RETF: Turns dark at night? And other qustions...

[Shorte85]

Hello everyone!

Since Tuesday, I have gotten my very first set of red eye tree frogs. One happen to perish though, but one is still alive. I am uncertain as to why one perished, but I am working very hard to keep one comfortable.

Questions I have:

1. Do RETFs turn dark at night? My frog seems to be bright green during the day while it is sleeping and turns a dark green at night when he's roaming around for a few minutes.

2. How active are they usually at night? The reason I'm asking is because he seems to move maybe once or twice and then that's about it.

3. I've had some trouble trying to keep the temp in the exo terra tank that I have in the right (safe zone). During the day I have a sun glow 25w bulb to keep the tank temp up, and then at night I switch that out to a moonlight 50w bulb to keep the temp warm but not as warm as during the day. If I don't have the moonlight bulb on the tank temp drops drastically (dangerously too low). I'm wracking my brains as to what else to do for the temp issues. I was going to buy the exo terra wave heater, but was told that it could burn the frogs? However, if it is covered with cocoa fiber and wood chips it should be alright right? But if I don't get the wave heater, will it be okay what I am doing? However, I just feel like the moonlight light bulb is disturbing the frog. I don't know what to do.

I believe the only main concern I have is the temp issue in the tank. Other than that I think the frog has been eating because today I didn't see any signs of crickets.

Any tips and questions, or anything would be appreciated. Thanks!

[Shorte85]

I hate to double post, but I just wanted to let you know that I have just turned off the moonlight light bulb because earlier I had it off for a little while to see if he'd wake up and he did. I figured maybe it was just not his time to wake up which was when the moonlight light got turned on. So I turned the moonlight light off just like 2 minutes ago to see if he wakes up or something, I just feel bad because I know that RETFs are nocturnal and I don't know what else to do. I don't know what else to do because if I don't keep the moonlight light on the tank temp goes back down which is too low for him and if I keep it on he doesn't roam around like he should. So frustrating!

I don't know what to do... Grr!

[DonLisk]

Welcome.
First thing would be to let the new frog settle in.... this could sometimes take a month.
They are night time active and usually only in the dark although they are known to become more active just before dark once they are use to you.

They will change from dark to light and back and usually are bright green while sleeping. Turning dark is fine and I have one now dark and one bright as can be and its midnight.
Like I stated, let the new frog relax, get comfortable and become trusting.

Don't handle unless needed or for inspection. Change water daily, mist with treated water twice daily to keep humidity up, and make sure there are places to climb and feel hidden such as on big leaves.

I have a snake plant that mine always sleep on and usually hide on the back side to stay are out of view.


Feel free to ask more questions too.
Good luck and ask when you have questions.

[DonLisk]

Is part of your top covered or is it open for heat to escape?

If a full screen top, cover 1/2 to see if that will help keep temps.

If your room is 68-70 degrees then your temps won't drop below that in the enclosure so hats fine.
You can use a undertank heater on the side of the tank to provide heat too.

They won't move around a ton and usually just settle in for a place to watch for food or to close their eyes and relax.

[Shorte85]

Welcome.
First thing would be to let the new frog settle in.... this could sometimes take a month.
They are night time active and usually only in the dark although they are known to become more active just before dark once they are use to you.

They will change from dark to light and back and usually are bright green while sleeping. Turning dark is fine and I have one now dark and one bright as can be and its midnight.
Like I stated, let the new frog relax, get comfortable and become trusting.

Don't handle unless needed or for inspection. Change water daily, mist with treated water twice daily to keep humidity up, and make sure there are places to climb and feel hidden such as on big leaves.

I have a snake plant that mine always sleep on and usually hide on the back side to stay are out of view.


Feel free to ask more questions too.
Good luck and ask when you have questions.

Thanks for getting back with me. I haven't been messing with it, except been checking on it frequently because of losing one already I am just so worried about losing this one as well. But he seems to be doing alright so far. I did handle him earlier today but it wasn't really to handle him but to transfer him from terra to a dish so that I could rearrange the terra because I need to figure out a way to get the wood chips in the back of the tank. But that was a while ago today and it didn't take long because I didn't want him stressing. At night the tank for some reason tends to drop temp. Not exactly sure why, but that is why I bought a moonlight bulb to help with that but if that is on he sleeps and when it is off he is awake. I don't know what to do about that.

Is part of your top covered or is it open for heat to escape?

If a full screen top, cover 1/2 to see if that will help keep temps.

If your room is 68-70 degrees then your temps won't drop below that in the enclosure so hats fine.
You can use a undertank heater on the side of the tank to provide heat too.

They won't move around a ton and usually just settle in for a place to watch for food or to close their eyes and relax.

