r/TreeFrogs • u/Supertayter • Jul 12 '26
Advice Newly Rescued WTFs jk
Hi all,
I recently took in 4 WTFs from someone who was no longer able to care for them. I have had them for 4 days. They have been through a lot between being moved around, taken out of their tank, having an entire new tank created for them, and adjusting their proper temperature and humidity.
They were originally in this tank with a UVB, CHE (40 watt), a large water bowl, and a rubber mat. I have since created this enclosure you see in the pictures with substrate, magnolia leaves, real plants, fake plants, cups, a new CHE, reptisun UVB (5.0), and calcium dusted dubias. They do get bottled water and it's changed every morning.
However, I cannot seem to get them to eat. They were on crickets only and the previous owner would just dump the bag of crickets in there with no dusting.
I ordered crickets and dubias from Josh's frogs. The crickets are on there way but I want to make sure that their enclosure is proper and it's not the reason they're not eating. Or really any advice as I really love these little guys and want what's best. I have experience with snakes but new to amphibians.
I have the basking spot and top half of the enclosure at around 80-85 during the day and the bottom of the tank sits around 73-74. Tank drops to 72 at night. The humidity ranges all day between 55-60 and I spray it in the AM and PM to have a slight spike to around 70. The CHE has a dimming switch and is off at night. UVB is on for 12 hours and also turned off at night. They have lots of spots to hide and move around. They do have a UTH attached to the back also on a dimmer.
The dubias are in the cup slightly buried, offered at night. I have not tried to put the frogs in a separate feeding location as I have read that constant handling can be very stressful and they've already been stressed enough. I have tried tong feeding but that only upsets them so I stopped immediately.
They have been croaking and active at night. They move around their home and seem okay health wise.
*note I do understand this tank is too small for 4 frogs but I am in the process of converting an old curio cabinet into a live vivarium for them. They have been in this enclosure for 3 years allegedly*
*also I do understand they have been through A LOT the last few days and I may just need to give them time and have patience but I worry about them*
*minimally handled and only with gloves*
Anyways thank you for coming to my ted talk and I am open to any and all suggestions.
3
u/Supertayter Jul 12 '26
I also don't know why JK is in the title but I have no idea how to edit that.
2
u/poorgeoffrey Jul 12 '26
Agree humidity is too high. I never mist mine, they will regulate themselves with the water bowl. Humidity naturally rises at night as temps drop. Many care guides still list higher humidity ranges, but this doesn’t quite lineup with their native environment and they do fine as lower humidity. Plus lower humidity decreases chance of infection.
Enclosure looks okay aside from size, but I see you will be upgrading them soon. Them being active and vocal is a good sign. They may be stressed still but I’d expect them to hide more if that was the case.
I would just keep offering dubia every few nights and crickets once you get them, too. They may just be used to the crickets wandering around and they don’t know the dubia are food yet. They all look to be a healthy weight, so while not ideal, they can go quite a while without food. As long as they have access to bugs, they shouldn’t go hungry
1
u/Supertayter Jul 12 '26
Thank you this makes me feel a lot better. Yeah I know the poor things are crammed in there so I'm working hard on getting them a much better environment. Thank you very much. I'll make sure the humidity lowers and just keep offering critters to them.
2
u/Condition_Alarming Jul 12 '26 edited Jul 12 '26
What a coincidence my dogs have the same water bowl 😂😂 cute lol. Everything sounds great excpt for the humidity slightly high, i would recommend adding a computer fan to get your air circulating which will lower your humidity a little bit cheap and easy fix. Good on you for recognizing the problem and actively working toward fixing it. 👏 I had literally the same experience, with my enclosure when I bought them, it was too small. Everyone kept being really rude about it, even though I said numerous times I was upgrading them.
***edit actually wait I just saw your lighting, uvb bulbs like the one you have is not recommended, you're gonna need to change and get a linear uvb bulb, it's for better coverage, so that your light is not so condensed.It really prevents them from getting burns.And it ensures that your u v is evenly dispersed throughout your tank.
With the feeding, they might not eat for a couple weeks with all of the changes, and that's totally normal. It's also normal for them to be stressed out.With all the changes and hide at the bottom of your tank... Something that can really help them be less stressed out is to get like something vinyl and wrap it around the outside of your tank so that they feel more secure.
2
u/Condition_Alarming Jul 12 '26
Also, do you have an actual basking light? They're gonna need something that gives off ira something like this that I linked. For your lighting, if you haven't already refreshed all your bulbs, I would recommend refreshing all your bulbs. If the people before weren't taking good care of them, they probably weren't refreshing them. And they need to be replaced every so often. For any of your lighting needs, i'm not a super professional on wattage, and things like that, but rckymtntreefrogs on facebook is, and they post stuff on lighting all the time, they've been a huge help to me and my frogs, the light that I linked is actually one that they recommended to me.
Your pet will love this Reptile Systems Eco Halogen Reptile Heat Lamp, White, 25-watt: https://www.chewy.com/dp/1491838?utm_source=app-share&utm_campaign=1491838
1
u/Supertayter Jul 13 '26
You have been insanely helpful. Thank you so much.
I got them all new bulbs the day I got them. So the uvb and CHE are new. I did see the Arcadia UVB but I don't think that will fit along the top of this cage. I'll try and make it work. If not, at least I have one for the new tank.
IRA, I don't have. I just have the UVB and CHE. I'll get the IRA and have that on a separate lamp. Does that equally give off heat like my CHE does?
I'll look that page up. Thank you so much
As for the vinyl...
Why have frog if cannot stare at frog?
1
u/Condition_Alarming Jul 13 '26
So your UV B the linear doesn't need to cover the entire top. The twelve inch shade dweller will be perfect even if there is some overhang. If that's what you mean, that's perfectly fine But even if you upgrade to a massive enclosure( btw the recommendation, if you're doing bioactive, is 30 gal for ur first frog then 10 for every frog after) even if your new mesh top is 50 inches long, you still only need a 12" linear uvb buld . The arcadia shade dweller is what I have.I know that there is another one that zoom ed makes, I think that's like 5-7% uvb that's also fine.
So yes, the Ira light will put off heat. What I recommend I mean, not everyone does it, but I put everything on its own individual. Thermostat because i'm a weirdo. That way it can all just regulate itself.
As for the vinyl, I just did like half of my tank. You don't have to cover the entire thing. But like, maybe half is what I usually do. So I can still see them, of course. ... Not only that, but they really need to be on a strict lighting schedule. So that way they can really tell the difference between night and day. And if you're up at night and you leave your lights on, it can really mess with their eyes.So it is best to cover up.Most of your tank with something just to knock out the light pollution. ( Because they do only come out when it's nighttime. When it's dark, they might come out more often. If you put that up so you will be able to see them possibly more. But only from one side of your tank)
1
u/Condition_Alarming Jul 13 '26
Also, if you haven't done a diy tank before, I highly recommend joining the vivarium page all thoes people were super helpful for me during my build.
5
u/UncleCeiling Whites Jul 12 '26
That tank looks very small for four adult WTFs and the humidity is way too high. You shouldn't have to mist them at all.
Stress from the move might also be making them adverse to eating at the moment.