Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Froggers,
I am throwing this out there because I am a bit dumbfounded. I , myself, am somewhat new to “forums”. I am not , by any means, a computer guy. But I have to ask if anyone has passed along the thought of doing a topic search before posting. I have been guilty of not doing a search and felt a bit silly asking the same question that someone else posed only a few months before mine. I know it is much quicker to just type in a question or thought and press “post”, but think about this. Many of the topics being brought up have been brought up time, and time again. Think about what happens when someone makes a post with the topic of mixing species. Mixed tanks have been brought up many times. There are many different points of view on the topic. Not every single point of view holds as much water as the next , but I would actually like to see as many people voice their opinions on the topic as possible. What I would not like to see is the same question asked by a different person each week , answered by the same person or two. I know for a fact that if someone typed in a search for mixed tanks they would be swamped with posts. Would’nt it be nice to type in a search and find one nice , long, thread, with a discussion instead of an answer. If the same topics keep coming up again, and again, and again, there is going to be very little serious help from people who are willing to type the same answer over and over. I have to wonder sometimes when a member has posed a question and the answer to that very question is exactly three posts below his/her question. There are a number of very intelligent , experienced , froggers posting in this forum. I think the above mentioned concern may be causing many of these froggers to take this forum with a grain of salt. I have no problem doing the same if the majority of the members feel there is nothing wrong with habitually posting the same topics again and again. I think that it hinders the learning process greatly and therefore the “hobby” suffers. I would just like to know the mind set of this forum. Each are very different. I believe this is a true problem that, with a little , tiny bit of “watchdogging,”could be corrected. I would love to get some input.
Thanks,

Rich
www.fryebrothersfrogs.com

Rich-- I have a different attitude toward this. Every new person needs personal attention, whether or not they have read all of the posts. They want to feel like they are talking to a real live person that cares for their personal problem, even after doing a search. I am willing to answer the same old redundant questions a thousand times, within my ability to do so. I'll say the same thing over and over again, just because I'm saying it to someone newly interested in this hobby, and each needs some kind of personel contact to another person. Even if the answers are the same if they look it up in the past posts and archives, it makes a difference if someone answers them personally. The people who ask questions on forums don't want a care-sheet; they want personal attention. The forum is here to answer questions and encourage newcomers to the hobby. They want to talk to someone about it. They can't talk to the archives or to the care-sheets they look up.

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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
4 P. terribilis
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus

Grain of salt it is.

Rich

rich, i know a swamp where i could get my own peat moss, would you do this if you could, rather than order it from another country, and wait weeks for it? and you said in another post that a false bottom
is creating a void, that could instead be filled with other things.
I was wondering the peat bricks you use, do you soak it in water or does it come apart easy? and does it grow, or do you replace it every so often, with fresh? thanks for any comments!

Corpse,
No, I do not think it is a wise idea to mine your ouwn peat brick.
Check out the Vivaria NL site that I cut a pasted.
They are carried at good herp shops.

Rich

rich, i would love to see some of your set ups! Why is it that you wouldn't collect wild peat moss? And how do you have your terrariums set up, clay pellets, then just peat brick?
I have the terra-lite clay pellets, screen, and a mix of 1/2 coco bedding, and 1/2 tree fern fiber. But i seem to have a problem of having to drain water from the bottom , about once a week.

Corpse,
Hi, I did not get your name.
We have some viv pics (that should be updated )on our website.
We use mostly peat brick with a very small amount of Hydroton. I do not like false bottoms that do not have a ciculation water feature, too many things can go wrong. Again, I am not a viv pro ( there are pros out there with great viv sites) , I look out for the health of the Darts first, which is one of the reasons I would not mine my own peat. Too many chances for something nasty to be introduced to your nice , new viv.

Rich
www.fryebrothersfrogs.com

So why does store bought peat have no nasties in it if mined peat has nasties in it? Isnt it all mined out of the ground?

BTW thanks for the earlier clearing of peat vs peat moss. I am still thinking that the peat bricks probably come from spagnum moss bogs, even if they don't call them peat moss. Doesn't most of that stuff come from Scotland peat bogs?

Todd,
I would not use something I dug up out of my backyard be it moss, wood, stones, gravel, whatever, unless it was able to go through an autoclave ( I am thinking about starting a thread on meadow plankton , and my fears of external contamination).
Just as aquarium gravel has been refined/processed , peat brick has also gone through a process.
Peat brick may indeed come from Scottish bogs. I am not sure. The material seems to be a bit thick and heavy to be from sphagnum , but I am not expert on the entire proses . I do know it comes from Europe.
I suggest that if we are going to talk more about peat brick, we should go back to the thread the topic was introduced. That way someone can do an archival search in the future.

