Substrate for Grays

[McLaura]

I am in the process of building a permanent home for my two gray tree froglets, and was planning on using moss as ground cover, but it seems that most people use cocofiber or some other substrate that allows for burrowing. I will be using the Atlanta Botanical Gardens substrate mix underneath the moss, so should i just leave a section bare so they can bury themselves?

[John]

That's a good idea. Are you sure that substrate mix does not contain any artificial additives that might harm your frogs?

[Kurt]

My guess that it probably doesn't as the Atlanta Botoanical Gardens does a lot of frog conservation projects. Ron Gagliardo developed this mix during his tenure at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens.

[Tom Highum]

Yeah I have heard people recommend it.

[McLaura]

Thanks for the advice! I've read a bit in other forums that the ABG mix is good for frogs, so I thought I would give it a go. The ABG mix is 2 parts tree fern fiber, 1 part peat moss, 2 parts cocofiber, 1 part charcoal, and 2 parts orchid bark. I just bought it pre-mixed, but it should be fairly easy to make it yourself.

[Tom Highum]

hmm charcoal does that filter water that drains through?

[Ra]

In my experience with naturalistic terrariums, wether they contain animals or not, the only thing that activated charcoal really does is eliminate bad odors. But here's the catch, if your terrarium smells bad, then youtr terrarium has a problem. Simply masking or absorbing the smell doesn't eliminate the problem.
Gray Tree Frogs are small and hardy and rather undemanding, so I would personally suggest that a naturalistic terrarium be constructed for them, with or without a water feature.
I use pea sized river rock or medium sized river rock as a drainage material. Over this I lay out one to two layers of sheet moss (you can also use air conditioner filter) which keeps the additive free topsoil from leeching into the drainage material. Before adding the soil I place whatever drift wood or cage furniture into position. Add the soil, position your plants either potted or planted directly into the soil, and then I cover either parts or the whole of the soil with live moss. I typically never use more than three different species of moss per terrarium.
Voila, with a low level flourescent plant light you have yourself an easy to keep and maintain naturalistic terrarium that could a considerable amount of time before it needs to be broken down and cleaned compleyely (I usually do this annually)
For cleaning I spot clean for waste material and wipe the glass. The living moss and perhaps a small colony of sow bugs will help keep things clean.

[Wambli]

My grays... love to burry themselves in the peat moss... then when I sprits the tank in the morning with the water they pop out of the soil and climb the glass to the upper tree limbs and sit all day... I wonder if they hunt the crickets when it gets dark and then burrow in for the night.

[McLaura]

From what I've read, the charcoal in the ABG mix doesn't do a whole lot, so it could be left out. What makes it popular from what I've seen is that is is good at drainage, good for plants, and doesn't decompose like soil, so that's why I went with it.

My current plan for my vivarium is this: it is a medium Zoo Med terrarium, and on the bottom I will have a false bottom made out of egg crate for drainage, a screen of some sort over that to keep the ABG mix out of the bottom, then the ABG mix, topping it all off with live moss and a small area of exposed ABG mix for them to burrow. I will have a rocky background on the back wall carved out of foam and cemented to look natural, with water trickling down the rock into a little pond for them to soak in. I will have live plants and mosses on the rock and in the substrate, as well as a couple of pieces of cork bark for them to climb around on. So far we're just getting started on carving the rock background, but I'll keep you updated on the progress.

[SludgeMunkey]

Aye, skip the carbon in the ABG mix and go replace it with fir or cypress bark. I like to throw a hand full of play sand and some leaf litter into the mix too.

Another trick I learned with it is the tree fern fiber. Get the fine ground if you can. If you cannot, soak it in water for a few days and run it through a food processor to make it a finer consistency. Otherwise, it is a bunch of short little "twigs' that can be a real pain to work with.

[Tom Highum]

Thanks