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Please critique my first dart enclosure! (And first bioactive!)

5K views 62 replies 11 participants last post by  Kmc 
#1 ·
Hello! I’ve been lurking in this forum for a few months, but have only been able to join now due to some issues with the website. This is definitely a great resource to anyone looking into frogs, and I’m very happy to be a part of it.

This set up will be housing a pair of dendrobates tinctorious “Azureus” and eventually, hopefully, Hawaiian mourning geckos. I will be getting these on February 15th from Josh’s Frogs at the Arlington NARBC expo.

I would like to preface this by saying that I am normally very against mixing species, and I’ve spent enough time persuading people not to keep their redfoot tortoise with their Russians on another forum to be disgusted by the idea most times. However, I’ve been looking into both species for a very long time, and am very interested in the gecko’s ability to rid the enclosure of pests like spiders and maybe even keep fruit fly escapes down. I do, though, accept that this may just be me trying to make excuses for wanting to keep them together, as long as there is no harm in doing it.

Obviously I will be keeping the mournings in a quarantine tank (which I already have set up) for months, at least until they’re full grown. They will also be coming from the same source to reduce the risk of disease spread, and I will always have a vertical 10 gallon set up just in case. I would never want to attempt this without having ample experience with keeping them separately.

I am absolutely open to any concerns, and ESPECIALLY examples of it going wrong. I have not found one myself, but that could just mean I haven’t looked hard enough. I would never want to risk my pets’ welfare, so please, hit me with any potential problems.

It is a “Thrive” brand 18x18x24. Substrate is a mixture of organic topsoil, sphagnum moss, and coconut coir. It has been seeded with dwarf white isopods and springtails.

(Please tell me if the pictures are too low quality, the Tapatalk app won’t let me upload them in full resolution unless I pay a subscription :/)
There is a small water dish under the bridge with 2 pothos cuttings propagating in it, the water is pretty shallow.

Plants that are included-
Pillow moss
Pothos
2 different begonias
A money tree
Ficus pumila
Air plants
Croton
Rosey maiden hair fern
Sweet potato vine
Fittonia “pink vein”
And assorted fairy garden things along with oak leaf litter.

For hides I have a cork flat, a crocodile skull (a little hard to see), and a cute ceramic mushroom birdhouse.

For the mourning geckos, I’m hoping that the pothos and ficus will really grow in by the time I get them in there. The background holds a bunch of cork tubes that they have access to, and I included a little shelf at the top for them to hide under. I have a low wattage lamp that keeps the top right corner at 80-87, and the rest of the tank at 69-74. There’s a very large temperature gradient. I’ll probably add a few more hides for them eventually.

Would you guys recommend having a separate quarantine tank for the frogs, or just starting them in this tank? I have no other frogs, and the only other reptiles in the house are a ball python and bearded dragon, if you’re not counting the Sulcata tortoise outdoors.

Thank you for reading my way-too-long spiel! Please let me know if I missed anything :)


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#60 ·
An inordinately familiar, yet somehow still rather amusing little shitstorm in a blender. "Hears turd plop in, then hears someone hit pulse. Like a dumbass, elects to observe the predictable result." Maybe I'm just bored? Hmm.

I actually liked this most:
People don't always get what they want here, but they usually get what they ask for.
Now that is a fucking keeper. Ha ha ha. Nice.

Anyway, OP, if you're really a months-long lurker here you'll know this is a pretty friendly place. With a few opinions. And a lot of first-hand experience. I gotta say you've taken your friendly beating pretty well. I reckon you're gonna do what you're gonna do. Whatever that is, if you learn something, come back and share it.

Good luck!
 
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