# First frog! A few concerns



## Noah_411 (Feb 8, 2021)

Received my first frog two days ago! He is a cutie! He’s about 2-3 months old. I had a couple concerns that I know aren’t out of the ordinary after researching on here, but I’m just really anxious for my first guy!
When I first added him to the tank, he did hop around all over and was quite visible. I believe I saw him hunting after some springtails. Next day I saw him less as he’s been hanging under a log but he did come out a couple times to go after springtails.
Today I haven’t seen him at all, which I know isn’t unusual for new frogs.
My concern is that he is ignoring the fruit flies that I put in his tank. I put bananas pieces on both sides of his hiding spot and the fruit flies have been there for two days now and he hasn’t gone after them yet. At what point should I begin to worry?
Also, I’m worried about the temp in my tank being too low at night. During the daytime hours it stays at 69-71 which I believe is fine. However at night I have reason to believe the temp in my room is getting a couple degrees below 65 degrees, which I’m working on fixing but I wanted to gauge just how big of an issue it was? Is it something that needs to be fixed ASAP?


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## fishingguy12345 (Apr 7, 2019)

The frog looks to be a good weight (that's a good sign). 

Everything sounds normal, it's likely just settling in. 

What supplement are you dusting the fruit flies with? 

My frog room temperatures are 70-72F during the day and 65-67F overnight during the winter/early spring. 

Ideally you'd be keeping the room a bit warmer, particularly at night. Is that an option for you?


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## Noah_411 (Feb 8, 2021)

fishingguy12345 said:


> The frog looks to be a good weight (that's a good sign).
> 
> Everything sounds normal, it's likely just settling in.
> 
> ...


Ok good I couldn’t tell if he was too skinny or not. I have Repashy Calcium Plus to dust with every feeding (although at this point the flies in the viv have cleaned themselves off) and Repashy Vitamin A to dust with once a month. At what point should I be worried if no flies are disappearing from the tank?
Yes it is an option. I just have a very finicky thermostat in my apartment apparently. It’s also a little bit of a guessing game when it comes to temps as my room always runs a few degrees hotter than the rest of the apartment due to having windows that face the sun. I messed with the thermostat again and its maintaining 73 in the terrarium right now and I’m betting it will stay around 67-68 tonight.
I was mostly asking to see how sensitive they would be to minor temperature fluctuations here and there. I read some horror stories of frogs dying after a few hours out of temperature range and it had me scared.


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## Socratic Monologue (Apr 7, 2018)

Noah_411 said:


> having windows that face the sun.


Get some cellular blinds and use them -- close them on sunny days in summer, and cold nights in winter. Yes, a few hours too hot will kill frogs.


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## Noah_411 (Feb 8, 2021)

Socratic Monologue said:


> Get some cellular blinds and use them -- close them on sunny days in summer, and cold nights in winter. Yes, a few hours too hot will kill frogs.


Thanks! I haven’t heard of cellular blinds, but I did get some nice blackout curtains about a week ago in preparation for my frog and keeping temps down. They have been working like magic to keep the heat out. A little too much as it seems my room is now on the cold side.
Yes I’ve read too hot is definitely a no no. I was more wondering if they are more forgiving of the cold than the heat.


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## bulbophyllum (Feb 6, 2012)

My house (I've never measured temps inside my tanks) drops into the mid 50's during the spring and fall when we leave the windows open all the time. My frogs do fine. I don't shoot for that low. It just happens. 

Low 60's is a bit cool but not worry some.


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## Socratic Monologue (Apr 7, 2018)

Noah_411 said:


> I was more wondering if they are more forgiving of the cold than the heat.


Yes, but the more you make them forgive, the less forgiving they'll be in the long run. (This works for people, too. )

Aiming for the optimal, rather than the tolerable, is always the best plan.


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## Chris S (Apr 12, 2016)

Noah_411 said:


> Ok good I couldn’t tell if he was too skinny or not. I have Repashy Calcium Plus to dust with every feeding (although at this point the flies in the viv have cleaned themselves off) and Repashy Vitamin A to dust with once a month.


Even after they clean themselves, they still have some, don't worry! That's why you dust every feeding.

For a single frog, that is obviously not breeding, there is no necessity to dose Repashy Vitamin A. Calcium Plus has Vit A.


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## E man (Feb 27, 2021)

I think your frog will do fine just make sure to have a steady supply of springtail those seem to be his favorite.


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## fishingguy12345 (Apr 7, 2019)

E man said:


> I think your frog will do fine just make sure to have a steady supply of springtail those seem to be his favorite.


Springtails are not a good staple food for dart frogs. They are not easy to dust with supplement powder.


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## E man (Feb 27, 2021)

fishingguy12345 said:


> Springtails are not a good staple food for dart frogs. They are not easy to dust with supplement powder.


But right, as that is the only thing he is eating it is better than nothing


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## Tijl (Feb 28, 2019)

E man said:


> But right, as that is the only thing he is eating it is better than nothing


If that is the only thing he is eating, his health will start to decline fast and create lot's of problems in the future,drasticly shortening this frog's lifeexpectance


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## fishingguy12345 (Apr 7, 2019)

E man said:


> But right, as that is the only thing he is eating it is better than nothing


That's a bit of a yes and a no.

