Potential N00b! Excited!! (long read)

You are asking good questions and the forum is a great place to find out most of the information. I still recommend getting some of the books on the hobby and reading through those in depth. I think your tank depends on what your end goals is. If you would like a pair of bakhuis I would go with a twenty gallon minimum. Preferably you should go with a front opening zoomed or exoterra or other brand of front opening tank (just makes things easier). Live plants are great, they help maintain humidity and really give the viv a natural look, you can get some from local places or order online, I really like NE Herp. Plan to set up your viv atleast 2-3 months before getting the frog, you want it to grow in and be safe. The false bottom vs hydroton only bottom is up to you, I have both, they have their pros and cons. I don't know what is all in the petco frog kit, but I would imagine you don't need it. There are many supply lists on the board, I would look them up and go through them thoroughly. As for the price on the frog, that is very nice for a gender identified adult tinc, but still make sure to get it checked out by a vet for parasites and infection. Finally leaf litter, leaves from outdoors generally have bugs and other contaminants. Here in phoenix I've been told to bag them in trash bags and leave it outside in the summer to kill it all. You can get them online or find ways to make your own. Hope this helps.

I'll see what questions I can answer. Hmmm...

1) Bakhuis will be fine by herself

2) You can introduce a mate later. In fact, that's what a lot of folks do.

3) 10 gallon would be fine for one frog but you'll want to make bigger ones later.

3.2) Not familiar with it

3.3) I don't know if the kits are good or not but you don't need one.

4) You don't need misters. Many (like me) just use a hand held spray bottle. The false bottom is needed to drain water away from the substrate. The frogs like to be humid but not wet. And your plants feel the same way.

5) The plants are not as tricky as you think. There are lots of viv friendly plants and most of the 'Exotic Angel' plants from home improvement stores are fine.

6) 65 bucks sounds good for an adult Bahuis

7) Leaf litter can be collected from outside. Just need to make sure that they don't come from an area that is sprayed with pesticides or fertilizers or whatever other chemicals.

Welcome!

Welcome,
Lets see if I can answer some of these.

1) Will a Dwarf Tinc. Bakhuis do well by herself?
Should be fine but you will want another after a few minutes.

2) Will I have a problem introducing a mate later on if I choose to?
Most people do this anyway, I'm waiting on my Azureus to be sexable then going to find a mate.

3) Will a standard Ten gallon (horiz) be a good size for her?
You'll be fine with a 10 but should go with a 20 even if you don't get another later.

3.2) or would a petco premium half moon be better?(on sale for $25 that's why I ask)
I wouldn't recommend it, cheap, flimsy, small, would need some work to fly-proof it.

3.3) is the frog starter kit at petco any good?
Not sure what is in it but I would just order from one of the sponsors on here, I think Josh's Frogs has habitat kits which would have almost everything you need to get started.

4) I'm planning on doing my own build (great stuff, that coco substrate rocks/ 'logs' etc)but got overwhelmed with some of the complex builds.. misters, Faux floors? etc. how much of that is necessary?
Check out the habitat starter kit at Josh's Frogs, and I would just mist via spray bottle.

5) I know nothing about using live plants in a terrarium like this help!! (I want live plants I like the natural tank thing)
You can get some good plants at home improvement stores or check out any of the sponsors, they will set you up with plants you need/want and make recommendations. Plants in a viv are nearly impossible to kill.

6) Is $65 a fair price for a single female around 1.5 years old?(it's always good to check)
Sounds reasonable, I've paid more for some of my frogs.

7) leaf litter? what is that is that go out side pick up fallen leaves from local trees and use it in tank?
It's just leaves, they keep the substrate off of the frogs so they stay happy.

Hope this helps some, I know I'm far from the most experienced on here but It's a few things I've learned keeping frogs. Just look at others posts to get some ideas and don't be afraid to ask questions if you are unsure.

Chris

I hope I can give you the right info on these frog's living quarters. I am a begginer to this hobby too, and what do I know?

