Soggy bottom!

[Jim]

I have been using coconut fiber as a substrate for my Whites tree frog terrarium.It works great but it becomes oversaturated very easily.I find myself changing the coco fiber out every two weeks.I only spray down the terrarium once a day and the humidity level is always between 50 and 90 percent.Is there something I could do to keep from getting a real soggy bottom?I don't feel that such a saturated substrate is a very healthy environment for a frog!Help!

[Leefrogs]

I have big rock on bottom covered with dry coco husk then moss. After 2 months I had very little moisture on bottom. Maybe scoop up most of the husk, put dry stuff on bottom, and put your wet on top. Also I'm guessing it's a WTF. When yr hummidity is that high, 90%, it's not good for them, could get infection, eithor in skin or lungs. I always spray at 55% and have counted how many spritz it takes to get to 70%. Like for my 33 gal it's 4 sprays, but I have plants that help stabalize hummidity. So I only have to spritz 2x a week, maybe. So wait for hum to drop, spay 2X, wait 10 min, repeat till u got it down to a number. That way u don't over do it

[Kisa]

I used coco fiber substrate for the first and second vivs for my White's and never had a problem with over saturation. Are you buying it in the brick or in the bag? If it's a brick, make sure you squeeze out the excess water before you put it in your viv. I do this over a strainer in my sink and then place the remainder into a bowl so I can then transfer it to my viv. If you're squeezing out the water and are still having a problem I would suggest switching substrates to something that has a mix of coco fiber in it, such as T-Rex Jungle Bed or Exo Terra plantation soil. I've used all three of these substrates and must say I prefer the Jungle Bed as it comes in a large bag and is very lightweight, making it easy to transport and construct once you have it in the viv.

Where is your hygrometer in relation to your substrate? You could have it too far away or too close which could be the reason for the over saturation. I spray my White's viv once in the morning, and that's only if I see the humidity dropping to about 45% or so. If your hygrometer is unreliable it could lead to over misting which would equal your soggy bottom.

I hope this helped, and Ginger is right, high humidity is a good environment for bacteria to grow so try to stay in the 50-70% range.

[Tony]

Do you have a drainage layer in place below the coco fiber?

[LouEmbling]

Another tip which may help- I used to have this issue in my crab tank and switched to a heavy bowl that my crabs couldn't tip over which they were doing daily. Do frogs tip bowls?