If your child refuses to eat anything more nutritious than ketchup potato chips that's not a very healthy lifestyle for the child.

Undusted Springtails aren't going to have much in the way of nutrition, yes they'll provide food to sustain life but without the calcium and vitamins in a high quality supplement powder the frog will become unhealthy.


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## Noah_411 (Feb 8, 2021)

Good news everyone! So I was reading on here and I found a thread that said they mostly respond to movement so I decided to drop about 30 flies in at once to see if the movement would get him going. Sure enough he finally hopped out his hiding spot and has been munching away.


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## Noah_411 (Feb 8, 2021)

So I’m probably just being nervous, but since my last update, I haven’t noticed the little guy eating. For the past 5 days, the excess fruit flies have sat on pieces of bananas in the viv and none have been eaten. 
During the day/night he has two hiding places in the back of the viv that he stays at, during the night he moves to hiding place at the front of the viv. Usually when I mist in the morning he will stick his head out and after a few minutes he hops to the back of the viv, ignoring the flies even when I’ve seen one crawl right over his mouth once. Should I be concerned?


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## andrew_t13 (Aug 16, 2018)

Sometimes it takes them awhile to feel comfortable with their new surroundings. I remember when I got my Costa Ricans, it took them at least a couple of months before I started seeing them out and about regularly. They would come out to eat then go back to hiding.


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## fishingguy12345 (Apr 7, 2019)

Can you share pictures of the tank? This might give us clues as to why this behaviour is happening.


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## Noah_411 (Feb 8, 2021)

fishingguy12345 said:


> Can you share pictures of the tank? This might give us clues as to why this behaviour is happening.


Here’s the tank. It’s 18x18x18. Humidity stays between 75-90%. I mist in the morning and the evening. Temp has been staying between 66 at night to 74 in the evening. The little dude hides under the pothos leaves, nerve plant, in the coconut or under the big log. He comes out when I mist to see what’s going on but then goes back.
I have a banana slice set by two of his hiding places and they are swarmed with springtails and flies but he ignores them from what I can tell. Maybe he only recognizes the freshly dusted fruit flies? He ate them at first, but is now ignoring them. I don’t really want to add new dusted flies until the old ones are gone.


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## fishingguy12345 (Apr 7, 2019)

It looks REALLY dry in the first two pictures you posted. Address they representative of how the vivarium usually looks? 

If so, that might explain why it hides so much as the frog is hiding where the humidity level is higher.


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## Noah_411 (Feb 8, 2021)

fishingguy12345 said:


> It looks REALLY dry in the first two pictures you posted. Address they representative of how the vivarium usually looks?
> 
> If so, that might explain why it hides so much as the frog is hiding where the humidity level is higher.


My apologies I should clarify. The first two pictures are from a few weeks ago before frogs were introduced and a consistent misting schedule. They are just the only pictures I have of the full setup.
The last pic with the frog and feeding station shows a more accurate representation of wetness, but it’s not a very great picture. I will have to wait for an hour or two until I get home to take some better photos.
If it helps, I would say the leaf litter stays consistently pretty wet looking and that the plants retain water droplets on the leaves for around 2 hours after misting.
The top of the cage is sealed using a screen top wrapped in Saran Wrap and has about a 3-4 inch gap at the back for ventilation. It used to be smaller, but the humidity was frequently around 95% and I read constantly high humidity in that range can actually be harmful so I enlarged the opening.


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## Noah_411 (Feb 8, 2021)

Ok so I got home and did my daily afternoon misting. Here are some updated pictures. I left the hygrometer in there for 15 minutes and this is the rating I got


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## fishingguy12345 (Apr 7, 2019)

Nothing in the tank gives me any major Red flags.

One thing you might want to do, if you can, is dim the lighting a little. The frog could be hiding because it feels exposed if it leaves the hiding spot because of the bright lights.


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## Socratic Monologue (Apr 7, 2018)

I agree that nothing seems worrysome. The frog is probably eating the candy....uh, I mean the springtails. And it is just getting settled in; the tincs I got two months ago are still really shy.


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## eMCRay (Mar 24, 2020)

This may be a dumb question, but is your temp / humidity gage frequently / always in there? ... and is it watertight? I'd make sure no battery acid or something like that is leaking out there since it does seem to be rather wet (maybe it's just the reflection in the picture)...


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## Noah_411 (Feb 8, 2021)

Sorry a little late response here. No I only put the gauge in for about 15 minutes to get a reading.
I saw the little bugger out today so I removed the old gross feeding station with the leftover flies and put in a new orange and dumped some new dusted flies and the little guy has actually been hunting them down! Think I’m gonna name him Yoshi 
Thanks everyone for your reassurances. Being a newbie is stressful!


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## fishingguy12345 (Apr 7, 2019)

Thank you for the update! We always enjoy hearing that frogs seem to be doing well.


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