You could by most of the stuff that I have listed here, if not all, from Josh'sfrogs.com

for a hydroton bottom, this is what you should do:

put in 1-3 inches of hydroton on the bottom

put substate liner(you could buy this at most hardware stores, at the garden center) on top of the hydroton

ad 4-5 + inches of ABG mix or vivarium soil on top of the liner

then put plants in the soil

put a layer of spaghum moss on the soil

then put leaf litter.

now for decor. decor is mainly done the way the builder wants it to look, so you don't have to do it this way.

aquire some driftwood, or if you already have some, put driftwood in wherever you want it, and at whatever style/angle you want it.

you really should get a coconut hide and put it in the tank, so the frog/frogs have some more hiding places.

you could buy some moss and attach it to the driftwood to give it a more natural look.

I don't know much about backgrounds, so you might have to look up another thread for that.

lighting

I heard that CFL's(6500k) work pretty well for plants and dart frogs.
LED's work fine too, from what I've heard, but you are problibly going to need to look up some threads about that too.

I hope I helped, even though you might already know most of this stuff, just trying to be helpfull. Good luck.

What a great beginner post!

1. Should be fine by herself

2. Introducing later on usually works better for breeding (not sure why, but it does).

3. 10gal is fine BUT: If, and when you put another frog in there, the size will (theoretically) be halved. A lot of people have pairs of tincs in 10gal (though they're not usually that open about it), but if you're going to do a background and heavy planting you'll probably be better off up-sizing. PLUS!...around this month or so, petco has a great dollar per gal sale, and a 20gal long would work out great for what it sounds like you have planned.

4. Really do your research before you build....and have lots of time...if something needs to be dry to move on to the next step, dry the hell out of it...Also remember what the backside looking in will look like when you're building the background ( I use black silicone to block out )

5. Pothos are great all around and require little/no work, but you can get a lot of info from a thread on plants here.

6. $65 is a friendly price for that frog.

7. I don't use leave litter (which is usually fallen leaves), but a lot of people do. It's fairly inexpensive and can be purchased in a ready-to-use condition by sponsors on this forum.

As far as your supplies go....just watch videos and read about viv builds and you'll pick up on what you want to use. Have fun and let us see what you end up doing!

Regardless if you go with a false bottom or a hydrotone layer is a personal decision but you should make allowences to drain excess water out of the tank. This can be done a number of ways but one of the easiest if you just have one tank is to take a short length of PVC and a cap that fits on it (available at most big box hardware stores) and on one end of the pvc make a lot of perforations or slits which allows water to enter the pipe so you can siphon it out (a sump in miniture). This either goes in before the hydrotone or through the false bottom and the cap keeps the frogs and other unwanted things from falling into it and getting potentially trapped. The pvc and cap can be hidden under a cocohut for ease of access.

The next thing you want to do is make the tank hard for the fruit flies to escape. There are many ways to do this but most depend on how your going to work your lid. If you don't fruit fly proof it, they will walk around your house and seek out your beverage in which to leap.

The last important thing is to make sure you don't have an issue with culturing fruit flies and other feeders for the frog.

I should add that several girlfriends were traded in when they tried to make me get rid of animals..... The woman who ended up as my wife likes them.

Ed

This is great! Thanks so much for answering my questions so thoroughly! Best of all I got an OK from the boyfriend; basically he's "going to let me decide" but to make sure this isn't just an impulse thing. Which sounds fair enough to me. I'll be doing more research for the next week or 2 and then start building my new tank if I decide it's not just an impulse. Hopefully the guy selling the frog isn't in a hurry to get rid of her.


@love_chariot - Although at the moment my goal isn't for a pair... I know me well enough to know that I will want one eventually, because that's just how I am

@frogface - I'll keep an eye out for that at the hardware store!

@crank68516 - thanks for explaining leaf litter to me, good to know. and I'm pretty sure I'll want another in a few mins like you said lol

@frog dude - thanks so much for the explanation of how to layer things, I was actually a little confused about it so it helps a lot!

@jdooley195 - Thanks for the plant suggestion and I'll keep an eye open for that sale!

