Back into the vivarium game

589 Views 18 Replies 10 Participants Last post by Peany11, 14 d ago

sp.moss

Discussion Starter · 21 d ago (Edited)

Hello dendroboarders, after a year disappearing, I’m back into the vivarium building and this time, I’m getting a dart frog. Already build a viv, so many questions and having a problem to solve before getting one in, but first I’ll share my build journey.
I’m to planning to get either a tinc. azureus or an oyapok
This probably will be a long post.

THE BUILD
About 2 months ago i already buying things to build the vivarium. I’m reusing the 18 cube since thats the very bare minimum for getting a dart frog from what i research in here and planning getting only one frog.

Extinction Jaw Organism Wood Art

To fill the negative space, i found this driftwood which have a unique shape like ramp for frogs to climb. I want to maximize the floor space and the driftwood cover around 5 percent

Rectangle Wood Road surface Flooring Gas

For background, i use tree fern panels, quite ugly but easily apply than using a sprayfoam and carve and putting silicone

Wood Rectangle Art Picture frame Artifact

This is my hardscape at its best but decided to not use the driftwood on the left side because I accidentally drop it and break it into pieces.

Plant Houseplant Flowerpot Terrestrial plant Organism

Completed vivarium and planted 2 weeks ago
Plants in:
Philodendron “malay gold”
Neoregelia fireball
Monstera adansonii
Raphidophora tetrasperma

Plant Wood Terrestrial plant Organism Houseplant

This is the vivarium 2 weeks after. I have a feeling that the Raphidophora need to get out and replace it with either another monstera or the malay gold or just the simple pothos.

The viv consists :-
-18 cube exo terra
-Modified top screen, change it with glass top, 1 inch front and 1inch rear.
-Lighting, I’m using a standard 2x aquarium led light

1.5 inch drainage layer with a pipe to drain water at front
1 inch substrate, gradually slope to the back
thick layer of durian leaf litter, boiled and sanitize.
A misting system, set to 20 sec mist with 6 hour interval.

-A coco hut under the driftwood ( the tetrasperma was so big it blocked it in the picture.)
- Seeded with springtails.

Questions:-
1. Should i reduce the lighting to one led light?, since i feel like its too bright.

2. Supplement
Is the exo terra calcium + d3 good for dart frogs?.
I read that the repashy calci plus is great standalone supplement, if so can i use this as the only supplement?.

3. Feeding
How frequent you guys feed them?.
Is it ok to feed them once a week?.

Problems I’m facing
Right now, Malaysia is under a deadly heatwave, the temp in the vivarium is 34 to 36 celsius at day and and constant 34c at night ( about above 90 degrees) which in my understanding, deadly to dart frogs in a long term. Is standing fan enough to cooldown the vivarium or should i invest a computer fan to cool the viv.

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1 - 19 of 19 Posts

Josh loves dart frogs

· #2 · 21 d ago

sp.moss said:
Is the exo terra calcium + d3 good for dart frogs?

Use repashy calcium plus. Just so you know, there are not many frogs that do well by themselves. I keep a pair of r. sirensis in an 18 cube and they seem to be doing well so far.

Socratic Monologue

· #3 · 21 d ago

Josh loves dart frogs said:
there are not many frogs that do well by themselves.

Evidence?

Reactions: 2

JasonE

· #4 · 21 d ago

Josh loves dart frogs said:
Just so you know, there are not many frogs that do well by themselves.

Not in my experience. I've had to keep several tincs and pumilio alone and never saw any negative effects.

Reactions: 1

Josh loves dart frogs

· #5 · 21 d ago

Socratic Monologue said:
Evidence?

I thought I remember seeing a thread mentioning they don’t do well by themselves. I’ll see if I find it. One of my local pet stores said that frogs don’t do well by thenselves, then again they could just be profit driven and would want to sell 2 rather than one.

NorCal Frogger

· #6 · 21 d ago

Are those synthetic tree fern panels?

Socratic Monologue

· #7 · 21 d ago

sp.moss said:
36 celsius

=97F. That temp could be expected to kill a dart frog in a couple hours. If the local climate runs this warm, and the room isn't reliably air conditioned, I think it would not be a good idea to keep darts.

Reactions: 3

JasonE

· #8 · 21 d ago

I can't imagine any amount of fans are going to be able to cool down that tank sufficiently for a dart frog. Bu since you don't have the frogs you can experiment. PC fans aren't going to do you any good though. Look for large tabletop fans and large oscillating fans and point them at the tank. See if you can get the temps below 32 degrees while still maintaining humidity.

sp.moss

Discussion Starter · #9 · 21 d ago

NorCal Frogger said:
Are those synthetic tree fern panels?

