# Grow out container



## GP dynamite (Feb 19, 2013)

Just wanted to share the grow out container I put together for my E. Anthonyi Santa Isabels. I put down a thin layer of hydroton about 1/2 inch then 1/2 inch of abg over fiberglass screen and then 1 inch of calcinated clay substrate. Then a mix of oak and magnolia leaf litter. I seeded the container with pink white and silver spring tails and i planted a few creeping fig clippings. I will be adding some cork bark pieces once I get to my buddy's house. The tadpoles will be morphing within the next 2 weeks or so giving time for springtails to establish. I also have 6 master cultures, 2 of each type of spring as well as smaller 16oz cultures at the ready. 

I used calcinated clay due to the dual benefits that the calcium brings to the froglets and it's apparent ability to sustain larger populations of springtails. What do you think? Comments? Criticism? 


















Ed
Sent from my Galaxy S4 using Tapatalk 2


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## Brian317 (Feb 11, 2011)

I think it looks good! Just make sure that lid seals tight so you don't have any escapees!


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## sports_doc (Nov 15, 2004)

I use Kritter keepers personally

Be aware that species is a climber and will be up at the tops of the sides, near the lid edge.

Sometime little froglets will get stuck in the lid gap...or hop out when you open the lid to mist / feed.

I also prefer to use 'old' leaves in closed containers as the new leaves will go through a period of molding over/ early decomposition that I suspect isnt so good for frogs if their is little air movt. 

Options:

Cut out a square in the lid and hot glue some big screen section into it.

use Kritter keeper or similar instead.

Good luck


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## scoy (Jan 22, 2013)

Also be careful with how much yoy mist. With no drain it wont be long before your water level is too high and your clay clumps together.


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## therizman2 (Jul 20, 2008)

I use 10g tanks now, I prefer having the higher sides, and being able to see in to make sure froglets arent hiding up near the top. Anthonyi especially are small when they morph out and can be fast.


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## TDK (Oct 6, 2007)

Not only fast and jumpers but when you multiply that times 10 or more froglets they are almost impossible to keep in a container once they sense daylight and possible escape.


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## slipperheads (Oct 17, 2007)

Hi,

SIs are ready to eat flies when they come out of the water, they are VERY aggressive eaters and very FAST!


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## slipperheads (Oct 17, 2007)

Another thing to note for SIs was that because they were so fast, I had to switch to something where I didn't have to take the top completely off in order to put flies into the tank or fiddle with anything where the frogs were. Frogs got out and were shooting around the room EVERYWHERE. So I ended up doing something with a smaller door, like a critter keeper. My 2 yen!!


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## Nismo95 (Jul 30, 2011)

My girlfriend and I lost a couple pum froglets earlier this year.. One escaped on us to say the least.. We since upgraded our bins.. We went to Fred Meyers here in town and found these typical rubber maid bins.. BUT!!! the lids have a rubber/foam gasket.. They are to prevent air/moisture from getting into the bins when you are storing stuff. We drilled a 2 inch hole in the lids and added the "tarantula" vents you see online from time to time.. Needless to say, no escapees and these bins are incredible IMO. We have 8 of them setup with either froglets or adult frogs waiting for perm homes.. We use the 5 gallon setups and they fit 4 to a shelf on a rack.. Just something to give people a heads up to avoid escaping froglets!


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## slipperheads (Oct 17, 2007)

Nismo95 said:


> My girlfriend and I lost a couple pum froglets earlier this year.. One escaped on us to say the least.. We since upgraded our bins.. We went to Fred Meyers here in town and found these typical rubber maid bins.. BUT!!! the lids have a rubber/foam gasket.. They are to prevent air/moisture from getting into the bins when you are storing stuff. We drilled a 2 inch hole in the lids and added the "tarantula" vents you see online from time to time.. Needless to say, no escapees and these bins are incredible IMO. We have 8 of them setup with either froglets or adult frogs waiting for perm homes.. We use the 5 gallon setups and they fit 4 to a shelf on a rack.. Just something to give people a heads up to avoid escaping froglets!


Pictures, Nismo, or it never happened.


