Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone....I have an extra 10 gallon tank that I want to turn into a semi aquatic terrarium for some frogs, toads, or newts..or a mixture if possible? I am experienced with snakes but haven't delt with amphibians before...I would like a nice looking amphibian with a nice lookin tank...Can everyone give me some ideas on how to setup and also some nice guys to start with? Pictures would be a plus!!

Thanks,
Alex

It probably depends on how warm/cool you keep your home, but I think you probably can't go wrong with Oriental Fire Bellied Toads. They can be kept in a semi-aquatic tank or a fully aquatic set up if you provide a floating feature. They're fairly active during the day and may learn to take food from a small stick or even your fingers. They produce a toxin but it's mild, and as long as you don't stick your fingers in your eyes or mouth before you wash your hands, you'd be fine. You don't handle most amphibians much anyway, so I don't think it's much of a problem.

If you prefer to go the semi aquatic route and you want to mix species, you can usually keep fb toads with green tree frogs. They're more nocturnal and don't get in the water, so they don't occupy the exact same niche as the fire bellies. Instead, they hang out near the top of the tank or on vertically oriented plants. Here in northwest Florida, gt frogs are easily obtained from the wild, but you see them in pet stores, too. I've raised mine from tadpoles that were hatched in an unused pool. Right now all but 1 have turned into little froglets (and the last one is about to "graduate" soon), and once everyone is big enough, I plan to add at least one fb toad depending on how many of the tree frogs I keep. I think my 10 gallon tank would be fine for two of each.

Here's my set up: The land area is small river rock gravel piled up on one side with sphagnum and green moss on top. Some pothos and sword plants are in the gravel, and in the water area, which is about 2 inches deep, are some pots of "bog" plants, as well as some anacharis (sp?) that just floats around. I've added some decorative rocks and wood that are safe for aquarium use, and the whole thing looks really cool. The water is maintained with a Tetra Whisper 10i filter, and on top of the hinged screen is a very low level UVB florescent strip light that's on for 12 hours. There's no other heat source. The air temp during the day is around 80 degrees F, with a night drop of 5 to 8 degrees, and the water runs a few degrees cooler than the air temp.

I've heard of people even keeping green anoles in a tank with green tree frogs and fire bellied toads, but I haven't gone this route so far. I'm having a hard enough time trapping the tiny flies the tiny frogs need. I think I need a fruit fly breeding kit.

You could do some newts instead of frogs, but some species of newts need cooler temps and get stressed if it gets hotter than about 80 degrees F, so you'd want to look into this if you live in a warm climate. I have 2 fire bellied newts and had planned to put them in with the tree frogs, but have decided against it due to the warmer needs of the frogs. The newts now will stay in their own tank in one of my bathrooms, where I can keep their water around 70 degrees.

I'm sure there are tons of other options for you, but this has been a nice set up for me so I thought I'd share.

yeah, definetily don't do what he said, fire belly toads have toxins on their skin that may kill whatever else is in there. i wouldn't put fire bellies in in cause i have three and i just have a water dish in theri tank and they are in it less than half the time. i think newts would be your best bet, either fire belly, orange belly or paddle tail, those are the most common. they are semi aquatic and very hardy. there isn't really any lizard thats semi-aquatic that could fit in a ten gallon. you could also consider dart frogs, they are harder adn much more expensive, but AWSOME! they arn't quite semi-aquatic though. thats all i can think of right now, but contact me if you have any more questions!