Bert at home

[keith123toad]

Hi
Thanks for your comment!/stomach
I note your view on the dangers of bark and have read reports of impaction! My wife feeds bert by tongs ,she drops the food (usually large locusts) in front of bert and he just grabs and eats them. I appreciate your concern but our local shop sells bark in a package stating that it is suitable for snakes,reptiles and amphibians,I have watched frogs and toads wipe off all manner of substrate using their front legs and feet.
Surely through evolution amphibians have evolved to cope with all manner of natural substrates.
I wonder how many pets die of impaction or is it usually some other digestive condition?
regards
keith

[DonLisk]

Hi Keith.
Actually many amphibians end up visiting a vet due to swallowing a piece of something that will not digest completely before being passed from the stomach. Once entering the frogs mouth, they don't remove it if they can swallow it. Most substrates are suitable for the reptiles and amphibians to live on but digesting is another thing.

Sphagnum moss is a great example of this. Pulling and untwisting a 6 inch piece of sphagnum moss from a 1 1/2 inch frog's rear isn't the funnest thing I've done in the past and it was heart wrenching seeing him in such pain as it wouldn't pass. It was knotted in the stomach and that is a lot softer than bark.

Many get away with using the bark, I myself am not a fan of it for anything that is an ambitious eater.
I would use it with my Red Eyed Tree Frogs but never with my Whites.

Don

[keith123toad]

thanks Don
I appreciate your comments and I would find pulling moss from a frogs backside distressing.
regards
keith

[DVirginiana]

Nice looking frog. Mine would just dig those up, so he gets a plastic aquarium plant.

Ditto to what everyone else is saying about the repti-bark. Coco-fiber costs the same, looks as natural, and is easier for them to burrow into. IMO it's better to go with that than to risk the bark. Petstores often have no clue what is or isn't okay for the animals they keep; the one I got Trevor from keeps them in sphagnum moss. I think their record was having three pacmans die in under one month...

[keith123toad]

Hi D
it appears that spagnum moss has its problems?
Note Don,s reply about extracting moss from a frogs Butt?
Keith