My Top 10 Beginner Mistakes

Marty71 · #1 (**permalink**) 02-01-2007, 02:55 AM

So I have been at this for three months and have somehow managed to keep 4 cobalts and 2 azureus alive (not mixed so please don't hurt me), but it hasn't been without making just about every single mistake in the book. With that in mind I thought it would be kinda cool to post my top 10 mistakes and hopefully get everybody to chime in on their own (so I don't feel so stupid and others won't make them)....

10. Great stuff without gloves. Knew I was screwed when I checked the label on how to get it off, and all I could find was the huge warning "Wear gloves".

9. You do not need to give your frog the heimlich (sp?) when it looks like it's choking. It's called shedding, and albeit disconcerting, it's normal.

8. Give yourself access to your in tank waterfall pump. My waterfall looked great. Now my dry cliff looks great.

7. Seal off every inch of your false bottom, back wall etc. Enjoyed my 30 gallon viv for three solid hours after I put the Tincs. in. Enjoyed it again 4 days later after I drained it, tilted it, shook it and broke part of the false bottom. Hole was the size of a quarter.

6. Start cultures and figure it out b4 the frogs. I was lucky, when I got my tincs the Black Jungle guys hooked me up with some free cultures. I still managed to find myself a month later shaking every last fly out of their cultures, as well as my new failing ones.

5. Do not use acrylic for a makeshift top. It's great for a week, until it bows and you wonder why you bothered cutting it so precisely. Good news, in a week it should be bowed enough that my son can pretend it's a canoe in the tub.

4. If your tank isn't sealed tight, don't feed hydei. Spouses, significant others don't see melan. that well, but the hydei are not exactly escape artists. They sit on the curtains, top of tanks, bureaus etc. and gloat that they got out.

3. Mold isn't the end of the world. From everything i have seen and read it goes away (still waiting on the 30 gallon grapewood) and isn't harmful. If you don't believe me search and find the once a week panic mold new post...

2. Have a better plan to catch and relocate your frogs then 12 newcastles and now seems like a good time. Turns out not only are they sneaky, they are fast as hell and don't view freedom the same way Hydei do.

1. Don't get demoralized when you realize you could make it a top 20 list....

Hopefully this is helpful, as a relative newcomer with little to offer i wanted to try and bring something to the table....

Marty

Enlightened Rogue · #2 (**permalink**) 02-01-2007, 03:02 AM

Great post, we`ve all been there. I still am

John.

MegophryidaeMan · #3 (**permalink**) 02-01-2007, 03:03 AM

I had a very difficult time makeing fruit fly cultures at first and think that was the hardest part for me. lol I think I spent more money on cultures and supplies than I did the frogs because it was so difficult to figure out the timing for me. It was either feast or famine at first. lol

Curt61 · #4 (**permalink**) 02-01-2007, 03:29 AM

Hey, I am still in this phase :roll: I have learned that plexy glass does not stay stiff under humidity and heat. Hardware cloth does not hold a 3 foot long corn snake in a cage.... hardware cloth and 3 lbs on top does not keep my cornsnake from getting out, 6lbs of weight on hardware cloth does not keep my cornsnake in the cage.....But 20 pounds works

I think I might need a new lid...
Mice reproduce alot faster then the snake can eat them...(especaily when you have 8 females and 1 male)
Fiddler crabs do not like to stay in the water feature...

Always have a viv set up for a while before you put frogs in...they tend to find places under the moss to go. (same with lizards)

Never expect your mom to do everything right when you are gone for a few days.
FF's always find small cracks to get out of...
Anoles can fit out of the crack that happens when the plexy glass warps up in the corners...
Well I think thats enough stupid things I have done in the last 2 months.

Hope this helps some of you out, Curt

amphibianfreak · #5 (**permalink**) 02-01-2007, 12:25 PM

Marty,

Grape wood molds in wet/humid environments worse than any other wood. The mold may never go away...

Marty71 · #6 (**permalink**) 02-01-2007, 01:03 PM

I had a feeling, thanks Matthew. I'm going to give it another week or so because it looks really good in the tank (except for the fact that it's gray)but it's been long enough that it probably should have gone away by now.

titan501x · #7 (**permalink**) 02-01-2007, 01:33 PM

if u've got a problem with mold, then release some springtails in it.

Marty71 · #8 (**permalink**) 02-01-2007, 01:45 PM

Thanks. I am going to give them a shot when it warms up a little (didn't have much luck getting insects shipped in December), but it may be like changing the oil on a car with a blown engine at this point.

I haven't completely given up, but it's been a while. Here's a good post on the grape wood mold....

http://www.dendroboard.com/phpBB2/viewt ... +wood+mold

I appreciate all the mold help, but still interested in others mistakes, I am sure I have plenty left to make and still lookin to cut down on teh future ones...

defaced · #9 (**permalink**) 02-01-2007, 03:04 PM

Top two mistakes:
Not doing enough research.
Not asking enough questions.

zBrinks · #10 (**permalink**) 02-01-2007, 03:24 PM

Marty, once the springs get reproducing (have to see if your frogs dont do them all in first), theyll take care of any mold that you have.

My top mistakes:
- expecting to be able to see very frog anytime I look in the viv for the first 2 weeks, and thinking that just because I cant, one must be dead/injured.
- thinking 65w of Cf lighting would do what I wanted on a 46g bowfront
- not including a water feature in my first viv, and overplanting horribly