Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I work at a childrens museum taking care of their animals. We have a Whites tree frog in a 25 gallon tank. The tank was poorly set up and it is difficult to clean. I am looking for ideas and pictures as to how I can redo the cage. I'd really appreciate any advice.

could you give a little more information about how it's set up at the moment?

I find that my tank requires very little work to take care of. I have a base of organic, non-treated potting soil (about 1 inch) covered with about a half inch or so of moss. above that I have some logs for the frog to climb on, a water dish, a few smooth stones and some live plants which are planted at the level of the soil.
To take care of the tank, I only need to rinse the water dish daily (which takes slightly longer than five minutes) and every 10 days or so I spend about an hour or so cleaning the contents of the tank. I rinse the logs and rocks with boiling water, rinse the moss. (the moss is initially dehydrated when you buy it, so its possible to rinse it without it falling apart) and wash the sides of the glass with water.

I don't really know what you mean by a low maitenance setup, but I would consider my setup to be one. any live animal requires a certain amount of work to keep healthy.

hope this helps.

The tank right now has gravel which I know is bad. It has one plant and no logs to climb on. There is a pool of water in one corner but the water covers the bottom of the whole tank. I only take care of the animals once a week. I do a little spot cleaning and feed them. About three times a year I clean the entire cage. That is what I mean by low maintenance. I have heard of cages that required little to no cleaning.

well its probably a good idea to fully clean the tank at least once a month because the frog is going to deficate and some of the food is going to die. the waste and dead food can lead to disease which can severely hurt the frog. you're probably better off having a bowl of water in there instead of the water covering the bottom of the tank, so you can just empty the bowl daily as opposed to emtying out the tank.

so to wrap things up.
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a more naturalistic approach.
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cover the bottom of the tank with about .5inches of non-fertilized soil.

plant some live plants in the tank if you like (they provide good shade for the frog). petstores i.e. petco sell live plants for a few dollars each.

then place a bowl on top of the soil for water.

cover the soil completly with the moss.

place some logs/smooth sticks at varying levels for the frog to climb on. (they are aeboral, meaning they like to climb up.)

this setup is pretty easy to maintain and the frog will be realativly happy. you can use a 40w bulb from the hardware store to add some heat/provide light for the plants, but make sure it stays humid enough in the tank so the frog is comfortable.

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or
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you could cover the tank bottom with "reptile carpet" and place the water bowl on top of it and add some sticks and logs for the frog to climb on.

this setup is a bit easier to maintain, but the frog may not be as happy.