General hello, and also some FBT questions

[Gloomyweevil]

Hi there everyone, i literally just joined the forum a few minutes ago, i browsed this forum and a few others and this one seems to be the one with the friendliest people on, so.... here i am!

Also while i am typing, with Fire bellied frogs, do they need a heat mat and sphagnum moss? i have a heat mat at the minute but i am getting a lot of conflicting information regarding the moss and the mat, hope somebody can help me out, thank you

[bshmerlie]

Firebelly toads do perfectly fine in normal room temps. If your house is below 68 degrees then I might consider additional heating but it would depend on how your tank is designed. Firebellies like water and a tank setup of 60-40 water to land ratio is what a lot of people use. If you have a water section that is 2-3 inches deep Tetrafauna make an aquatic heater that is designed for turtles and frogs with a cover over it so the frog can't get burned when they touch it. That will heat the water which is usually where they spend most of their time. But like I said unless your house is especially cold like in some places like Arkansas you usually don't need additional heating for firebellies. Those little guys are pretty durable. Just be careful of any mosses or small pebbles the frogs could accidentally ingest. They can be crazy eaters. A heatmat is not needed with firebellies. Your normal light fixture should warm up the tank enough so that you wont need additional heating. Get a thermometer for the water to find out what that temp is.

[Mushrooms]

The information on heating Fire Bellies really is conflicting. If the room they are in can maintain them at 20-22C then from my personal experience that suffices, it seems to be where they are most comfortable and active. I've had mine higher before (around 26-27) with a heat mat on the side of the tank and they didn't seem to keen and just sat looking dried out and grumpy. They are pretty active down to about 15C though i don't think it's fair to keep them at that just because they can cope. So yeah if they require it to be comfortable then keep the mat on it wont be doing them any harm.

Originally i used the loose kind of sphagnum moss that is dried out and then you put it in warm water to make it swell - but did away with it quite quickly. They are such clumsy eaters they were getting mouthfulls of the stuff. I then had them soley on coco bark but it was just to messy, getting it on themselves, the tank and in the water. Now i use live moss which i grow myself in trays - started from a batch i pulled out of my grandmothers lawn. I have a layer of cocofiber and then carpet it with the moss (and bits of grass or random clover that occasionally grows in it) It seems to suit both me and my fire bellies just fine - it remains moist, they can dig down into it, it's easy to skim off the top of the water when they drag it in, holds moisture well. They don't eat it like they do loose moss or soil and to top it off if looks nice.

I'm sorry if you read this and it reads to you as a complete ramble