Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am awaiting the arrival of my new RETF and I have the setup all done and just need to add the frog. It is a 10 gallon tall with fake plants. I want to start putting together a 20 gallon that I can just have real plants in. I wanted info from anyone here regarding soil, water, lighting, and which plants are the absolute best for RETF's. Also how many of each should I get and most important where can i get them, online? local garden? etc. Any other tips about live plant terrariums would also be greatly appriciated.

First of all, I have to say that a 10 is too small for a redeye, or most other treefrogs in my opinion. Get that 20 up ASAP. Anyway, I just bought a bunch of miniture bromeliads from peaceofthetropic.com for my clown treefrog enclosure. They are sturdy enough to support a redeyes weight and very natural looking. Im really happy with them. Contact that site and let them know what you are working with. They can usually put together a package for you.

I use a substrate soil mix that I bought at a show. It works well for me. Generally, you want something that will retain some moisture, but also has good drainage. Alot of people use a combination of orchid bark, cocnut husk sphagnum moss and other things suspended above the bottom of the tank. It's known as a false bottom set up. Alot of dart frog enclosures are setup this way. Ask around in some dart frog forums for further info on that.

Your lighting depends on what plants you get and how they are arranged in the tank, but generally, you can do well with some of the plant lights you find at home improvement stores. Good Luck

I've been planning getting RETFs for a while now.
I've done a fair bit of research, and spoken to a lot of breeders and keepers.
Here's what I'm planning on:
A 18"x18"x24" glass terrarium (closer to 30 gallons)
A 6"x11" heatmat underneath the glass, on during the day on a thermostat
A layer of orchid bark and moss peat, shallow at the heat mat, and thicker for the plants - to allow a temperature gradient
A layer of live moss over the top
A medium sized waterfall with a fogger half way down
A peace lilly with broad leaves hanging over the waterfall
A ficus benjamina in the other corner ( Neither potted )
A UV light over the top of the wire mesh, on during the day
A red ir light about 5" above the mesh for the night ( partly for viewing, partly for keeping night temperature up a bit )

I'm starting to set everything up now, and hopefully planting it this weekend. I'm unsure how well it will go with a thick layer of substrate for the plants but thinner for the heater, but I'll see and let you know. I've got to agree that 15 gallons seems a bit small. I'm going to run the terrarium for a few weeks without frogs, then put two retf in once I think it's stable.

A lot of the equipment was exo-terra.
The plants are just normal garden center plants... just make sure they don't spray them, and even if they say they don't, as someone else said, just wash them carefully.

I've hard that they need their water changing regularly, but I'm unsure of how to do this with the waterfall easilly. I guess experience will show me.

Gareth

Hey thank you for the reply's and the information you shared. I was also wondering where can you get coconut husk from, I know I can get bed-a-beats at my pet store but I have never seen any coconut husk. Thanks.

Yeah the bed-a-beast stuff is what I'm talking about.

Gareth, watch out for that water fall. I had one in my white's tank for a while and he loved it. However, he was always finding ways to get into the actual reservoir. I was afraid he would drown so I removed it. Oh, and I have a few ficus in my veiled chameleon enclosure and I think they'll quickly out grow your tank. Just some things to think about. Good Luck

Thanks for the feedback.

Well I spent Saturday planting the terrarium, and Sunday making a cover for the tube that could also support an overhead light.
The temperature is stable straight away, as is the humidity.
I seem to be able to vary both enviromental variables quite easilly, so I should be able to get it just right.
I ended up planting a fairly mature Ficus Moclame, giving some real height until the other two grow, and a young Ficus Benjamina right next to it, leaves hanging over the water.
I put the peace Lilly on the other side of the waterfall, with it's leaves also hanging over.

I'm going to run the terrarium for a week before getting flies,
let them hatch for a week and then get the frogs.

http://www.kodetortoise.com/frogs/terrarium.html

I agree with your sentiment about the waterfall.
The bottom reservoir is completely inaccessible, of that I'm sure.
The one half way down does have a gap there, and it's big enough for a young RETF to fit through, possibly.
I'm going to consider what to do about it... I may put a *very* fine cloth mesh in there, but that would make removing the top half of waterfall for feeding quite hard.
The fogger is in there, so it's very important the frog doesn't get in there - lest he put something on the membrane and burned himself.

I also found that the fogger dramatically raised the water temperature if left on too long. I think I'll have it on for 15 minute intervals only, and only a few times during the day/night.

Any feedback on the terrarium would be appreciated.

Thanks

Gareth
Pics of the Terrarium

Looks nice. Maybe a few more climbing plants/branches in the upper third of the tank. Or maybe your just waiting for the current plants to grow in. It looks nice, I just forsee you doin alot of trimming back. I think those plants might be a bit too large. i know the benjamina is. Check out peaceofthetropics.com. They have great deals on bromeliads of most sizes. They look great in my clown tree frog tank. I'm confused with what you mean by "the mesh in the waterfall will make feeding difficult? Also, let me know what you think of the actual tank. I may get one. Thanks and good luck.

I meant cleaning, not feeding.
The ultrasonic fogger in there is a SoB to get out, cos it only fits in and out one way, and requires turning, pulling then turning again to get it in and out. I expect to get used to it, but right now it's a pain.
Anyway - I have to take the fogger out if I want to get the whole top half of the waterfall out to clean it (Wire for it goes behind the wall).

peaceofthetropics.com is in the wrong country for me.

I've found this terrarium to be very good indeed. The raised doors should stop escaping insects. The backwall has a good space cut into the behind of it on either side for wires, and the top of the mesh above the space for wires has wire collectors, and a sliding cover for unused wire holes.

I use a bit of polystyrene under a heat mat underneath. There's a good space under the terrarium for a heater.

The one thing I found hard was mounting a lamp over the top. The UV bulb could just sit on there, but the lamp for the IR had a clamp that would break the plastic if given the chance.
I made a wooden box to hide the tube and allow the lamp to be mounted.

All in all I'd recommend it, yes.

Gareth