Hello, everyone. I'm a newbie from Pennsylvania.

[RanitaBonita]

Hello fellow frog lovers.

My name is Sherri and I live in Lancaster County, PA. This is my first post, and I haven't yet had much time to read many of the posts here, but I was hoping that some of you could help me. This weekend I just purchased my first frogs. I bought one azureus and one leucomela - please forgive me if I'm not spelling them right. Currently, I have them in a small plastic carrying case (about the size of a small shoe box) with some sphagnum moss and some clippings from a pothos plant. So far, things seem to be going well. They are active and eating. I bought all of the materials to set up the vivarium, but I have a few questions.

First of all, I bought some plants from a local nursery, but I'm not sure if I can put them into the tank right away. Do they have to be treated some special way? Also, do I need to purchase the specially treated wood and rocks or can I use some driftwood that I have found? Also, should the vivarium be set up for a few weeks before I add the dart frogs? (I think I probably did things backwards by getting the frogs before I had the vivarium set up.)

I also bought some fruit flies and the supplies to culture my own - but I'm really not sure how to start the new containers. I have two containers with live fruit flies right now.

I'm excited about taking care of my new friends - they're incredibly beautiful! I just don't know very much yet, so I hope you will all forgive my ignorance.

[ChrisK]

Fruit fly culturing (watch all the related videos in the right pane of the other steps too):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N3tM8JuEPY

Nursery plants - best case you rinse all the dirt off the roots, dip in a 10% bleach solution (or maybe vinegar) for a couple of minutes, rinse again, re-pot in clean soil, grow out for a couple of months to get rid of systemic pesticides inside before putting them in the tank, but not all of us take all of that grow out time I suspect.

[Philsuma]

Hi Sherri and welcome to Dart Den !

Make sure you have a decent covering of the lid - if there is too much ventilation, you will lose humidity and your frogs will dry out. In a pinch, you can cover the top with saran wrap. No need to seal it up tightly, as you will need some additional air movement. Frogs need air but can quickly dry out if humidity is compromised. A good rule of thumb is to spray the sides of the enclosure with water from a mister. If the droplets are gone from the sides of the glass/plastic within a hour or so, then too much humidity is being lost and you need to cover the top better. Also make sure the moss and bottom of the tank is very damp to moist- almost wet. That's another good way of making sure you are ok with humidity when new...make sure the bottom has some water.

Please read all these threads with a blue thumbtack / sticky....
viewforum.php?f=27
Especially this one - list of items needed.viewtopic.php?f=27&t=4394

viewtopic.php?f=27&t=4134

and if you can't find a relevant topic or something covered elsewhere, do not hesitate to make a new post and ask !

[pnwbare]

Hi Sherri,
I take the nursery plants and rinse and dip them in a bucket of water to get all the soil off and pick out all the little bits of perlite that are stuck in the roots too. You want to make sure you dont use any soil mix with perlite. It is best to make your own soil/substrate mix. Peat moss, orchid bark, charcoal, tree fern fiber, coir fiber are some of the things you can use for a substrate mix.
You can soak rocks and driftwood in the 10% bleach solution also. boiling/ steam is another method of sterilizing things too (but not any plants that you want to live) :lol: .

[RanitaBonita]

Thank you all for your help. I've had some time today to read the recommended posts and watch the videos, which were very helpful. I started my first FF culture today, keeping my fingers crossed.

Phil, I did cover the lid of the temporary viv with saran wrap and I've been misting the frogs regularly. They seem to be happy so far.

One thing I didn't do yet is dust the FFs. I have the rep-cal and herpivite but I'm not sure if I understand the directions. How much of each do I put into the container for dusting? I think I'll try Phil's method of using the 32 oz culture cups.

I'm anxious to set up the viv so my new friends can have a permanent home.

[Philsuma]

use just a small pinch- like a really nice finger sized pinch like you would use to add a lot of sugar or salt for cooking.. of dusting supplement at first..it's hard to 'do wrong' and your frogs will not be hurt no matter what.

I really like to just stay with the 32 oz plastic cups as they are common enough and you use them to cx FF anyway.

Don't be afraid to swirl the FF fairly vigorously with the powder in the cup. It wont kill them. It will disorient them and coat their feet and keep them from climbing the sides of the 32 oz cup.

All this husbandry stuff is 100% confidence. After a few times, you'll get the hang of it all.

[mike2780]

Welcome. There is tons of information in this forum and knowledgable people willing to answer ur questions and help. I'm new here also and have become addicted to the amount of info available to me. There is always something new to learn. What size viv are u using? Also most dont mix darts in the same enclosure. From what i understand its best to keep likes together. I per ten gallons from what i've learned, and depending on the frogs, some are ok in groups and some do best just in pairs. Again i'm just a newbie also so u should hear what the experienced members have to say.

[RanitaBonita]

Thanks for the directions for dusting the FFs, Phil. It worked like a charm!

Mike - after reading many of the posts, I realize that I made the mistake of buying two different types of frogs. I still have so much to learn! I have a 10 gallon tank and also a much larger tank, although I'm not sure exactly how many gallons it is. I've decided to create two separate vivs, one for the azureus and one for the leucs. I just need to get a piece of glass cut for the larger tank.

So far, my darts seem to be doing well. They're active and eating. I've learned so much by reading the posts on here. Thanks to everyone for your contributions and your willingness to help a newbie.