Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Welcome to kingsnake.com's message board system. Here you may share and discuss information with others about your favorite reptile and amphibian related topics such as care and feeding, caging requirements, permits and licenses, and more. Launched in 1997, the kingsnake.com message board system is one of the oldest and largest systems on the internet.

Click for 65% off Shipping with Reptiles 2 You
Click for ZooMed
Click for 65% off Shipping with Reptiles 2 You
hopalong Sep 11, 2005 01:48 PM

So my new breeding trio are in a temp tank with papertowels and some sphagnum moss on the bottom. Some cork hides, fake aquarium plants and small pod for water. I've had darts before but this time I got a really whispy white mold growing on a piece of the cork bark and the pod. I can just rinse them off and boil them or bake them and it should go away right? I've never had mold on cork bark before! The frogs are great but I forgot how much I hate fruit flies... They get everywhere no matter what I do. Springtails are probably less annoying right?

Thanks!
Nicole

Replies (2)

pastorjosh Sep 16, 2005 03:41 PM

Mold is normal as things equalize. You need some live plants to equal things out. Or else the poop just builds up.
-----
Josh Willard
www.joshsfrogs.com

slaytonp Sep 16, 2005 07:01 PM

As Josh says, mold is normal, but I'm afraid you will need to put up with fruit flies as a mainstay diet unless you want to raise crickets instead, which is much more problematic. Springtails are very good accessory fodder, but they are very tiny and it takes a lot of them to fill a hungry frog. While they probably have more natural calcium than fruit flies, they are impossible to dust for other vitamins, especially D3, that is essential. You could also supplement with rice flower beetle larvae.

My family has just gotten used to putting up with escaped fruit flies. They even get into my computer keyboard, my wine glass, my ears, and have been discovered hopping around in the salad bowl. They don't carry disease, are harmless, so we just brush them aside or just eat them and pretend it's pepper. Putting a shallow dish of vinegar near each tank may capture some, and keeping a piece of fruit such as an orange slice inside the vivarium may hold them from immediate escape, but I frankly don't bother.
-----
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
2 D. azureus
4 P vittatus

Site Tools