@jbherpin - thanks very much for the compliment. I'm really looking forward to learning so much more from everyone!

@ed you made me laugh - The boyfriend is the one I hide my live foods from worms the fridge, the fly jar in the garage etc lol. When newt feeding time comes he's all squeemish that I have to chop up worms lol. Culturing them shouldn't be a problem

Here are a few good things to study. There are lots of little gems buried within these threads. It is worth your while to read every page. If you haven't done so already read EVERY "sticky" post on here. I have some linked below - but not all of them. The following threads I'm linking directly to are things that have helped me quite a bit. I am missing many - ones I forgot to bookmark so follow links buried in these threads to find even more good info.

CARE SHEETS! Read them. NUTRITION - figure it out immediately before you get any frogs this includes culturing various species of bugs and dosing with supplements (dont forget to replace the supplements every 6 months).

Substrate issues - Truth-about-abg-mix

Culturing some bugs for you viv and frogs -

How-culture-isopods-woodlice-springtails.html

General viv construction discussions -

Custom-silicone-hinged-glass-top.html

Scrap-vivarium.html

Peninsula.html

Pics-my-new-constructed-vivarium.html

How-build-viv-motydesign.html

Culturing fruit flies

I actually got most of my information from one of our vendors - Josh's. He has some great tutorials on his site in the form of videos. Remember - you cannot completely prevent mites - just control them.

Culturing Fruit Flies - by Josh

Some other useful threads:

Good-threads-read-beginners.html

My-top-10-beginner-mistakes.html

Have fun! Be patient. Give your frogs the best 'pseudo home' you can give them.

- ryan

hummm ok Ive finally convinced the bf it's a good idea to let me have a frog. Hehe I've been using the word frogs even though I'm only getting one to prime his brain for when I get a mate for her.

I dragged him out to the local petco to look at tanks to get a feel with what
he is comfortable with in size (since he is going to have to look at it everyday) and it looks like we settled on a 29gal which is much bigger than I thought he would choose! He also made promising comments about other cool shaped tanks (more froggies in my future perhaps?)

So, the build is going to be very interesting. While trying to get some sort of foundation for my plans.... I had some more questions...

1. How on earth do you attach some of these plants? Like broms and Orchids? I can just find people saying "I attached so and so plant" but they never say how?!
   
2. Are pots a good idea to build into the background?
   
3. Is it a bad Idea to do a combo LECA / Egg Crate background. I want to have a big hill to add to the square inches of the floor space. instead of piling soil super high I'm thinking of doing an eggcrate tiered hill structure to fill out the hill(s)
   
4. I know water features are semi frowned upon in first builds but I'm not totally new to it. So I'm considering doing some sort of built in drip wall/ really slow waterfall.... I'd love to find a submersible pump that uses airline tubing any ideas? reason I want a water feature is because I think it will help keep humidity up and since I'm not really planning on a fogger I'd like something that will help in addition to daily misting. (it's really dry here so I want to build in sort of a back up plan)
   
5. I can't seem to find much opinion on whether cement is good or bad for the Frogs. should I be concerned?
   
6. great stuff on glass... instead of spraying straight on to the glass and having it not hold as well or having to spread Silicon all over the back first... has anyone ever tried sanding down the glass some? like roughing it up?
   
7. why is the blue can of GS always suggested? is there something wrong with the Red can? or is it that it just expands more?
   
8. do Tincs use any sort of vertical space? Can you trick them into using vertical space by making ramps?
   

Thanks! in advance!!


oh yeah!
I find my self wishing I could find stickies on the following topics, I've searched a ton but it would be nice to have a condensed and to the point tutorial on some of this stuff (perhaps I will write some of these someday):

What plants go where? (Where plants do the best at and how to put them there 'attaching' planting do well in pots etc.)

What moss? (live dead how's it all work?!)

LECA vs Egg Crate- not that i haven't figured it out but that I just had to search in a lot of places to get a nice rounded view on opinions of these materials.

