Poison Dart Frogs - my build and general info

originally posted 12-03-2013

Been a while since this guy has had an update too.

For the last 2 weeks he has mostly stopped eating. After research I was left dumbfounded and sent an email to Dr. Frye. I’ve ordered the prescriptions he recommends to have on hand and will start a couple when received.

Prescription list Dr. Frye recommends for all frog owners with today’s prices;
Metronidizole $30 per 100 mLs.
Silversulfadiazene $34 per ounce.
Baytril $24 per ounce
Panacur $16 per spoonful
Shipping costs $11.40 for Priority


Info on each from Dr. Frye.
Metronidizole is an antibacterial, antiprotozoal, and APPETITE STIMULANT.
Silversulfadiazene is a topical antibiotic and antifungal that promotes healing while discouraging scarring. It should be used on ALL skin lesions
Baytril is a strong systemic antibiotic that needs to be mixed carefully. It is mixed according to the size of the frog treated. Only a few drops are used daily.
Panacur is a powdered dewormer. It is very safe and easy to use.
 
originally posted 12-16-2013

Frog may have passed a corner in recovery. After almost the full 2 weeks of meds and a couple days of force feeding, he has eaten on his own a couple days in a row . I’ll have to continue to medicate Panacur weekly most likely for the remainder of the Frog’s existence. As the vivarium had worms when I purchased it, I would have to tear it all down to sanitize and replace everything along with a full QT cycle to remove them.

Too many references and individuals believe there is a natural balance with worms and frogs. If the worms are in check the frog is better off with the worms than going through the medication regiment to treat them. Dr Frye disagrees, stating “Worms are not beneficial to animals.”


The Frog enclosure also now has its own full Apex system. Controlling the ventilation fans, cooling fans, air heater, water heater and overhead lights. It’ll has a temp probe for the water and another for the air. I’m still hoping Neptune will help by building a temp/humidity probe combo. I’ll expand the apex system to also control the Dart frog enclosure. I did add 2 under-tank Zoomed heaters, 16W each. This keep the water quite warm over 75F. The black light 50W heater bulb also helps keep the vivarium temp at 65F and above at night.
 
originally posted 1-09-2014

The building has begun. I’m past the concept phase and am cutting eggcrate. The Tree frog is as good as new again so I’m using the positive results as sign to move ahead with the PDFs. I’m actually going to build a paludarium and not a vivarium. I like the extra water feature but more importantly it’s for the ease of WC and other maintenance. The structure will sit on pillars on a lake with a canal, vs having a solid base of clay balls. This will increase the water volume but does have the risk of allowing frogs to drown, more to come on plans to mitigate the risk.

This build, for freshwater crabs is the one that has given me the most ideas.
http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/parts-construction/97913-first-build-crab-shack.html
 
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originally posted 01-10-2014

a pretty cool vivarium build using the same 36x24x18 exo terra

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/me...57-revolutions-36x18x24-exo-terra-update.html






Cool Video of Leucs (bumble bee) PDF calling

[video=youtube;83Aqa3oEe1Y]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83Aqa3oEe1Y[/video]


And a guy who gives over the top a whole new meaning... (Great link for plant species w/ latin names)

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/members-frogs-vivariums/94867-joshsdragonz-frog-room.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSTvBkbVCqI
 
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originally posted 01-23-2014

Been searching for plant suppliers. So far I’ve amassed this list. If anyone has any more, or has comments/previous experience with any of these, I greatly appreciate feedback.

www.stevesleaves.com/store#!/~/category/id=1497749&offset=0&sort=normal– many plants, but many exotics are out of stock with a note to contact
www.blackjungleterrariumsupply.com/Plants_c_1.html (Maryland)(recommended seller)
www.andysorchids.com - every imaginable orchid (including miniatures) available.
www.glasshouseworks.com – propagate to order (3-9 month lead)
www.joshsfrogs.com/live-terrarium-plants-1.html (MI)(recommended seller)
www.glassboxtropicals.com - many species including exotics (lansing, MI)(recommended seller)
www.facebook.com/GlassBoxTropicals - links to some good info


I won’t be able to order until temps are warm enough, so plenty of time to continue building the vivarium.
 
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The vivarium is progressing along in the mold cycle. The mold is yellow, white, orange, and grey. There is a brown slim covering all of the waterfall wood too. Yummy! Without the fans it stays at 90+% RH. I added the circulation and cooling fans last night. With them all running all night it dropped to 55% RH and I already see a reduction in size of the mold colonies.