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## Nismo95 (Jul 30, 2011)

I am planning to go buy 2 more of them over the weekend... So I will show ya all whats up when I dont have to worry about taking pictures and not paying attention to the frogs inside. lol. All of which are quick pum froglets or lightning fast thumbs


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## GP dynamite (Feb 19, 2013)

Thanks everyone for all the input. I will take everything into account I'm going to take Shawn's advice and cut a hole in the lid and perhaps make a small flap for feeding so I don't have to open completely. My adults were hard enough to wrangle up for a viv move. 

If anyone thinks of anything else please keep posting.


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## weenic (Nov 2, 2012)

That is interesting Shawn. I raised up my first citronella tad, morphed out fine, put him in an extra 10 gallon I had and three days later I noticed a white spot on his head when I came back from work he was dead and I would guess that a quarter of his body had what I can only assume to be mold on it. The leaf litter was a clean magnolia from my yard and i boiled the leaves.I did notice a large amount of small moldy spots on the leaves.Have you heard of this before?


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## r.avalos (Apr 10, 2013)

Can this set up be used as a quarantine tank as well? I am building a few tanks and would like to have a few quarantine set ups as well. Thanks for the help in advance.


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## Nismo95 (Jul 30, 2011)

Okay, I am a few days late to share the pictures of my gasket sealed storage bins.. BUT I just took the time to do a quick photo shoot since I am setting up 2 more bins as we speak.. And while I was at it I decided to throw in a pic of my male basti  since he is currently living in a bin with 2 lucky ladies!

I got these at Fred Meyers. If you have one where you live, I checked tonight they only make these gasket sealed versions in this one size.. Sad, but also lucky because they work for what we're doing. Unless I was just shopping at a bad time and they were sold out.



This is a picture to show you the rubber gasket. Bright green. It seals it shut completely. Not even a fruit fly would can escape this seal!



generic.. but gives you an idea. 1.5 inches of hydroballs.. 2 ish inches of quick substrate and than pile on the leaves, seed with microfauna and than time for a couple clippings of Pothos and than be done.



I use blue painters tape to mark whats in each bin (captain obvious over here) and I also drill one hole on the lid for a 2 inch "tarantula" vents. Brad (TheCoop) gave me this idea, I just took it further and used actual fabricated vents rather than glueing on some mesh over a hole. I like a cleaner look. Sorry bud! lol



4 of our soon to be 8 bins. Sadly, I am neglecting these frogs a bit and dont have any permanent homes ready for them.. But soon they will have a paradise of their own.. Plus zero breeding in these for ME so far... So I will welcome the cooling off period and fatten and supplement them up!



And last but not least the male of our basti trio. such a stud!


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## Nismo95 (Jul 30, 2011)

I would also like to note.. TheCoop uses the same method and I pretty much stole this from him! He only uses bins that are roughly 1 gallon bigger and he has breeding with his frogs in these things. Each bin costs about 7 bucks from freddy's and about 5 bucks in supplies or so. Once the adult frogs leave these and go into permanent homes, these will be emptied and sanitized than setup for froglets. I plan to use a calcium clay substrate in these and not to mention these are soooo easy to maintain and literally worry free for escapee's.. I learned my mistake early this year and lost a pum froglet.. Also, didnt want to hijack this thread! Sorry!


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## slipperheads (Oct 17, 2007)

Neglecting? I think its a great idea. How did you drill 2" holes and where do you find screened tarantula vents?!


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## kitcolebay (Apr 7, 2012)

I'd be curious about the best source of those vents too. 

-Chris


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## daryl34 (Feb 24, 2007)

Si's are not that dependant on a clay layer. They are better off with a good calcium / multiviamin supplement. They go nuts for fruit flies. Much more control dosing method, since they are aggressive feeders.

Daryl


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## Nismo95 (Jul 30, 2011)

daryl34 said:


> Si's are not that dependant on a clay layer. They are better off with a good calcium / multiviamin supplement. They go nuts for fruit flies. Much more control dosing method, since they are aggressive feeders.
> 
> Daryl


agreed. I was simply referring to clay for our thumbs and pums. just an added precaution for us.


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## Nismo95 (Jul 30, 2011)

2 inch vents were from a local pet store.. but if you wanted bulk like I will probably end up doing you can do ebay

2" Aluminum Terrarium Vents Roach Tarantula Insect Reptile Amphibian Pet USA | eBay


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## kitcolebay (Apr 7, 2012)

I just ordered 10 of them to give them a try.

