Rescued 2 WTF from petco have some questions I need answered asap

[pacsack]

Well we all know how this story goes, you are walking through petco to get to the crickets and you cant help but pass by the reptiles and amphibians in their prisons. So I stop to look at the most recently added critters and notice 2 baby WTF's sitting in a tank full of adults looking like little dried up raisins. So I could not think of leaving them there to die of dehydration so I quickly bought them both since I have an uninhabited exo 12x12 that is nicely planted that would serve as a nice temp home. It has been about a week or two since I put them in their little vivarium they fit nicely in it but they have begun to stink up the place since I did not seed it with any spring tails. So today I said enough was enough and went out and bought them a 10 gallon tank which will be another temp tank for 4 months until repticon comes around, then I will buy them a nice exo 18x18x24. Alright thats enough rambling, on to the questions, First off The 10 gallon will be partly aquatic I bought a exo turtle cliff with a 250f filter, medium turtle bank, and a mangrove root decoration. So, in all there is over 50% of the terrarium/aquarium is actual ground they can stand on. there is about 6in of water to approx 6in of vert space I don't exactly remember the measurements of a regular 10gal. There are plenty of vines and thingy to get them from place to place linking the little islands. My main concern is that I forgot to rinse the gravel which was factory pre-rinsed. This lead to the water being a little murky I was wandering if it would be ok to go ahead and put them into the tank with the water being a little murky if not should I just wait till the filter clears it completely.

[Leefrogs]

Welcome to our forum, and thanks fir rescuing my favorite critter!!! I would wait for it to clear or change the water and then still wait. Also whites drown easily, and pool might be too deep, put some rocks or something to avoid this. My baby is about 1 &1/2 inches and still sits chest deep in an ounce of water. So slope your bank more, or post Pict for other ideas.

[clownonfire]

Well we all know how this story goes, you are walking through petco to get to the crickets and you cant help but pass by the reptiles and amphibians in their prisons. So I stop to look at the most recently added critters and notice 2 baby Whites Tree Frog's sitting in a tank full of adults looking like little dried up raisins. So I could not think of leaving them there to die of dehydration so I quickly bought them both since I have an uninhabited exo 12x12 that is nicely planted that would serve as a nice temp home. It has been about a week or two since I put them in their little vivarium they fit nicely in it but they have begun to stink up the place since I did not seed it with any spring tails. So today I said enough was enough and went out and bought them a 10 gallon tank which will be another temp tank for 4 months until repticon comes around, then I will buy them a nice exo 18x18x24. Alright thats enough rambling, on to the questions, First off The 10 gallon will be partly aquatic I bought a exo turtle cliff with a 250f filter, medium turtle bank, and a mangrove root decoration. So, in all there is over 50% of the terrarium/aquarium is actual ground they can stand on. there is about 6in of water to approx 6in of vert space I don't exactly remember the measurements of a regular 10gal. There are plenty of vines and thingy to get them from place to place linking the little islands. My main concern is that I forgot to rinse the gravel which was factory pre-rinsed. This lead to the water being a little murky I was wandering if it would be ok to go ahead and put them into the tank with the water being a little murky if not should I just wait till the filter clears it completely.

Hey! First, congratulations on your new babies! And congrats on saving them, too.

My first question is why did you create such an aquatic environment? White's as you know are tree frogs, and don't need so much water. A small bowl where they could soak it in will be plenty. As with most treefrogs, think trees, and branches. And think about building everything in height. This will probably be a downer, but if I were you, I would remove the gravel (they can swallow accidentally small gravel). Remove the water, and replace it with substrate. Seeding springtails is also not necessary. As your White's won't eat them, the springtails will just overpopulate your terrarium... Which in itself is not the end of the world.

If you want other great advice, Ginger on this thread owns a few, so does Kisa, and Don. But a small revamp would be beneficial to your frog, and give you piece of mind.

[pacsack]

Sorry I didn't give very many details because I already wrote a sizable wall of text to b, but the reason for the water is I wanted to have fish in there as well. Mainly just some small tetras and other schooling fish It, think mangroves. There are many many vines and leaves for them to climb and hide in. I don't think the gravel will be a problem since it is 6in underwater plus they are both tong fed as for soaking the bank I bought has a very gradual edge going to a depth of about 2in. I will have to post a picture later tonight so that you guys can get a better idea of what I am talking about. Also keep in mind this is just their grow tank which will be switched to a 18x18x24 in exactly 4 months when repticon comes around.

[clownonfire]

Got it! So here's another question.... Can't you just remove the water, gravel, clean it up again, and replace the water and put back your gravel? Depending on your filter, this may take a while, and filters don't remove nor break everything...

Still... I wouldn't put so much water...

Eric

[Tony]

I agree with Eric's first post. White's tree frogs are not particularly strong swimmers and babies are even more vulnerable, especially since they were not well cared for at the shop and may be a bit weak. I would go with a simple, sanitary setup to get these guys healthy and growing. While they are in there you can start planning and building a more elaborate enclosure as their permanent home, though I would save the paludarium idea for a more aquatic species.

[Kisa]

First of all, congrats on your adorable new babies! May they bring you many smiles as big as their own. ^ ^ Thanks for saving them, chances are they would have been devoured by the adults at some point during a feeding.

Next, I agree with Eric and Tony unfortunately. The water idea, while a good idea in concept, but for White's it is not ideal. There is a member who has a 1/3 water setup for her White's but they are both adults and are quite strong. She says they like it fine, but honestly it would worry me to death just thinking about an accidental drowning. While White's aren't as clumsy as Monkey frogs, they can leap before they look, and everyone makes mistakes. My big guy jumps straight into the glass doors on occasion, I swear I see his eyes turn in his head when he does this. I'm amazed he's not brain damaged. :/

But all jokes aside, for new babies I would keep it simple. Maybe for the first month only use paper towels so you can closely monitor their health (this is what I have my baby White's on until he is big enough to go in the tank with his big brother). My baby seems to do quite well, I've provided him a fake fig and a small coconut husk to keep him secure and hidden when he wants to be. For the first few weeks he stayed under the fig leaves or inside his coconut, but now he wanders all over. I have even seen him hook his fingers into the screen top and climb upside-down across the tank.

If you need references or ideas you can check out my album, or Don's, he has a great set up.

The girl who has the 1/3 water tank, if you were set on that, can be found here, I'm sure she'll help you if you ask.

daziladi

Hope this has helped, post pictures of your babies! ><