Reposting the link to the vivarium build video. It’s just after water was added and the waterfalls was dialed in.

http://www.basementfrogtank.com/3_v...ideo/build_20140204-handbrake-35-prcnt-rf.mp4

View attachment 516


Onto the fish. I think I have the 2 species most likely to be added at some point. As I’ll be using RO/DI for misting the water will be very soft and with the wood tannins, likely acidic. Being small fish I’ll keep a small group as suggested. I’ll likely start with the Gourami and consider the Rasbora in the future. They both should do well with the ample cover, especially once all the plants root through the raised floor into the water. Keeping the bioload very low, hopefully an external canister filter will be unnecessary.

I’ll wait until the system has mold cycled, plants have rooted, pH stabilizes and then add the fish with some instant cycle bacteria.

Sparkling Gourami (Trichopsis pumilus)
http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/Sparkling_Gourami
http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/profiles/sparkling-gourami/

Dwarf Rasbora (Boraras maculatus)
http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/Dwarf_Rasbora
http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/profiles/dwarf-rasbora/
 
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Ok, thread has been for the most part rebuilt (due to the server crash 2014) including almost all of the original photos in correct order.
 
I've had poison dart frogs for the past four years. I did research for over a year and worked on making a realistic terrarium. I made a false bottom and implemented two waterfalls, one curtain and one cascading. The false bottom was nice because you can put an aquarium heater in the water under the gravel and clay balls and it keeps the whole thing warm and humid along with the waterfalls. I also made a false pond so the frogs could submerge and not breed (I had 12 different kinds of dart frogs all living together) as the water collected and drained but was never standing. I also made the background by hand using styrofoam and cutting each layer like a topographic map. A little quickcrete, silicone and non-toxic paint gives you this:
View attachment 606
 
Still got them. They live for years, aren't very expensive, and I've only had to clean the tank once in four years because the soil is inoculated with organisms that break down their micro feces down. I got everything from Josh's frogs. They're super easy, line up to eat every morning and occasionally they make super soft vocalizations that almost sound like an air pump. If u mix species, just make sure they're all communal. They're so fun to watch jump all over the place. In my build I made frog condos throughout the rock work that they love to sit in. Anyone is welcome to come check it out and I can even help with your build.
 
Sorry I took your previous point that you had, but no longer have them. Cool info, glad to hear another positive review of Josh’s frogs. Looking forward to warm weather (NARBC Tinley) so I can get plants and frogs from them.

What species do you keep? People here will most likely be much more accepting of mixing species than on dendroboard, there are some tang police of dendros on the topic.
 
jrpark22000 said:
Sorry I took your previous point that you had, but no longer have them. Cool info, glad to hear another positive review of Josh’s frogs. Looking forward to warm weather (NARBC Tinley) so I can get plants and frogs from them.

What species do you keep? People here will most likely be much more accepting of mixing species than on dendroboard, there are some tang police of dendros on the topic.
Click to expand...

Not sure why I never assumed there was some sort of crossover between here and dendroboard, but I'm nonetheless pleased that I'm not the only crazy person with a mix of aquariums and terrariums. I'll also second the opinion of the extremity on dendroboard of mixing species. Never totally understood their stance on potential hybridization as it would be fairly apparent in the offspring that they weren't purebred (assuming the owner was going to try and sell the offspring). Not to mention it happens quite frequently across nearly every other hobby.
 
Yep a few crazies that do fish and frogs too. With fish a crossbred leads to double or more pricing, with frogs it's looked upon as a Notre Dame bellringer. I see both sides of the argument, just not sure it needs tang police vigilance.
 
The mold cycle is progressing along. The fuzzy mold has started to decline and slime molds are now taking ahold in the water features. Now that most of the tannins have been removed this weekend’s WC made the switch from straight tap water to RO/DI. I’m still tweaking the water features. As the wood saturates the flow pattern changes so it’s slow going. Still no substrate on the false bottom, there is no need to be in a hurry as it’s still some time before I can get plants.
 
I’ve been talking with Mike from glassboxtropicals about plants. What a great guy! Very willing to help share knowledge and even recommend competitors. The end result is I’ll meet up and talk with him at the upcoming NARBC in Tinley. There are no good books on learning the details of growing these tropical plants so short of trial and error it takes picking the brains of SMEs.

I updated the previous post with plant suppliers with the new info.
 
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