Cleaning

[Kurt]

I wouldn't use anything that's coarse. I definitely don't trust it.

[John]

I wouldn't use anything that's coarse. I definitely don't trust it.

My point is that coarse sand isn't sand, it's grit.

[InfInIty13X]

My point is that coarse sand isn't sand, it's grit.

Just think of sand paper.

[Moonspyder]

So I was at the pet store today and picked up some Ecoearth to try out.
They also had some really fine sand there that was calcium enriched for substrate material at very high prices. The package did warn about keeping very small
lizards on it because of impacting.

The play sand at the garden suppply store is coarser than this very fine sand. How coarse is too coarse?

Rather than pay the pet shop premium, is spaghum peat moss from the
garden supply store equivalent to what the pet stores sell with wood shavings mixed in? I see my toads have tracked alot of peat into their water soaking bowl
but don't seem to mind sitting in it.

[Kurt]

You don't want sphagnum with wood shavings mixed in! So go to the garden center and get it there. I also find mixing the coconut and sphagnum together keeps the frog from track too much ground coconut of it into the water bowl.

[adawinters]

I recently read something -- pertaining to leopard geckos -- that suggested that impaction by sand was usually caused/fostered by dehydration in the animal that made it harder to pass the sand through the system. I'm actually wondering if/to what extent that might be true of amphibians. (I wouldn't use sand for most amphibians, though, as their skin is so sensitive, and sand is so coarse and dry. I was wondering for the desert-type species that John referenced earlier in this thread. I've never kept low-humidity toads, so I have no personal experience with sand substrates and toads.)

[Sissy Anne]

I use JerassiSafe (spray) or JerassiWipes (wipes) for cleaning up messes and mineral buildup from my de-clor solution. JerassiSafe is great because it's an odor remover. Not so much a problem with the frogs, but my Beardie can stink up the room. The spray bottle is like $5-6 at Petsmart and lasts me a long time (like, a few months).

With regards to substrate, I like the reptile/amphibian bark with moss mixed in. I get both of them at Petsmart or Petco, both frog safe, and the bark is big enough pieces that I don't think the frogs eat it. They have eaten some of the moss, but it doesn't seem to bother them.