A clear explanation on Silicone - there's a really good thread out there that was from '09 that I think comes down to if you are willing to have a little risk using GE silicone I is OK, although aquarium grade silicone is preferred and GE silicone II is a big fat NO

and a basic plant type/suggestion tutorial



Its way past my bed time with all this researching!!!

Okay let's try this again.. an inadvertant movement of my hand closed the window the last time.

suztor said:

How on earth do you attach some of these plants? Like broms and Orchids? I can just find people saying "I attached so and so plant" but they never say how?!

Click to expand...

It really depends on where you are attempting to place the plant.. There are many options ranging from pinning (tooth picks to chop stick (I use chopsticks), to glueing (gel safety glues), tieing (wire or fishing line), stapleing....

suztor said:

Are pots a good idea to build into the background?

Click to expand...

Not if you can ensure that they can drain. Many of the plants mounted on the background don't like to be saturated all of the time. They do better if the media drains and allows thier roots to breath. In addition, if the pots can't drain, then they can also go anaerobic causing the tank to smell. So keep in mind that they need to drain excess water.

suztor said:

Is it a bad Idea to do a combo LECA / Egg Crate background. I want to have a big hill to add to the square inches of the floor space. instead of piling soil super high I'm thinking of doing an eggcrate tiered hill structure to fill out the hill(s)

Click to expand...

No it isn't bad but keep in mind that you'll have to have a slope that allows for the substrate to stay in place and not migrate from the top down to the bottom. There are many ways to do this, stacking cut pieces of lighting diffuser, cutting pieces of osmunda board or making a hill with hydroton or even clay.

suztor said:

I know water features are semi frowned upon in first builds but I'm not totally new to it. So I'm considering doing some sort of built in drip wall/ really slow waterfall.... I'd love to find a submersible pump that uses airline tubing any ideas? reason I want a water feature is because I think it will help keep humidity up and since I'm not really planning on a fogger I'd like something that will help in addition to daily misting. (it's really dry here so I want to build in sort of a back up plan)

Click to expand...

Keep in mind that the pump must be accessiable for you to take care of it and replace it when necessary. Too often the pump dies and you have to move/tear out plants that have grown in nicely. In additon, if you mount bromeliads and orchids to the background, most of them will not appreciate having wet feet all the time. You need to make sure that the substrate can drain properly or it will stagnate and smell like a disturbed swamp. Drip walls and other water features can also cause a lot of spray which results in mineral deposits on the glass as well as saturated substrates where the spray hits or gets into through wicking.

suztor said:

I can't seem to find much opinion on whether cement is good or bad for the Frogs. should I be concerned?

Click to expand...

It is fine if it is well cured and/or sealed. This thread may give you some more ideas for thought http://www.bbrock.frognet.org/Making artificial trees and vines.pdf

suztor said:

great stuff on glass... instead of spraying straight on to the glass and having it not hold as well or having to spread Silicon all over the back first... has anyone ever tried sanding down the glass some? like roughing it up?

Click to expand...

Can't help you there but the person to ask is Doug (screen name Pumilio).

suztor said:

why is the blue can of GS always suggested? is there something wrong with the Red can? or is it that it just expands more?

Click to expand...

The blue can doesn't expand as much as the red can. This helps prevent people from blowing out the sides/back of the tank from the pressure as it expands and less carving and clean up.

suztor said:

do Tincs use any sort of vertical space? Can you trick them into using vertical space by making ramps?



Thanks! in advance!!

Click to expand...

As a general (very) rule of thumb, the smaller the frog the more it will use verticle space however even tinctorius (particularly the dwarfs) will climb. The heavier bodied tinctorius tend to slide back down but if provided they can and will use ramps. They may not use them as much as you would like as it depends on where the food and temperatures are correct.

suztor said:

What moss? (live dead how's it all work?!)

Click to expand...

In general, the frogs would appreciate leaf litter more than they will moss. If you have bright lights, you will probably see moss grow in the tank but that moss is more for your general aesthetic appeal than the frogs....


Some comments

Ed

crank68516 said:

1) Will a Dwarf Tinc. Bakhuis do well by herself?
Should be fine but you will want another after a few minutes.
Chris

Click to expand...

