Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I keep my dart frog terrarium near a window for a natural light source and cycle. Recently I changed my moss out because it was getting kind of old and dingy looking, brownish in color. Now my new moss is doing this too. Is it getting too much light or too much water? I mist a couple times a day, not too heavy but not too light. Please help my moss!

What type of lighting are you using and how long do you have it on each day? What type of moss is it that you are using? It sounds like it is getting too much water but without the the information above its hard to know for sure.

hey, thanks for the response. I'm not using artificial lighting, have a garden window in my kitchen that i set my frog tank in. it gets a good amount of lighting in the morning from the sun and it decreases from there until dark. i have plants in my window so the sunlight is filtered so as to not have too much sun. I don't know what kind of moss i have, it's green and thick like velvet. I have it on a thin layer of soil. in the morning around 10am I get the most light and that's when the tank temp. peaks. probably around 80 degrees for an hour or so. I work near home so i'm able to mist it lightly 3 to 4 times a day.

You need artificial light, a few hours of sunlight is not enough. I would recommend moving your terrarium to a place where it receives only indirect sunlight and equiping it with a flourscent light fixture set to run 12 hours a day. Also you should only need to mist once a day. Hope this helps.

Also, a terrarium that is in the sun can heat up to lethal temps in no time. Is your tank covered with glass or screen? Only glass will keep the humidity high enough (unless you live in Florida), and you will only need to mist once a day. However, the problem could also be the species of moss. If it was collected from the wild, it will require a dormancy period, just like it would get in the winter, only in your tank it won't get that, so it will just slowly decline and die.