Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey all,
I got a couple of retf's the other day, and I was wondering what brand of Fertilizer is safe in a vivarium containing these little guys?

You generally don't need any, frog poop tends to suffice. Even people with giant terrariums generally don't add any fertilizers.

not to shoot down the previous response to your question, but leaving "frog poop" in the terrarium to biodegrade is not exactly the best way to go about kepping healthy soil. when ever possible you should spot clean for fecal matter, this helps to eliminate the possibility of mites, fungus and mold, which are attracted to the decaying biomatter. as for fertlizer types, you don't really need anything unless you have a large planted terrarium/vivarium. i generally leave the soil the plants are bought in, unless you unfimilar with the methods of keeping and growing your garden center uses. if you beleive you require a fertlizer, then check out www.blackjungle.com, they sell dyno-grow fertlizers, which are animal safe and work quite well. i use it in my large planted vivariums.

not to shoot down the previous response to your question, but leaving "frog poop" in the terrarium to biodegrade is not exactly the best way to go about kepping healthy soil.
-I assumed that since he had red eyes he would be misting pretty heavily which would wash the fecal matter into the substrate.

i generally leave the soil the plants are bought in, unless you unfimilar with the methods of keeping and growing your garden center uses.
-Your garden center uses organic soil and without any Styrofoam pellets? That’s awesome! I’ve been looking for an organic center, which place do you go to? Im getting sick of washing off every plant and then repacking.

if you beleive you require a fertlizer, then check out www.blackjungle.com, they sell dyno-grow fertlizers, which are animal safe and work quite well. i use it in my large planted vivariums.
-As regarding the safety to quote Brent Brock from Dendroboard.com “As far as "safe" fertilizers, on one hand there are no safe plant fertilizers because they all contain nitrogen that is toxic to the frogs. On the other hand, they are ALL safe because they ultimately supply the same nutrients and so long as the nutrients are not released in such a way as to produce toxic spikes, then there is no problem. Even pure ammonia could safely be applied to a vivarium if it were diluted properly and added at a suitable rate.”

there is no need to be defensive, i was not saying you were wrong, just that i have a different opinion based on my experience.
misting combined with the added heat source from a red eye tank can speed up the biodegredation process to some extent, but will still the tank open to fungi growth; and bacteria/parasite growth and attraction. feces left in the soil in large quanties can cause high amounts of bacteria growth and can lead to infections such as red leg, which can be aquired by treefrogs while hunting on the ground.
i live in western new york and obtain my plants from rudolf galley and sons nursery, where they use no styrofoam, just organic fertlizer, with low nitrogen and high phosphorus and potassium levels, and they add sand to the soil for airation instead of styrofoam.
i gave black jungle as a reference for fertlizer because i have used dyno-gro many times in my terrestrial amphibian tanks without any complications at all.
Tell me something, would you add ammonia straight up to a semi-aquatic terrarium where the water and land mix freely, because i have added dyno-gro to such a habitat, again, without any issue to any of my amphibians or fish. and i can guarentee you ammonia would have killed all who came into contact with it.

In all honesty I'm not being defensive I just disagree with you about certain things. I do think spot cleaning is important. But I think people have this view that they can create a germ free environment without bacteria or any normal life processes. This is simply not the case. Regardless we are just internet philosophizing, we have no idea about the size of his tank. For all we know he could have 300 gallon terrarium fully setup, or more likely he has a 29 gallon tall in which case I hope he is doing more than just spot cleaning.
And no I would not add ammonia straight up to anything, not even to clean my bathroom, id be burning my hands off. There is no need to add any to the average terrarium. But dilute it enough, which is what dyno-gro is, nitrogen in ammoniacal form drastically diluted, you could.

close a 35 Oceanic Hex Lizard Lounge, with 2/3 Moss covered Cypress the other 1/3 is Water, with a waterfall over Mopani. I have planted all my plants straight into the substrate which is why I'm wondering about fertilizing.

What type of substrate do you have? ABG soil mix or just a milled coco husk mix? If your plants are doing well and the moss is growing well, I would avoid adding fertilizer. I wouldn't be surprised if fertilizer would burn the moss. Spot clean the poop and mist the places that they did. How long have you had it set up? Frankly don't mess with success.