Tree frogs and toads? large tank

[SethD]

Thanks SethD
and its funny that you mention american toad because that is my second favorite, i was torn between which one to pick if i had to pick just one, but if they can mix then all the better. So i will try two whites tree frogs and i think just one american toad, unless the american toad needs a buddy?
Now i have another concern, the soil
I want to keep bromeliads, a few larger species in the soil and the smaller ones fastened to the driftwood/tree branches. Other plants will be tropical house plants
So right now i have my layer of rocks for drainage, a sprinkle of carbon ( a sprinkle was all i had left lol) and a screen covering that.
I stopped at the soil part because im not sure what to do. I bought top soil and peat, the peat was the fine powdery type stuff to be mixed in the soil. All the soil mixes for terrariums (with bromeliads) called for the use of either sand or pine bark, i chose not to et sand because its course and heavy, so im leaning towards (didnt buy it yet) pine bark to mix in with the top soil and peat for better drainage
But i dont know how this mix will work with the frogs/toads?
I want the plants to be healthy and have good drainage but i want the frogs to be ok too
im so confused

Your going to have problems with bromeliads with those two frogs. The toad will dig plants like that up when burrowing and the whites will crush them with its weight. You will need tough hardy plants that can take a lot of abuse. As far as substrate play sand mixed 50-50 with natural loamy earth collected from a wooded area is a good choice(you could mix in the peat as well). You can cover that with leaf litter or not as you choose. Pine bark is definitely not a good choice for two reasons, one, both pine and cedar bark leach things that can harm a amphibian, if you need to use a bark in your soil mix cypress mulch is the best. For another having any type of bark or mulch on the surface is not the best idea with the types of frogs your talking about because both of them are quite likely to ingest substrate while chasing down prey. You need something that can pass through their system without issues should they eat it and for that it is hard to beat dirt. If you want bark just to keep the soil from becoming as compacted you can use cypress mulch for that and just cover it up with dirt. That will keep it from being ingested. The toad may bring a little mulch up while digging around, but most of it will stay buried.