I have heard of the trick of putting saran wrap on the top half of the tank where it is screen so keep the humidity up and heat in the tank. It seems to work for humidity, but for some reason it doesn't seem to help with the temp. I mean towards the top of the tank is warm but at the bottom it is a little chilly, but not super cold. I do keep the frog misted a couple times a day when I see that he looks a bit dry.

Thanks for replying, I appreciate it.

[Kisa]

I don't keep Red Eyes, but I thought I could provide a little insight as I do keep two White's Tree Frogs and two Tiger-Legged Monkey Frogs. The former are close to the size and care requirements for Red Eyes.

First off, sorry about one of your frogs passing. Do you think you could provide a little more detail on this so we can better help you? If you're first frog died in the tank or the vicinity of the other frog it could be harmful, this is just curiosity and wanting for your second frog's well being, I'm not trying to be nosey.

Secondly, you can place a heater on the bottom or side of the tank: as long as the wattage is right and the heater itself doesn't feel too hot to the touch it should not harm your frogs. I use heaters on all three of my tanks to great success. On the side it can create a heat gradient so that your frog can choose how warm is wants to be: My baby WTF sometimes climbs onto the wall where I placed the heater and sleeps for the rest of the day if he gets too cold. If placed under the tank it will usually raise the overall heat in the tank and make your tank warmer on the bottom half, which as you said above is a small problem.

What size is your tank? That could help other members and myself to help you, so that we know how large a space you're attempting to heat, also what kind of light fixture are you using? Is it a compact top?

On colder days I have also tried restricting the ventilation in my tank but I'm not sure how well it worked. None of my frogs seemed to change when I did this, so I don't know if it raised the temperature or not, but it gave me a little peace of mind.

Oh, and what kind of thermometer are you using? This could be a determining factor in figuring out what's wrong with your heat, I've had broken thermometers/hygrometers before and it really complicated things.

Another thing you could do is post your location in your profile so people who live in your area can give you pointers one what they do when they have trouble heating their vivs. I'm sorry if you did post it and I didn't see it, I just thought I'd mention it in case you hadn't.

I hope some of this has helped you. D:

[Shorte85]

Thanks for getting back with me Brit. I'm sorry too about the passing of the other frog, and that's why I'm trying really hard to keep this one happy and comfortable if at all possible. The one that perished seemed to be fine, I mean it was more active than the one I have now and moving around the night it had perished. Woke up the next day and it was upside down on the bottom of the tank. Not sure what happened.

I do have a large leaf for it to either crawl on top of, or hide under neath, a somewhat medium/large heavy drift wood type thing that I have in there for him to crawl on, along with a stick and a few other plants. Once I get things a little more situated as far as temp goes I plan on buying more better realistic looking plants. Cocoa fiber on the bottom with wood chips layering on top of that which I keep nice and wet not soaked, but wet to help with the humidity.

By the way before I forget (ha, been a long day and night) I live in Kimball, Michigan - where the weather is unknown on some days ha ha ha if you live or know Michigan, you know what I mean. lol

I have both a Hygo and Thermometer, Thermometer is one of those ones that stick on the side of the tank and then I just bought yesterday a regular aquarium thermometer to get a second opinion on temperature of the tank. My house temp is in the range of 70-73 F. Right now there are no lights or heaters on the tank and it reads: 70 on the thermo stick, but the regular mercury thermometer reads just below 70F. Humidity right now is 80% probably because the heat (light) isn't on so it's not soaking up or evaporating the water.

The exo terra tank I have is one of the medium tall rainforest type tanks. Has the two doors on the front, full screen on top and a hood for light source. During the day I use a sun glow light bulb 25w, and also a exo terra 5.0 uv light bulb along with it. Last night I tried using what was called a NightLight Reptic Light Bulb, which was red and it seemed to keep the tank "too" hot for the terra so we took that out. Today we went and bought another different light bulb called Moonlight Light Bulb, which is 50w and it seems to be alright but if I put it on the frog doesn't seem to wake up unless it is dark. The moonlight light doesn't give off a very bright light, it's actually pretty dim. So I turned that off for a while so he could roam and do his thing in the tank which he did. I figured before I go to bed tonight (which I'm a night own anyways) I could turn the moonlight back on before going to bed to keep the temp up. Humidity I'm not too worried about, it's more the temp than anything really.

I figured out the size of my tank which is: 24” x 18” x 36” (WxDxH).

I've also been thinking about getting a digital thermometer/humidity reader, however I've already put so much money into this frog as it is that I want to try and figure this out before putting anymore money into it. I know that may sound bad, but I've already put at least $300 maybe a little more on this frog and that's including tank, plants, and more.

Hope what I have given which is a little more in depth will help as to what I need to figure out. I appreciate any help and the help given so far.