Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I posted this in the WTF forum, but haven't gotten any answers.

I have kept mostly toads and salamanders for a majority of my life, and recently took on an Australian WTF.
Here's my setup before I ask my questions:
-80-85F during the day, 65-75F at night
-between 40%-60% humidity at all times
-Eco-Earth substrate
-I use a 60W redheat bulb at night, and a 75W daylight bulb with UV rays, which I just switched to 2 wks ago after using only the infared one
-the water I have is stale brita filtered water I let sit out for about 3 days
-I am misting the cage twice a day
-I have a waterfall (with screen lining for safety), waterdish, climbing vines, tall fake plants, and hanging vines throughout the enclosure
-the cage is an open air reptarium

Ok, so here's my questions. My treefrog has been brown a lot lately and has been spending a lot of time in his waterdish or waterfall on the ledge. Does this mean I should up the humidity? I've also heard of putting a plastic lining inside the cage to help with humidity, would that be a good idea also? Is the eco-earth safe? I normally use topsoil, but I was told that the eco-earth absorbs humidity better. I saw him eat a little while catching a cricket today. I'm concerned about that. He eats about 4 or 5 1/4" crix per day, and had a small waxworm the other day. The plants I have are fake, and I just read that some tree frogs don't like the feel of fake and pothos plants are good. Is there any truth to that before I rearrange my setup?
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~*Chibi*~
Sir Iggy ( 1.0.0 El Salvador Blue Iguana), Ryo-ohki, Orion, Bud, & Finnegan (3.1.0 crazy kitties), Rosebud (0.1.0 cockerspaniel), Trixie and Kayko (0.1.1 leopard gecko)

I'd up the humidity a little bit, and definatley up the temp. especially the night time temp, maybe go for 85-90 (on the hot side) in the day and 80-70 at night.

I've never heard anything about a WTF not liking fake plants before! but it could be possible... Either way Pothos are great little plants, and they are hard for the whites to destroy, so maybe you could add one? they will help keep the humidity up to!

he seems to be eating ok, but definatley keep an eye on it if his appetite does change. loss of appetite and loss of coloour would probbaly indicate something is wrong (internal parasites...) and he should get a trip to the vet.

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0.2.0. Leo
1.1.0. WTF
0.1.0. Irish Setter
2.1.0. Holland Lop Bunnies
1.1.0. House Cats
Too Many Fish!

Check out my site ~ www.freewebs.com/stephsgeckos

Yeah, he is eating well. I'll try and up the temps and the humidity. I started to think it was because of the sudden drop in temp because I live in Buffalo, NY.
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~*Chibi*~
Sir Iggy ( 1.0.0 El Salvador Blue Iguana), Ryo-ohki, Orion, Bud, & Finnegan (3.1.0 crazy kitties), Rosebud (0.1.0 cockerspaniel), Trixie and Kayko (0.1.1 leopard gecko)

during the summer my temps went were upper 70s at night, and mid-upper 80s during the day. i live in wi and our weather has also turned cold. my temps are now upper 70s during the day and about 70-72 at night. there has been no change in feeding response. my tank is planted with pothos. i dont know what my humidity is, although i assume its high cause of the plants, plus i use a top soil and peat mosst mix for substrate. i also have a glass top on so that keeps the humidity up. i have heard that whites do well with little humidity or with a lot, so i dont think your humidity is a prob. also, your white might be more brown just because of the location he is from. i have one whites that is a blue whites tree frog. ive heard that they are from australia and so therefore stay the real nice green. ive had her for 3 yrs and not once has she been brown. the other i got back in feb. ive seen it green a few times, but mostly its brown. ive heard that whites from the surrounding areas indonesia ( correct me if im wrong) stay a more brown color. also, this one i believe to be male which i have also been told means they they stay more of a brown color. so maybe your whites is male or from somwhere other then australia?

No, that's not it. He's been bright aqua blue like in the picture up until recently. I made sure I got an Australian WTF and looked for 2 months before buying him. He's starting to turn back to blue now after shedding last night. Do they usually get dark like that before shedding?

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~*Chibi*~
Sir Iggy ( 1.0.0 El Salvador Blue Iguana), Ryo-ohki, Orion, Bud, & Finnegan (3.1.0 crazy kitties), Rosebud (0.1.0 cockerspaniel), Trixie and Kayko (0.1.1 leopard gecko)

I think I may have just solved my own problem. I have one of those Exo Terra Open Air Terrariums. (I think it's by Exo Terra.) I had been using non-digital temp/humity gages which ended up being way off. I just got a digi and it turned out that the humidity was ok, but the temperature in the cage was too low. I guess the openness of the cage was causing all the heat to just disappear. I wrapped 3 sides of the cage in plastic wrap and an hour later, my lil froggie is blue again. The plastic might also eleviate the problem of me constantly misting the cage. I planted a few pothos plants, which I just found out I already had two house plants of. My froggie loves them. Thanks for all your help guys!
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~*Chibi*~
Sir Iggy ( 1.0.0 El Salvador Blue Iguana), Trixie (0.1.0 leopard gecko), Buddha (0.0.1 Australian White's Tree Frog)

www.zenreptiles.com

Problem solved!

I'm pretty confident that the temperature was your problem.

You can actually buy pre made covers for those exo-terra cages (all be it they are expensive) they might be a little more durable than plastic wrap.

Lets see some more pictures
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0.2.0. Leo
1.1.0. WTF
0.1.0. Irish Setter
2.1.0. Holland Lop Bunnies
1.1.0. House Cats
Too Many Fish!

Check out my site ~ www.freewebs.com/stephsgeckos

Oh definitely! I'll post some pics of the cage and my cute lil' froggy in a seperate thread.
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~*Chibi*~
Sir Iggy ( 1.0.0 El Salvador Blue Iguana), Trixie (0.1.0 leopard gecko), Buddha (0.0.1 Australian White's Tree Frog)

www.zenreptiles.com