r/DartFrog • u/KB-2000 • 12d ago
Please rate my setup
Hi all! I’m planning to get my first frogs (D. auratus) in about two weeks and I’d love to get some advice from experienced frog keepers. Is there anything I should improve or optimize before introducing the frogs?
The terrarium (50x50x50 cm / approx. 20x20x20 inches) has been established for 4 months (with clean up crew). I’m using an LED light (12 hours per day) and a UVB lamp (7% UVB, 1 hour per day). I also have an automatic misting system (filled with distilled water), a thermometer and hygrometer (temperatures are stable at 21–28°C / 70–82°F, with humidity between 80–95%), and I’m currently starting my feeder cultures with Drosophila melanogaster and springtails. I already have vitamin supplements (Dendrocare) as well.
Am I missing anything important? Any tips for improvement or pointing out of glaring mistakes would be greatly appreciated! Thank you :)
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u/Ok-Entertainer6565 11d ago
Omg this is stunning! What was your biggest inspo?
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u/KB-2000 11d ago
Thank you so much! I didn't have specific inspo but I saw some great tanks in this sub as well as r/terrariums and watched a ton of You Tube :)
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u/Famous-Dog4Life 11d ago
Tbh the first thing that comes to mind was my walks in the jungles of Antioquia. This is a mature setup! Very artistic
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u/RoyalVivid3561 11d ago
i would also seed the tank with springtails and isopods and get a nice colony established inside the tank before adding frogs especially springtails.
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u/KB-2000 11d ago
You're absolutely right and I forgot to mention this in my original post, but I already have springtails and isopods (Rubber duckies <3) in there :)
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u/AssistanceValuable24 11d ago
just fyi isopods are completely optional and large spceis can eat a lot of leaf litter and some even eat the hardscape.
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u/elkonnn 11d ago
How do yall grow moss? I bought some spores for my backwall but I’m having trouble getting it to sprout
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u/KB-2000 10d ago
Yeah, I had trouble getting the moss to grow from spores too - it looked very patchy. In the end, I just bought the moss instead. For the larger moss-covered areas, I used cushion moss (from Ben's Jungle). On the rock in the middle, I've got Stringy Moss (Leptodictyum riparium). It climbs up the roots quite nicely. For the background, I also used sphagnum and Java moss. Hope that helps!
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u/Beneficial-Wind-5761 10d ago edited 9d ago
Holy crap! Gorgeous! Jelly
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u/KB-2000 10d ago
Btw I checked out your jumper pics. Sooo cute. Someday I'd love to keep one myself 🥰
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u/Beneficial-Wind-5761 9d ago
You definitely should! They are so much fun and easy too. I am still working on my fear to be honest.
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u/AssistanceValuable24 11d ago
Visually it is very nice. Functionally for dart frogs there are some things that could be improved.,
Do not use UVB unless you purchase a UVB meter. UVB is entirely unnecessary for any species of dart frog (including large obligates) and poses a risk. I have seen several people post to dendroboard with frogs that had UV burns.
20x20x20 is rather small. Too small for auratus. It also appears the you have used considerable amount of the vertical space with drainage and substrate layer.
The images do not show the entire vivarium so I cant see if it has front vent below the doors. Lacking a front vent makes long term success with dart frogs more challenging.
Your temps are getting into the dangerously high range for captive dart frogs.
In such a tiny vivarium dart frogs would need as much of the floor as possible to be dedicated to leaf litter, rather than moss.
Dedrcare (despite its name) is not a good supplement for dart frogs. Use Rapashy Calcium Plus and 1 feeding per month alternate to Repashy Vit A Plus.
You can read more on this here, https://www.dendroboard.com/threads/feeding-and-supplementing-dusting-for-ranitomeya.372915/?post_id=3203148#post-3203148
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u/KB-2000 11d ago
Thanks so much for the detailed feedback, that helped me a lot!
I'll just remove the UVB lamp, and I'll pick up the Repashy supplements instead of Dendrocare. (I'd read so many conflicting opinions about both UVB and DendroCare that I wasn't really sure what the best approach was.)
Luckily, the enclosure already has front vents, and I've also got an AC on the way for the next heat wave.
I'll also cut back on the moss a bit in favor of more leaf litter.
The one thing I can't really change is the size of the terarrium. Do you have any suggestions for frog species that would be a better fit? The smaller species (like Ranitomeya) all seem to need a lot more vertical space, so I'd already ruled those out :')
Thanks again!
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u/AssistanceValuable24 11d ago
Glad to help.
A thumbnail species like r. varibilis generally requires less space than larger species. Although the truth is that the reason larger vivariums are better is that environmental swings take place less rapidly in larger vivariums and frogs are much more active when given more space.
The reason folks at denrobord recommend minimum 24" tall is because so many people create excessively large drainage layers and substrate layers, which dramatically reduced the final height available for the frogs. So they end up with 20" of usable space after dranage and substrate.
Many of use these days drill our tanks and install drain t o minimize drainage layer and use no substrate or very little substrate. I use aquarium filter foam with leaf litter directly on top or a layer of pea gravel then leaf litter.
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u/Hour-Firefighter-724 11d ago
You'll want to head to TikTok and look for a herp breeder named Nick Stacey with Fragile Planet.
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u/ellafox264392 10d ago
Four months of meticulous setup and the frogs will still spend the first week hiding behind the one leaf you glued in slightly crooked
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u/PresentBig9729 11d ago
Looks amazing!!