in with them. You can get albino or xanthic red eyes if you want to add variety. That way you'll have yellow and green frogs.

Exactly. If you look at my photo albums for my Red Eyes you'll see two very different colors.

[Balvennie]

I like the idea of lutino/albino red-eyes, although I haven't seen them for sale in the UK. What about black-eyed treefrogs, or tiger-legged treefrogs? Are they close enough to not freak out the red-eyes? My other question is, considering the size of my terrarium (1.2m x 1m x 41cm), how many frogs do you think I could comfortably put in there?

[bshmerlie]

Exactly. If you look at my photo albums for my Red Eyes you'll see two very different colors.

colors and sizes...that's the only way I can keep their names straight.

[DonLisk]

colors and sizes...that's the only way I can keep their names straight.

I noticed a moss that you have wrapped on your vines and such. What is that and how do you get it to stay attached initially?