# Escaping from Exo-Terra?? Escape confirmed (update)



## trinacliff (Aug 9, 2004)

Has anyone had any smaller thumbs escape from their Exo-Terra? The reason I ask is this. I have a 1.1? pair of amazonicus I just moved in there about a month ago. They are very shy, so I mostly only saw the male occasionally anyway. I noticed I was only seeing one, so I started digging a few days ago...found the male, but no female. No corpse or even sign of a body...this is not a heavily planted viv. I then started not seeing the male often, so I look and look...finally finding him up at the top in a very obvious place if I had only looked there before. He has a normal hiding spot, but now he's not there or anywhere to be found. I'm wondering if there is a way for them to escape up at the top? I thought I had plugged all the holes that looked like they went anywhere...the ones that cords are supposed to run through, etc. I didn't silicone the gap at the top between the background and the top of the viv...because it looked like it didn't go anywhere anyway. 

So, I thought I would ask...now, I can't find either...they are great hiders, but there are not that many places to hide in there.

I don't want to tear it apart since they might get out in the process IF they are still in there.

Thanks,
Kristen


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## Jesse (Sep 19, 2005)

*My...*

I have one exot-terra with 4 vents, and I don't see them most of the time, they are usaully hiding in broms or on top of the background. My vivarium is densly planted so I don't know if your female escaped when you were feeding it or if it unfortunantley died. I would just keep a close eye to make sure it isn't gone before you rip apart the viv.


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## frogman824 (Aug 10, 2005)

There are two small vents up top for running rubes through it, maybe those are open? There's one on the left and other on the right, check that out. If not, then I'm not really sure....maybe hiding.


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## trinacliff (Aug 9, 2004)

I've got them closed...at least all but the one that has the cord running through it, and that doesn't leave much room at all. 

I hardly see the male, too, and I was beginning to think he had escaped...then I saw him lastnight. Who knows...either the female is in there and just has a great hiding spot I haven't found or she escaped/died.

Weird...anyway, thanks! 

Kristen


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## bogart6868 (Oct 5, 2005)

I have seen some Exo's that have a pretty good sized gap between the door and side (sometimes on both sides). It is certainly big enough for a thumb to squeeze through.. 

I have some in a 15 tall.. they hide alot, but if I mist and feed, I can usually watch and catch a glimpse of all of them in morning.. Give it a try.. hopefully she is just shy..


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## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

You might try raising the humidity, but I can say that both my amazonicus tanks are the same and they are rarely out.


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## joshua_delancey69 (Mar 1, 2004)

I personally do not like these tanks because of the modifiicaitons you have to do to get them ready for darts......


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## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

Josh, I have heard the newer ones are better. Now I agree after seeing one early ones I would not use them, but I have heard of good improvements on the newer ones. I plan to try one out, but most likely for some larger frogs.


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## Scott (Feb 17, 2004)

Kyle - what are the improvements?

I saw a couple at Black Jungle yesterday and I have to say I was impressed with them. I didn't think I would be.

s


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## Ed Martin (Mar 25, 2004)

Scott beat me to it!! Have they made changes to the design?? I really like the XL for setting up some of my yellow terribilis in the living room. No real worries about escape because of the size of the frogs and the footprint is perfect for the spot I have in mind, but I was concerned about FF or cricket escapes. 

Kristen, I hope they are just hiding on you and did not escape!
Ed


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## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

From what I have heard it was some small design changes that equal less gaps, as in the front doors and etc... I have yet to see a new one in person.

I am thinking about building a couple for some pumilo pairs, but with many things its on my "want to do list".


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## Guest (Jan 15, 2006)

i don't know if mines are the "newer" ones but i don't have the slightest problem with my thumbs. i placed Xaxim in the back and removed the fake background which i really hate. so fugly  the doors are perfectly tight ans i just had to drill the back panel at the bottom for the heating cable to make it in the terra a better way.

her is a pic of my four Exos:










and i am ready to add a couple of them as soon as possible!


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## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

Very nice, do you happen to have a picture from the front? Also what light are you using? As for the backgrounds I think they are ok if they were covered in coco or something....


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## Guest (Jan 15, 2006)

here is an other one:











no picture of the front yet ... i should get one next days :wink: 

i use a 36W / 120 cm long Repti Sun 2.0 tube and it does "fine" for my broms and ficus pumila. only the moss ball don't get enough of it ...

the stand is "home made" and i just have to remove the front panel to acces all of the timers and the second timer / spray system.

i don't have frogs escaping the system or FF escaping mora than my former terras i bought in Holland from Eric @ Rainforest. better finish in my opinion than Rana's.


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## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

Again very nice, and ill have to try a couple down the road.

Which size are those?