Thanks, Chris


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## Nismo95 (Jul 30, 2011)

Let me know how the turn out. I have not purchased from them yet. Also I just use a 2 inch circular saw to drill through the plastic tops


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## r.avalos (Apr 10, 2013)

Is there members that use these as permanent housing for their frogs? or are they best used strictly as a temporary enclosure? btw this thread is very informative and sparking ideas in my head


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## Nismo95 (Jul 30, 2011)

r.avalos said:


> Is there members that use these as permanent housing for their frogs? or are they best used strictly as a temporary enclosure? btw this thread is very informative and sparking ideas in my head


I dont think we intend to use these as perm. enclosures for our frogs.. But I am sure time gets away from some and with a larger collection and fighting for realty.. I am sure they can end up prolonging their stay in these. TheCoop gave me the idea to use larger bins after losing a froglet in smaller ones and I was lucky enough to find these ones with a gasket seal (something his did not) but lucky enough for him he does have breeding going on in these with some of his pums. basically im saying hes a lucky bastard. lol.

Question now for the OP (ed) your calcium clay you use.. Is that a mixture you fixed up or is that turface? I was under the impression turface was fired and hardened and that would fail get soft or allow the calcium to actually rub off onto the microfauna? Thought I would try to figure that one out


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## scoy (Jan 22, 2013)

The turface goes under the clay like a false bottom. Although some do use it as a substrate for frogs and microfauna because it does not get soft no matter how wet it gets.


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## Nismo95 (Jul 30, 2011)

scoy said:


> The turface goes under the clay like a false bottom. Although some do use it as a substrate for frogs and microfauna because it does not get soft no matter how wet it gets.


I understand that, but GP Dynamite showed us his grow out and if you look under the leaf litter and ficus, you can see the "gravel" which I assume is turface.


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## scoy (Jan 22, 2013)

When the clay is pressed through a screen it breaks into small pieces that give the "gravel" look. From Eds description he didnt use turface.


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## GP dynamite (Feb 19, 2013)

No worries Nismo. Ty for sharing. Very nice setup. 

Daryl, the reason for the clay substrate is to support higher levels of microfauna to supplement the froglets between regular feedings. I work long days so my thinking is light FF feeding in the morning, springtails all day and light FF feeding in evening. 

Ed
Sent from my Galaxy S4 using Tapatalk 2


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## slipperheads (Oct 17, 2007)

Nismo, a _circular_ saw for those holes?!

About 4-5 years ago I met someone near Baltimore who had an impressive collection who kept huge plastic bins with nothing but cuttings and pieces of wood in them. Two he opened had 15-20 each of adult azureus that were plenty healthy, but he had he didn't open for me.


In my opinion, if the container is spacious enough, I don't see how it would be inappropriate? The gasket bins are basically 10gals with advantageous dimensions, because the frogs will have extra space without a background or false bottom! They are also stackable. The only thing you would lose is the view, but for someone like me who is traveling to and from school throughout the year, the plastic containers are perfect for portability. I just ordered some gasket boxes and plan on moving my collection into them. I like the vents too and most likely will pick up something like that! Trying to think of words that describe the aluminum clips around those vents so I can find more online!

http://www.ventmyhouse.com/categories/Round-Soffit-Vents/Aluminum/Black-Finish/Open-Screen-Tabs/

also have aluminum, brown, and white on the site.


Will


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## pafrogguy (May 8, 2013)

Thanks for the info Nismo! I went out and got a few of those bins from Target for $7 each. They make great quarantine tanks that's for sure. I have always been partial to the clear round containers from Saurian and Josh's Frogs for most newly morphed frogtlets. These are great for small groups and new arrivals though!


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## Nismo95 (Jul 30, 2011)

Awesome josh! Target had the ones with the foam rubber gasket? I know none of our targets locally carried them.


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## TheCoop (Oct 24, 2012)

What a great idea ya have there ;-)


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## Nismo95 (Jul 30, 2011)

TheCoop said:


> What a great idea ya have there ;-)


Thanks! It works wonders. I learned it from a guy who doesn't reply to my texts when I'm looking for more frogs!


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## Judy S (Aug 29, 2010)

about the Turface...I found that it did get really mucky...I had contemplated using it as a substrate for frogs that need to bury themselves for their eggs...but it was not a workable solution...maybe I did something wrong...love the idea of these bins and the vents...


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