That's too funny and right on target!

Ed said:

Okay let's try this again.. an inadvertant movement of my hand closed the window the last time.

(regarding sanding glass, great stuff, and silicone)

Can't help you there but the person to ask is Doug (screen name Pumilio).
Ed

Click to expand...

You are getting some good advice here so I am only addressing the subject where my name was mentioned. I would hesitate to sand glass. If you sand with a larger grit to really rough it up, like a 60 or 80 grit, you will basically be scoring it. To cut glass we score it (a deep scratch) and break it with pressure. So deep sanding could weaken it. Light sanding may effectively help with attachment except that I would still not trust great stuff for a permant bond with glass. Silicone, on the other hand, bonds to glass like nobodies business. Fish tanks are bonded with silicone and the pressure on those joints is huge. They are not etched or sanded.
Now for why I don't trust a great stuff bond on glass. I built my 50 gallon Solarte viv and I used great stuff to fill and bond the cork bark flats and curves onto the back glass. Within about 6 weeks of beginning misting, I was tearing it back apart as all the cork bark began to separate from the glass. It stayed firmly bonded to the cork bark, but let go of the glass completely. Yes, I properly cleaned the glass with alcohol before applying the great stuff. While some have reported success with that bond, too many others have reported the same failed bond with the glass that I am reporting.
I like GE silicone 1 which, unfortunately, is harder to find in black than GE 2. You'll probably have to go online for it. GE silicone 2 has Organotins in it which could contribute to spindly leg syndrome and egg failure. http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/parts-construction/35720-bio-seal.html

thanks to both of you guys for answering.

Firstly, Ed, Thank You for taking the time to retype everything after having closed the window! (I hate it when that happens!)

In regard to attaching broms etc. I guess now that you say it, wire and toothpicks make perfect sense... chopsticks and super glue (gel?), not sure I get it. But, I may be underestimating the size of some of these plants I suppose.

Pots, I can always drill holes but then again it's probably not necessary to put the plants in pots. Although I was hoping to get a sort of cascade of some small leafed vine plant but from what I read (on joshsfrogs) the Tinc. is likely to destroy it being rather 'big' (I'm hoping someone tells me I'm wrong. but I'm not holding my breath)

Water feature - I have a plan of sort of making a tree trunk w/ buttress roots in a corner that is hollow and I can access the bottom of the tank through... still trying to work out dynamics with that though. I've always found it a little mind boggling that people make their pumps inaccessible. It was my first concern when I built my custom 3d background in my tank for my mostly aquatic newts. I've seen it a lot on the Caudata forum.

The hill - I'm planning on building the egg crate, terraced much like rice fields on hills except just with smoother lines/curves.

That tree tutorial practically has me salivating (there must be something wrong with me lol). Can't wait to get started on this project! I've already started mocking up vines that I will coat and press in coco fiber and other stuff. I'm having a hard time not getting started so I figure I'd start small and make elements I'm going to use.

Silicone ,great-stuff and glass - I've had some experience with GS coming off the glass in the past (I'll be hard pressed to GS directly to smooth glass ever again) that's why I thought about sanding. You raise a good point about the weakening of the integrity of the glass and I don't really want to compromise a brand new tank. So that is out of the question. Although, for some reason I have a hard time with the idea of putting silicone on the entire back of the tank. I'm more comfortable using pink insulation foam sheets great stuffing to that then applying it to the tank. I'll have to see though, I may just get over it... sooo many options.

I work at a printshop so I'm always bring home stuff that was going to be thrown out like 1/8" acrylic sheets and T5 light fixtures... I have access to adhesive vinyl which I'll probably use to make the back look nicer even though it wont be seen. And I have access to ordering all sorts of fun goodies that are intended for print shop use!

I really appreciate you guys reading through my story book posts and taking the time to answer thoroughly!

One more question I just thought of...
is there a difference between regular D. Tinc Bahkuis and Dwarf D. Tinc Bahkuis? or are they one and the same?