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## Guest (Jan 15, 2006)

30x30x45x cm .... 12x12x16? i don't know of their measurements in inches.

in the first one are 4 D. reticulatus
in the second one are 5 D. amazonicus
in the third one ... a couple D. imitator intermedius :wink: 
in the fourth one .... nothing in yet but by march it should have inhabitants!

i found out that those specs are "perfect" with small species of PDFs.


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## DartMan (Nov 29, 2005)

Kyle,

You're right about the backgrounds! I jazzed mine up a bit by doing what you said, "add some coco".










Here's a front shot of mine after planting, if anyone cares:









So far the only mod I've done to mine was add 1/8-inch thick, double strength glass, on top of the two screen inserts for humidity control.

Well, I guess these might not be for everyone, to each his own, but I really liked them.


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## Guest (Jan 15, 2006)

Hey, That turned out real nice Lon,

I just got the 18 x 24 a couple of weeks ago. The doors couldn't be any tighter. They slightly press against each other all the way down when closed. I plan to remove the screen top, and cut out the retainer clips for it, and make a glass top with a vent. Then seal up the front vent with no see um. 

Any luck on the MIA yet Kristen?


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## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

That is one of the improvements I was talking about on the first couple I looked at there was over a 1/8 inch gap all around the doors.


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## trinacliff (Aug 9, 2004)

Wow, ya'll have been busy today while I was gone...haha! So far, no luck on the MIA...I thought the male was gone too, but I caught a glimpse of him lastnight.

The gaps on the front doors are definitely way too small for a frog to fit between...I would be more worried with the top back right above where the background stops. I couldn't see any holes, and I plugged a few little gaps just to be safe. 

Anyway, as far as I'm concerned, the jury is still out on these things. I even wish I would find a body so I could know if she escaped or not. Obviously, I don't want any thumbs in there if she did. I'm not sure when I get another, whether or not to put her in there.

Take care!

Kristen


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## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

My plan would be like my other tanks... when in doubt SILICONE! I try to fill any and all small gaps on any tank with silicone. So far it has worked well.


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## Guest (Jan 17, 2006)

joshua_delancey69 said:


> I personally do not like these tanks because of the modifiicaitons you have to do to get them ready for darts......


Yep, and as soon as they came out over here, a nice selection of ready made Dutch tanks appeard in my Local Shop, right after id purchased an exoterra. 

They do look nicer than the custom made ones, but i have allot of modifications to complete, so who knows how frankenstien this creation will become.


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## Filip (Jan 12, 2006)

*AMAZONICUS MIA*

Hi Kristen,
i had 2 Amazonicus in my orchid-tank (50cm*50cm*50cm). I thought they had died, because I hadn't seen them in months. I didn't need the space for other frogs, so I made it a little greenhouse to nurse my plants. 
I stopped throwing food in the tank, i stopped spraying water to give the orchids some rest, ... 
But then one night, again after a few months, i saw one Amazonicus in a film box. I managed to catch it. A few nights later i caught the other in the same film box. Both of them were thick and healthy and are now (almost 1 year later) still happily alive! I hadn't seen both frogs for more then half a year. I hadn't given any food for months: they fed on the springtails that reproduced themselves between the leaves and the bark on te ground...
So I don't think you should panic yet. I also thought they had died or at least escaped... but in fact they are just incredibly good hiders!!!
Grtz,
Filip


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## Guest (Jan 18, 2006)

Filip !!!!









it's great to see you over here! 

same thing happened to a friend of mine regarding a couple amazonicus he has. he could not see them anymore in their tank and believed they had died. he stopped feeding the tank and three or four months later when he moved his installations to his new appartment he was really surprised to see that they were still alive and kicking


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## Filip (Jan 12, 2006)

Sardaukar!!
Super de te revoir!!!
Everything goes terrific in my frogroom, except for my Darklands. For them it is a little too cold for the moment (only 20°-21°): their 3 froglets do not grow fast enough in my opinion, and i think that this is due to the lower temperatures...
But the Lamasi are doing great. I have 3 froglets on land, 6 larvae are nearly on land, 3 larvae have eaten their first Tricolor-egg and yesterday I found the first large clutch of good eggs too: 7! I can hardly believe that this is a clutch of 1 female... But only one female lays eggs that are good for the moment, the other females in the group are still a little too young, i guess. I found a clutch of 9 eggs earlier, but these were all bad. All the females lay eggs already, that's for sure (i found over 60 eggs in the last months, pity that only a small part of them were good eggs)...
AND I'll visit New York in September for 4 days and Costa Rica for the rest of the month!!! I'm so lucky!!
How are your frogs doing? 
Greetz,
Filip :wink:


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## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

Amazonicus have some amazing hiding abilities... I think what makes them so good at it is that they can not be flushed out. Most other frogs you can move leaf and they will take off or move, but not amazonicus they just sit and hide. So it makes it very tough to find them at times.


