Am i doing this right????

[kinipela]

I am new at this. I got my first dart frog just a few days ago. The pet store set me up with this tank. Will this be good for now till i know i can take care of him well enough to get others and a bigger tank. Is there something i should add? Should the light just be on top or should i get a stand for it? Any help would be great.

[Cindy Dicken]

Hi.
A couple of things that I noticed from your photo that need attention are your screen top and light.
Dart frogs need to be maintained at a humidity level between 80-100% the best way to do this is with a glass top, or at least cover your screen top with a piece of glass.
Your light appears to be an incandescent bulb. This will heat your tank up. Dart frogs will heat stress at temps above 80 degrees. The heat will also dry your tank out. Flourescent bulbs work very well for dart frog tanks.
The temperature and humidity gauges you have in your tank are analog gauges, and can be VERY inaccurate. I would suggest investing in a good quality digital thermometer/ hygrometer.

[kinipela]

we changed the bulb and i have some plexiglass i can cut a piece and put on the top. Wont he run out of air if i do that? How inacurate will those gauges be. I want to wait and get the nice one when i get the big tank. Will they work for now??

[Cindy Dicken]

A piece of plexi will help.
That will not make the tank air tight.
How often are you misting the tank, it looks a little dry.

Those guages can be as much as 5-10 degrees off. You run the risk of 'cooking' the frog.

What size is this tank?

What kind of dart frog do you have?

[kinipela]

I think he is a D. auratus hes green and black. Below is a picture of him. The gages read 85% hummdity and 78 heat. i mist it twice a day. I think its a 10 gallon tank. I hope that is good. Thanks for the help... this forum is very informative.

[Cindy Dicken]

Yes, it is an auratus. That's a good looking frog.
Your tank size is fine for that frog, but
I would be very cautious with that temp guage, especially when you put your piece of plexi on to cover the screen.

Always glad to help!
There's a lot of good people and info on this forum.

[kinipela]

Thank you. I like him too. Just want to make sure he has a happy home. Should the light be directly on the top or should i have a stand for it on the side?

[Cindy Dicken]

The frogs do not need any special type of lighting. The lighting, people use on their tanks is for the benifit of the plants.
What kind of bulb did you put in the light fixture?

I would put it on the stand and raise it up off of the top of the screen.

[kinipela]

ohh i thought the light was needed for the frog. We switched it to a floursent bulb. Doesnt the light give off heat which is needed for the tank too?

[Cindy Dicken]

The frogs will usually be just fine with room temps. They rarely need any supplemental heating. You need to be very careful with your temps.

[dendromom]

ohh i thought the light was needed for the frog. We switched it to a floursent bulb. Doesnt the light give off heat which is needed for the tank too?

I would also move the light away from the water and over to the side with the plant. That way, he could cool off if he needed to---also, you might want to send his fecals to Dr. Frye to have him checked for worms or other parasites so he'll live longer. Send Dr. Frye an email at dr.frye.dvm@sbcglobal.net.

[kinipela]

We got a smaller light so it does'nt look like that anymore. He seems to like it a lot more. I added a tree limb so he can climb and i see him sit on it a lot now. Thank you for the advice about worms and such. Didnt know they could get them.

[dendromom]

We got a smaller light so it does'nt look like that anymore. He seems to like it a lot more. I added a tree limb so he can climb and i see him sit on it a lot now. Thank you for the advice about worms and such. Didnt know they could get them.

Is the tree limb a piece of grapevine----very lightweight and mostly tan? If so, it will mold quickly. Post a pic if you can---if it's a heavy wood like cypress, ghost wood, manzanita, mopani or malaysian driftwood it will last much much longer in your tank.

Also, if you plan to get another frog for this tank (and two is the limit with that size), be sure to quarantine it for at least a month (three months is ideal) to check for signs of disease and send the fecals from the new frog to Dr. Frye as well. He charges $18 and you can send him the money via PayPal to the email address previously given. You should overnight the package to 517 West Main St. Milan, MI 48160, but not on a Tuesday because they're closed on Wednesday---in the case you must send it Tuesday, send it 2nd day Air via UPS. Also, don't use 2nd day on a Thursday or overnight on a Friday----I think they're closed on the weekends, too. I had to isolate mine in a tupperware for a couple of days just to tell the fecals from the flotsam in the tank, but it paid off.