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

[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.

[DonLisk]

68 to 70 degrees is fine for your night temps, and as Brit said, putting a small heat pad on one side of the tank will give them a choice of how warm they want to be.

You viv should have a day to night temp change and yours sounds fine at the temps you stated.
You don't want colder than 68 and that is where the heat pad will come into play.

[Kisa]

Ok I see, thanks for the info that was very helpful. Don's right your temps sound fine to me, the thing I'm worried about is the fact that the frog won't wake up unless the moonlight is out...

Did you get there frogs from a pet store or a breeder? The reason I ask this is because I use Exo Terra Night Glo lights in both of my vivarium and have not had this problem. These lights are supposed to simulate actual moonlight and don't give off enough light for the frogs to think that it's day time...very strange.

If you're frog grew up in a pet shop where they turned the lights off completely at night then the moonlight may be confusing, but other than that I can't think of anything that could be causing this situation. Maybe continue to do what you're doing, turn off the light when the frogs are supposed to wake up, let it roam around and a little later turn the light back on. Watch it closely, if it goes back to sleep when the light is back on it'll be hard for you to train it to think that the bulb is moonlight so...I suggest getting a small tank heater to healp with the heat and leave the lights out of it. Also be careful, I have an Exo Terra Medium with a hood light like the one described and it only takes 26w bulbs in each slot, I wouldn't go over that wattage or the lamp could blow out, which obviously would be bad.

Now I want to address the wood chips...can these fit into your frogs mouths? If so I would say remove them immediately. It is very possible that one of the frogs was hunting and accidently ate one of these wood-chips and either choked or died from impaction. We warn when building vivs not to use wood chips or small stones (that can fit in your frog's mouth like gravel) because if eaten they can prove fatal. I would remove the wood chips anyway, even if they can't fit inside the frog's mouth, just in case.

Frogs are an expensive hobby my friend...I have four and I believe I have spent over $500, maybe closer to $700-$1000 on setting everything up and making them comfortable. If you're not ready for the expenses, frogs probably aren't for you. Though keep in mind I didn't do my set ups the cheap and easy way, I unknowingly went the harder route. Not to mention that when I bought my first frog he was very ill and I had to spend over $100 on vet bills and medication to keep him alive. He made it through though, so I'm grateful for that.

I hope some of this has helped you, pictures of your set up would also be really helpful, so I can see the size of the wood chips and the placing of the hides and everything else. You have a small water dish in the viv with them right? All tree frogs need a water source, they drink through their skin after all. XD

[Shorte85]

Hello Don and Brit, thanks for getting back with me. I appreciate it!

Well, I took a few pictures for you of the terra and I hope that helps out. As far the frog that died, I know it didn't die of a accidental ingestion of wood chips because I didn't have any in the tank at the time. The only thing I had in the tank was cocoa fiber and a piece of brown paper towel at the bottom wet because I didn't exactly know if the cocoa fiber was going to stick to the frogs or not if they happen to roam on the floor. So the wood chips came in after the other frog died. Also the pet store I got the wood chips from said that it should be alright to use. I'm so confused because it seems like I keep getting mixed information as to what is good for the frogs and etc. Kind of frustrating if you ask me. lol

Checked the hood and yep, you were right Brit. Right now I just have a 25w sun glow in there and a 5.0 uv reptic bulb on the other side which I'm not sure the wattage is for that, I could probably read what it is on the exo terra site. But right this minute I do not know that answer. I'm thinking about taking it out to see how the sun glow bulb by itself does and see if it keeps the temp up. But not sure how it will do on it's own as far as the sun glow 25w.

As far as the frogs, I was told they are about a year old and they are wild caught but before the store got them the captor had them for a month and had them doing well. They had three of them, and I bought two and that is when I brought them home and one died and the other is doing great so far. Now as far as how the person housed them when s/he had them for about a month is beyond me. I think I'll probably just do what I did last night. Turn the moonlight on just before I go to bed to keep the temps leveling out at night.

Here are some pictures of the viv setup I have going on. Also, sorry but some of the pictures are sideways, lol.... If you break your neck, don't hurt me. LOL
















Also I took a picture of him roaming around, him and I were having a very funny staring contest. I had fun, ha! But here is a picture, it's a bit dark.... But you can definitely still see him and his red eyes. lol



Hope all this helps, pictures and all.