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## trinacliff (Aug 9, 2004)

I think you guys may be right...I have still not seen hide nor hair of the female, but I was just about to write the male off for dead since I had not seen him in any of his normal hiding places. Then, I saw him out of the corner of my eye, dart under the moss...haven't seen him since. Trouble is, if I wanted to try to fix the tank so I was CERTAIN none could escape, I would have to try to find him...not very easy.

I think, once I get my new female, I will put her in a new tank and eventually catch him to put with her...I don't think I want to chance it just in case the other female DID escape.

Thanks for all the input from all of you. 

Kristen


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## markc019 (Apr 12, 2005)

I have just lost my male Lamasi from the exoterra tank.I have no way of knowing how it got out . I just found the dried up corpse on the floor of my frog room today. I wasn't able to find him for 2 days and decided to do a tank breakdown. the female is healthy and safe but I suffered a loss of the male...


Totally bumbed.
Mark

I am not using these F'n tanks anymore.......


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## trinacliff (Aug 9, 2004)

Oh my...that's horrible! Did you have all the vents at the top back closed? I have those closed, but there is still a small gap under there...I'm thinking if she escaped, that is how she got out. I guess I should get the male out next time I see him...thanks for letting us know, and I'm so sorry that happened to you. 

Take care,
Kristen


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## trinacliff (Aug 9, 2004)

Well, I now have a corpse...dried out and shriveled up, so that's the last one I will be buying. Of course, they would be ok for larger frogs, but not for the smaller thumbs...and I won't even be chancing regular thumbs in there. 

Actually, I saw the male a few nights ago, but the body could be his, as well. I haven't seen him since, so both could have escaped. 

They did not escape through the holes that can be blocked/closed at the top back of the tank...those have always been closed. When they are closed, there is a small slit that is exposed. You can't even see it, and I just discovered it when I stuck something through there...and could then see it on the inside of the tank.

I thought I would update you, so no one makes the same mistake I did. 

Kristen


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## audioandroid (Mar 13, 2005)

easy way to fix the problem...get some weather stripping from home depot / lowes for less than $2. take the top off and sandwich it between the top and the background.


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## trinacliff (Aug 9, 2004)

Yes, sounds like a good way to fix it...thanks for the idea just in case I ever decide to put something in it. However, now I'm just angry over the whole dumb situation since I didn't see this little problem before my frog(s) escaped and died.  It is so incredibly hard to see...and even once you do see it, it's hard to determine how big the gap is.

Kristen


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

Sorry to hear of you're loss  
I reccomend anyone with an exo-terra to totally ditch the screen top it comes with, and make one out of glass or UV passing acrylic.
You might be surprized to find out how much light you lose by using glass laid over the screen, versus just a clear panel.
Just my $0.02!


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## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

Weather stripping does work well in most cases, but it will need repalced over time as it can not take the high humidity for months.


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## trinacliff (Aug 9, 2004)

Hey, hey, hey! Good news! Only the female escaped! I saw the male tonight!  Yipppeeeee

I plugged up the hole, and will move the little bugger once I get the new female. 

Kristen

P.S. I guess he knew what was good for him...the girls are the dummies who think the grass is always greener. Or in the case, the fruit flies are always fatter.


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## lizardstowe (Sep 6, 2005)

*Light*

What do you have going on for the lighting there? From the pic it looks like you have wires hooked up to a loose bulb. I have one of the old three in one hoods over my tanks but I'm looking for a better system. It just doesn't seem to light evenly across, I have two huge black velvet that are straining to the middle of the tank.

Matt


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## stylezstar81 (Feb 22, 2020)

trinacliff said:


> Has anyone had any smaller thumbs escape from their Exo-Terra? The reason I ask is this. I have a 1.1? pair of amazonicus I just moved in there about a month ago. They are very shy, so I mostly only saw the male occasionally anyway. I noticed I was only seeing one, so I started digging a few days ago...found the male, but no female. No corpse or even sign of a body...this is not a heavily planted viv. I then started not seeing the male often, so I look and look...finally finding him up at the top in a very obvious place if I had only looked there before. He has a normal hiding spot, but now he's not there or anywhere to be found. I'm wondering if there is a way for them to escape up at the top? I thought I had plugged all the holes that looked like they went anywhere...the ones that cords are supposed to run through, etc. I didn't silicone the gap at the top between the background and the top of the viv...because it looked like it didn't go anywhere anyway.
> 
> So, I thought I would ask...now, I can't find either...they are great hiders, but there are not that many places to hide in there.
> 
> ...


Crazy! 1 of minevwent MIA too!...like holding, POOOF! GONE!...Gone with the wind


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## stylezstar81 (Feb 22, 2020)

stylezstar81 said:


> of


Houdini* if I end up naming them, houdini it is!


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## Scott (Feb 17, 2004)

Closing this post from 2006.


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