Rich
www.fryebrothersfrogs.com

I will note one thing about searching the archives in the forum now: when the old version of this website was operational (no, I'm not waxing nostalgic, but this is the "upgraded" forum), you could perform a keyword search of the arrow frog forum only, and it would come up with results in the text of threads. Yes, those were the days.

Now (well, the last time I tried it a few months ago), the search brings back topics from all of the forums, making it much less helpful for some trying to search on dart specific info.

On the other topic of processing peat, I would be interested to hear how store bought peat bricks are processed to make them less harmful to frogs than peat bricks dug out of a bog locally.

Further, I would strongly recommend against putting rocks in an autoclave unless you want to ruin the autoclave. Pv=nrt.
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Purveyor of Trivialities and Fine Nonsense

I think it is such a waste of time when i try to find something and it brings me 15 pages all from differant forums, i really don't have the time for that.

I have to agree. When the forum switched to the new format, I asked the admins whether the old ability to search a particular forum was still possible. I was told that the feature at that time was not available, but they were working on getting that operational. It sure would be nice to have that function again.
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Purveyor of Trivialities and Fine Nonsense

here is a link to a post that I just put up about this specific forum searching. Try it and let me know if it works for you.

PHFlame
Pethobbyist Host
Specific Forum Searching

Hi Homer,
To answer your peat question ( which I thought we were going to opine on in the appropriate thread ) , I said that peat brick went through a process . I did not say it was sanitized or sterilized or processed into an edible product. It is commercially processed. I , would love to tell you the exact process involved, but I can not . I do know that if I were given the chance ( after using peat brick in around 70 tanks) to mine my own peat out of a bog, or pay the $5 or $6 dollars per tank to have a product that has never infested any of our tanks with any nasties, well, not a tough choice. If you could tell me a benefit of do-it-yourself peat mining Homer, I would love to hear it.

To answer your suggestion of not putting rocks in an autoclave, You may also want to point out that my backyard moss, and meadow plankton should also not be run through an autoclave , Homer. I said that I would not want to use anything I dug up in my backyard UNLESS in COULD be run through an autoclave. Was that a safety tip for those who opperate autoclaves ?

Rich

wwwfryebrothersfrogs.com

Rich,

I think I hit a nerve with my post on substrate since your post quickly followed mine!

I have to say that to some degree I whole-heartedly agree with you...the same old post on "which are the best beginner frogs" and "what is the best substrate to use" do get alittle tiresome. I think that people absolutely should read back through the posts and do seaches through the archives to get info on topics that have been beaten to death. There is great info in these archives.

That being said, I agree with Patty that people do want to feel like they are getting individual attention, and like it or not many of the posts will be redundant. My question on substrate, for instance, was maybe not phrased in the best way, but my intent was to target someone who has tried many different products and has through trial and error come to "the best". I have read alot of info on substrates, but I was still at a loss for what is "the best", hence the post (I guess just a variation of a tired question).

The thing to remember is that as weeks and months pass, great information in long threads can get buried in the archives like treasure in the sand. Even with some research, this info is not always easy to find. For instance, great info on lighting may be hidden way down in a discussion entitled "help me set up my first vivarium", which some may overlook. I think a great thing to do is to save those particulary long and detailed message that we occassionally have the urge to type, then just cut, paste, and repost so newcomers and old-timers alike have the opportunity for a refresher. Otherwise, politely pointing someone to an old thread is another way around answering the same old messages.

As always, I appreciate everyones help and expertise.

met,
I guess I would just like to see some attempt made to do the slightest bit of research before asking a question opined on three days prior (or less in many cases). I am not, at all ,trying to stifle any valid questions or help with problems. But some of these questions that enjoy a "personal touch" can, and almost have to, be answered in a cookie cutter style. There are just not that many ways to say "five gallons per frog". I am very hesitant to admit this , but I am one of the minorities who believe there IS such a thing as a dumb question (or at the very least , the way it is posed). But I will never try to stop anyone from free speech. And in the same spirit I have to speak my mind.
I get the message and will (as mentioned earlier) take this matter and forum with a grain of salt. Please read my post with the same frame of mind.

Rich
www.fryebrothersfrogs.com