Wdym by synthetic tree fern panels?, sorry not trying to be rude here.

sp.moss

Discussion Starter · #10 · 21 d ago

Socratic Monologue said:
=97F. That temp could be expected to kill a dart frog in a couple hours. If the local climate runs this warm, and the room isn't reliably air conditioned, I think it would not be a good idea to keep darts.

That’s why I’m trying to solve the heating problem before getting darts. Not gonna risk bringing them home and roast them alive.

Reactions: 1

Socratic Monologue

· #11 · 21 d ago

sp.moss said:
That’s why I’m trying to solve the heating problem before getting darts. Not gonna risk bringing them home and roast them alive.

Yep. And that's why I recommended air conditioning.

Reactions: 2

brianogrady

· #12 · 21 d ago

sp.moss said:
That’s why I’m trying to solve the heating problem before getting darts. Not gonna risk bringing them home and roast them alive.

What would happen if you used ice water in your misting system?

sp.moss

Discussion Starter · #13 · 20 d ago

brianogrady said:
What would happen if you used ice water in your misting system?

I never thought the idea of using ice water in the misting system, gonna give it a try when i get home.

Reactions: 1

fishingguy12345

· #14 · 20 d ago

brianogrady said:
What would happen if you used ice water in your misting system?

Sounds like a good way to give the for a temperature spike which cold-blooded animals don't tend to do well with.

Reactions: 3

Socratic Monologue

· #15 · 20 d ago

brianogrady said:
What would happen if you used ice water in your misting system?

Well, when my AC quits and it is 97F in my house, and I run the shower cold and jump in, I freak out, get an epic headache, and the temp of the air in the room doesn't change. So probably that would happen.

A frog is small enough (a couple grams) that its body temp might be pretty substantially changed for a few minutes after a cold misting. That would not be a good thing.

Reactions: 2

Harpspiel

· #16 · 20 d ago

brianogrady said:
What would happen if you used ice water in your misting system?

Plants also don’t do well with cold water shocking their leaves, and I believe cold water running through the tubing will cause significant condensation on the outside of the tubing - something to be aware of, it’s why A/C units have drip pans.

Reactions: 4

NorCal Frogger

· #17 · 20 d ago

sp.moss said:
Wdym by synthetic tree fern panels?, sorry not trying to be rude here.

I mean not actully made from tree fern. Sorry I thought it was self explanitory. Tree fern panels are not super sustainable, I have seen synthetic versions before because of this. I guess the answer was no.

Reactions: 1

Hopout

· #18 · 19 d ago (Edited)

sp.moss said:
2. Supplement
Is the exo terra calcium + d3 good for dart frogs?.
I read that the repashy calci plus is great standalone supplement, if so can i use this as the only supplement?.

Exoterra Calcium + D3 is not a suitable standalone supplement as it lacks (preformed) vitamin A, as well as other important vitamins like B and E. Even combining it with Exoterra Multivitamin is inadequate due to imbalanced vitamin values and the use of beta carotenes for vitamin A, which frogs cannot utilize. I'm not sure about your local market, but in my experience, the only suitable supplements I've found are Dendrocare and Repashy Calcium Plus. If you haven't already, I recommend reading this post, which provides more information about supplementation.

sp.moss said:
3. Feeding
How frequent you guys feed them?.
Is it ok to feed them once a week?.

The feeding frequency depends on the type of frogs. For poison dart frogs, juveniles are usually fed daily and adults every other day, always dusting the fruit flies with supplements. Therefore, feeding poison dart frogs once a week would not be sufficient. Attempting to feed them once a week and increasing the number of fruit flies to make them last longer in the vivarium would also not be advisable. An excess of uneaten flies would stress the frogs, and any supplemented nutrients would be lost by the end of the first day.

sp.moss said:
Is standing fan enough to cooldown the vivarium or should i invest a computer fan to cool the viv.

Neither of those options would solve your problem because they do not function in a way that effectively lowers temperatures. Fans only circulate the air; they can only cool objects by aiding water evaporation or carrying away heat for faster dissipation. You could attempt placing frozen water bottles between the fan and the vivarium, but it is unlikely to significantly reduce temperatures in those conditions.
Edit: As others have suggested, the most effective way to keep the vivarium cool would be to use an air conditioner or relocate it to a room with lower temperatures, such as a basement.

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Reactions: 2

Peany11

· #19 · 14 d ago

If the environment is too warm it will be hard to control full time i think.

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