not eating, hiding and burrowing

[scarloc]

as the title explained, my frog is doing all of those things. i found some people claiming that frogs (not particular to darts) burrow or climb. but none of the dart frog sites mention burrowing.
i'll explain to you guys the story on when this started:

it started yesterday:
all my culture died to mites. i had some baby crickets and about 50 FF, spread between 2 cultures. i threw some crickets in and left him while i went to do some other stuff. i think he ate a few but most escaped. i put in some FF, about 10, which i'm not sure if he ate any at all. my dad bought back some FF's from work, but by then it was too late to feed him.

today:
i threw some FF in this morning, again about 10, which he ignored. i came back and found that my fruit fly culture pack had arrived. i started making the media and after i spooned out half the media into 3 culture pots, i went up to feed the leuc some of yesterdays FF. now i noticed him digging. he was digging around the plants roots and was hiding there. i was shocked!! he then ran up his tree. he wouldnt find any FF at that hight so i turned on the light (UV light which finally started working again) and dumped about 20 flies in. still no eating.
looking at him again, he is hiding in places he doesnt usually hide (in 2 weeks, this was the first time he went into the flower pot). he also started climbing again when the light was on. he climbed before, then stopped when he was about 1 inch, but now started again with the light.

i give him calcium supplements once every 4 days (a site said to give it only once a week). he has a nice plump belly, doesnt appear to have any discolouration or bone disfunction.
the temperature stays at 77F throught the day and drops to 73-69 at night.
any help at all is appreciated.
thanks for taking the time of reading through all that

[Philsuma]

Temps seem ok.

Is your tank lid fully covered ? You have high humidity ?

Try to get a pic or 2 of your viv on here quickly......a few pics, and we can really help you and make sure your design is good.

[scarloc]

ok i'll try. my viv is ultraaa basic though. i have exams so next weekend i'll probably get them up. 3 (unidentified) plants, a flower pot and an area of leaf litter. i just piced up leaves from a nature park(which i doubt uses pesticides or anything). the leaves we soaked in hot water for 24 hours and then left to dry for another 24.
as for humidity, it is at about 80-90%. after daily mists, it climbs to just over 90.

[Philsuma]

Crickets are not ideal.....in fact, just starting out, I'd never recommend them to anyone.

Loose crickets crawling around, even if small sized can always be a source of stress to frogs.

I would really try to stick with FF and avoid crickets.

[BcsTx]

I agree Phil plus they carry all kind of nasties.
I have always fed ff's, bean beatles plus phoenix worms to my adults even my terribs have been on ffy's for the most part.
Just mels to my pums and juvies.

[frogface]

None of my darts burrow, except my Leucs. My female Leuc has made an impressive little den beneath the log that separates the substrate from the pond. It looks really cozy. She spends most of her time hanging out in there and comes out to eat her ff breakfast.

When I was picking up my Leucs from rcteem, we couldn't find one of them. Turns out one had made a little burrow beneath a large piece of wood and was chilling in there.

If it was another frog, I might worry, but Leucs seem to like it, in my limited experience.

The 'not eating' thing is something else. I don't know what to say about that.

[BcsTx]

What morph of PDF is this? Sometimes auratus burrow especially when there is not enough cover or hides, I have not had that problem with my leucs but I always have plenty of leaf litter and hides for them. I would suggest plenty of leaf litter some pothos if your viv does not have many plants.
If the frog is getting thin I would separate it from the others.

[scarloc]

i have just the one leuc in there. i didnt want to get 2, find out they were both female and have to set up a new tank. as for the morph i believe it is yellow banded, or something similar.

i'll spend some time killing any spare crickets, so maybe then he will be less stressed.

the tank does have quite a bit of leaf litter in the middle, and some around the sides. in order to find hi, i have to turn every leaf over.

i also thought it was because of the lights. they broke down and for awhile he had only natural light, until yesterday where i fixed them. maybe he is shying away from the bright light? he also seems pretty lethargic, just sitting in one place. i've seen loose flies walk past his face.

thanks for all the help though guys. appreciate it

[scarloc]

sorry for double post but:
its been almost 3 days since he's eaten anything. i am seriously getting worried! i had just put in about 30 FF and he just ignored them. its impossible that he couldn't have seen them, since the lights are on and they are white! why is he not eating???!!

[frogface]

Is he getting skinny? He might just be stressed out.

[dendroworks]

Some pics of the viv set up and the frog would be helpful and assist in providing advice.

Regards
M&G