Hello from the Mountains of North Carolina!

[Bchbum16]

Hello everyone! My name is PJ and i am from Black Mountain North Carolina (near Asheville). I am just getting into this hobby and i am very excited! I do not have frogs as of yet, i am setting up my viv right now and have been doing my research to make sure i am doing it right. I have a friend who works at my LFS who has been the hobby for quite a while who is helping me out (even giving me some free plants!) I already love this forum and have been going through many of the threads to gather more knowledge from those of you more experienced than I!
Thanks and I hope to get to learn some from everyone!
PJ

[Philsuma]

Welcome to Dart Den PJ !

[Bchbum16]

Thank you Phil! I believe i saw your name in the of acronyms and truncations! haha

[fishguyturnedfrog]

Welcome from the other side of the state

[Bchbum16]

What part are you from? I went to school for a year in Wilmington.

[fishguyturnedfrog]

Shallotte...come right down 17

[Bchbum16]

oh ok cool. I don't think i ever made it that far south while i was down there. Glad to meet you though!

[fishguyturnedfrog]

If you ever went to MB while you were there, you would of passed right through this little town.

[Bchbum16]

No we never went to MB. We generally stayed close and went to Carolina or Kure.

[Philsuma]

I had a friend that worked as a paramedic in Winston Salem - he didn't like it there.Then he moved to Clayton and I visited him there a few times. Raleigh is a very cool city. Now the western mountain side, I assume, would be as different as Pittsburgh is to Philadelphia. VERY different.

[Bchbum16]

Yes very different. And the coast is just as different from the rest of the state as well. I love the Mountains here and it is a very cool place to live in. I also have a very large source of materials that i can use in my viv! I live five minutes from untouched forest.

[fishguyturnedfrog]

My back yard is 87 acres of woods though if you ask around, it's not best to use stuff like that because it can be loaded with pests, parasites, and other nasty stuff. If you thoroughly sterilize it, you should be good though.

[Bchbum16]

My friend who works at the LFS who has frogs uses stuff around our area all the time in his tanks and hasn't had a problem. We make sure to use certain woods though. Could be the reason. Some woods naturally keep pests out of it... Thanks for that though i will make sure to sterilize anything i get before putting it into the viv. Best way to sterilize wood?

[fishguyturnedfrog]

What I do is to put it in a black contractor trash bag, tie it up tight and stick it out in the sun. Even if it's not hot out, as long as the sun's out, will still bake it.

[Bchbum16]

oh cool that's a good idea. I appreciate the tip! I have a few ideas for my viv that i was going to use pieces of wood that i found. I will make sure to do this before i put it into the viv. How long do you generally keep it in the bag? the day? 2 days?

[fishguyturnedfrog]

well, i've had mine out for about 2-3 months now. found some nice pieces i wanted to use but didn't have a big enough tank to use until now. going to use it on my 40 gallon i'm working on right now

[Bchbum16]

Oh wow that's a lot longer than i thought... do you think it takes that long or could i get by with maybe a couple weeks or so? I ask this because i was planning on getting frogs from the reptile show in columbia, SC which is mid july.

[fishguyturnedfrog]

couple weeks should be good. be sure to stop at under the canopy while you're there. good people. where i got my first frogs from a couple months ago

[Bchbum16]

Ok Will do! I can't wait to get my first frogs! I'll put some pictures up of everything once it is set-up. I love looking at the pictures that everyone has put up of their frogs. I have been fascinated by frogs since i was a little guy living in Florida, where i could go catch them everywhere (I now realize i may have killed a lot of frogs this way but i didn't know back then).

[fishguyturnedfrog]

Yeah, i always liked PDF's since I was really young and didn't think they were legal to own until i went to a reptile show last year and saw them for sale. did my research for a few months and started with a 10 gallon and 2 leucs but rushed too much and forgot too many things. now, i'm taking my time building the 40.