White dumpy info!!

[Rocko]

Well as amisbeef said, there are some concerns with the sphagnum, although I know a lot of people do use a mixture of the two, which I think will help keep it from compacting and provide good moisture. The problem with spoilage I think is partly dependent on what you keep. White's frogs are large poop machines, and combined with a damp substrate, funky things just can't help but grow and flourish in a short time. I'm not going to say I am an expert yet on managing waste for the white's although from other keepers I have talked to some of the happiest are the ones that just use damp paper towels on the bottom and change them out quickly and easily daily. I of course chose the planted tank route and so that option wasn't available to me. Having a full "ecosystem" of waste managing bacteria, bugs, and the like may extend a particular substrate's life time.

[Dog Shrink]

I would think tho that the natural tendancy of sphagnum moss having antifungal and antibacterial qualities would make it an inhospitiable host for waste growing fungus tho wouldn't it? I use sphagnum moss in my leopard gecko's snclosure for his moist hide and I really like it. Yes if you don't mist regularly like every other day it will dry out and brown but that's just a maintenance issue really right? I would think the pros would outweigh the cons in the long run no???

Please don't think that I'm arguing or some sphagnum moss advocate delux but I just like being well informed from people who have more experience with it in different applications than myself esp. since I'm considering a new frog/toad in the near future and would prefer a natural lower maintenance (yeah right ) setup. Hopefully some of this banter actually helps the op as well.

[amisbeef]

I know the inconvenience of sphagnum moss drying out from my own leopard geckos; its great for their log hides when theyre shedding, but literally leave it more than a day and it will dry right out. It's a bit worse with leopard geckos as they're desert animals, and theyre kept at lower humidity and higher temperatures.

Pros generally do outweight the cons, as long as you're willing to continue misting the moss in consideration. However, moss retaining the toxicity of your Whites tree frog is less of an issue with desert gecko species as frogs have delicate skin used to 'breathe' and geckos do not have this physiological ability.


With regards to managing frog poop, luckily with mine - at the moment - they are all pooping well and solid, so it is easy to distinguish between poop and substrate tp remove from the terrarium, although with unwell frogs, I know how hard it is to remove waste without taking out big layer of normal substrate, especially with a fully planted terrarium.

[Rocko]

Just with the way my tank is laid out, finding poop is like playing where's waldo, drives me nuts.

[DonLisk]

Leaf Liter works great for keeping some of the coco fiber off the frogs and my substrate doesn't dry out as fast since the lights not directly on the coco.

Eventually the frogs will learn to get under the leaves and get dirty but that why they have a tubby to wash up :-)

I also find my Whites poop on the leaves so its easy to clean up and wash up the leaves.

My substrate is the Zilla Jungle Mix and some Coco Fiber in random areas on top of the Jungle Mix. The Jungle mix retains moisture really well.