The little things we do

[DonLisk]

Funny how we take a 20 dollar frog and provide he/she with hundreds of dollars of environment to make it at home. We arrange the home to be humid, warm and aesthetically pleasing. changing water daily, bringing crickets home, and listen to the loose one that are making their way around the home.

I write this because of the "I can't believe I did that" experience I had the other night with one of my Whites Tree Frogs.

While checking on the frogs we (my wife and I) saw that one of the frogs was having a problem finishing going to the bathroom. After a closer examination we saw that this wasn't a normal thing and the poor little guy was trying to force out a piece of Moss that just was cooperating.

We let him go for a few hours hoping he would work this out himself and only found he was just like we found him several hours earlier. My wife was like, you gonna help him or what, and I could only imagine how I was going to do this.
I made an attempt to hold the moss with some long forceps but the frog was not going to participate with this idea.

We let him settle back down and a few hours later I made another attempt.

Holding the piece sticking out I lightly lifted and the lightly pulled down with w twist and the piece slide our. The thing was 5 inches long and 70 percent was inside and stuck in the poor little one. I could almost see the sigh of relief from this frog as he relaxed on the leaf he was holding on so dearly to while I pulled the piece free.

The things we do for these frogs and other pets is just amazing and will be something the wife will grill me on for some time to come.

Am I thinking about removing all this moss substrate? Probably not. I might reduce the amount to only bee half the enclosure instead of all though.

[bshmerlie]

Whites are voracious eaters with big mouthes. After pulling out 5 inches of that moss out of his butt you might want to consider changing out all of the substrate just to be on the safe side. "The things we do for our pets". I'm glad it worked out for him.

[DonLisk]

Whites are voracious eaters with big mouthes. After pulling out 5 inches of that moss out of his butt you might want to consider changing out all of the substrate just to be on the safe side. "The things we do for our pets". I'm glad it worked out for him.

I was sure this would be the right thing to do. I just hate ripping down the enclosure to change out the substrate again. Just did the moss recently, since when I had the coco fiber they always looked like they had microscopic bugs on them and it was just the coco.

Looks like a trip to the pet shop again :-)

This time I think I'll try the plantation soil since it worked nicely in my Red Eye's enclosure.

[bshmerlie]

What about just putting leaf litter on top of it? Could that work? That way you wouldn't have to remove it.

[DonLisk]

That just may work. Never used the stuff but I think it lays pretty flat and could use to cover most of the bottom while leaving some small areas exposed to the moss.

Thanks for the suggestion. :-)

[Rocko]

Might I suggest sheet moss or some equivalent? It looks like mini grass comes in easy to place squares and and it's *not* loose like the other mosses to avoid swallowing. My white's looks clean and contented since I put that down. Plus spot cleaning has been much easier.

[1beataway]

I use the "plantation soil" in mine and have never had problems, except it's easier for them to get the soil on them and then into the water. I put some live tropical moss in some areas, and leaf litter in the other areas. By the way, if you have a water bowl, leaf litter under the bowl helps to make sure you don't drip dirt all over your carpet when you change the water.

[DonLisk]

I use the "plantation soil" in mine and have never had problems, except it's easier for them to get the soil on them and then into the water. I put some live tropical moss in some areas, and leaf litter in the other areas. By the way, if you have a water bowl, leaf litter under the bowl helps to make sure you don't drip dirt all over your carpet when you change the water.

Thanks for the suggestions. I stopped and grabbed some plantation soil today and probably need one more block to have enough to do the change.
I'll have to order some leaf litter from Josh's and add that in once received.

I'm also planning to add a bottom layer of clay balls to the bottom since I'll haveit tore down to make the substrate change.

Thanks again for the advice.

As a side note: The poor little guy was skinny as anything today and as I was looking at him his stomach blew up like a balloon after eating a cricket. Good sign I believe.

One of my Whites has decided to sleep next to the ballast on the lamp and today he is so brown its like he got a tan. Thank I'm going to have to keep him off of there so he doesn't look like he had a bad day at the beach :-)

[DonLisk]

What about just putting leaf litter on top of it? Could that work? That way you wouldn't have to remove it.

Ordered some Leaf Litter this morning from Josh.
Hoping it gets here Friday and plan to completely redo the substrate in this enclosure this weekend with Plantation Soil, Clay Balls and the Leaf Litter.

If it doesn't get here I'll still redo it and add the litter later on.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

[1beataway]

That's where I bought my leaf litter. Great stuff.

This is the moss I have and I love it: Live Tropical Moss.

Hope the redo goes well, and you never have to do what you did again.

[charlamanda]

I am glad you were able to help you lil guy, very lucky frog.
Don't be ashamed of what we do for our pets if we didn't do these unmentionable things we wouldn't be good pet owners.
True story....I have lots of bunnies and they tend to get obstructions easily. My first and favorite, we won't tell the other ones, got an obstruction and I was devestated, since it is usually certain death for them, even with surgery. I found an online site similar to this one who suggested giving the bunny an enema, yup I did! I wanted to help him, a dwarf named bilbo, so badly I got a ear syringe, mineral oil, and vaseline and gave that poor sick bunny a high colonic and presto! He passed the blockage and lived for a few more years.
You do for your pets the same as for your children, since for most of us have as much love and compassion for them, so let your wife see the parallel and appreciate your paternal instincts.LOL

[gtr319]

I am currently using sheet moss and have absolutely no problem or what so ever. But I still monitor my tree frog eats because from time to time she still gets some moss - large or small piece in her mouth. Although she is really smart of brushing the moss out of her mouth - even when it meant for the cricket to escape from her mouth of death, I still cannot be so sure that she will not swallow that big piece by accident.

[DonLisk]

I have to say I really like the leaf litter after putting it in. It will eventually break down and I'll just add more on top. You can see the changes in the enclosure in my Whites photo album.

Char, your exactly right, I'd definitely do it all again.

[gtr319]

Hey Don, can you please post pictures after you done setting up? If the feed back is good and all, I may consider swapping the sheet moss with the leaf litter. At least I do not have to worry about the intake part.

[DonLisk]

Hey Don, can you please post pictures after you done setting up? If the feed back is good and all, I may consider swapping the sheet moss with the leaf litter. At least I do not have to worry about the intake part.

I have pics in my photo albums under the Whites Enclosure.
I don't think any is viewable in the Red Eyes pics.

I have the leaf litter on top of the substrate and I believe I need to just add more on top as this breaks down. The Magnolia leaf seem pretty durable and should las a long time compared to the sea grape leaves.

[gtr319]

Can you also keep me inform as to how the feeding goes?