# Frog Room (Woodsman)



## Woodsman (Jan 3, 2008)

A few people have asked me to post some photos of my frog room and set-ups. I have a lot of different sized tanks, but most of my breeding pairs are housed in 10, 15, and 20 gallon terrariums.

Take care, Richard.


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## heatfreakk3 (Oct 15, 2008)

Awesome set up Richard. That's my goal to have a set up that nice.


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## sports_doc (Nov 15, 2004)

So clean Richard, I'm impressed....

You can come tidy up my room anytime....trip to NH?

Shawn


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## boabab95 (Nov 5, 2009)

looks good


one question - no drainage? do your tanks smell when you open them from the stagnant water and dirt?


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## wiedemey (Jan 23, 2010)

Very nice! I love the 10g verts with the removable tops - how did you make them? Thanks!
Ruprecht


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## Woodsman (Jan 3, 2008)

My set-ups are about as simple as one could imagine. I use a potting mix like Miracle Grow for the base, then a nice layer of orchid bark mix, then another layer of Willow Oak leaf litter. Since I hand mist my tanks, I can adjust the amount of water they get depending on the ambient humidity. If the leaf litter gets soggy, I'll add another layer of Willow Oak on top or, if it's really soggy, I'll siphon-off a bit of the water.

Take care, Richard.



boabab95 said:


> looks good
> 
> 
> one question - no drainage? do your tanks smell when you open them from the stagnant water and dirt?


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## Woodsman (Jan 3, 2008)

Almost all of my "cool" tanks were gifts from friends that were updating their tanks (thanks George G!), so I don't have much info on their construction. To say I have built my collection on a "shoe-string" budget would be an understatement (maybe I should write a blog called the "poor man's guide to the dart frog hobby"!)

Take care, Richard.



wiedemey said:


> Very nice! I love the 10g verts with the removable tops - how did you make them? Thanks!
> Ruprecht


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## calvinyhob (Dec 18, 2007)

Richard very nice room, like you i try to keep my setups as simple as possible it makes life easier in the long run. Thanks for sharing and like Shawn said feel free to stop by and clean up my mess of a frog room also!!


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## coxdre123 (Aug 3, 2009)

Like the room Richard. Im setting up a fairly large frogroom myself. I like how you keep it simple with the tanks. I may try your method with no drainage layer. Hydroton gets kinda pricey. Anyway I can keep my cost down is good. 

Thanks for sharing.


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## Woodsman (Jan 3, 2008)

Hi Shawn,

You may be the very first person to say my frog room looks clean! I think it's the miracle of photography. I am actually known for my very large and diverse population of spiders that inhabit the frog room (I think they help keep the wayward Drosophila from getting very far).

I'm sorry I missed coming up your way last time. Is there going to be another chance to see your collection?

Take care, Richard.



sports_doc said:


> So clean Richard, I'm impressed....
> 
> You can come tidy up my room anytime....trip to NH?
> 
> Shawn


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## Boondoggle (Dec 9, 2007)

I wondered what you had go on over there. 

Thanks for sharing, looks like a fun place to spend some time.


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## eos (Dec 6, 2008)

Lookin good Richard.... I still need to see this setup in person!


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## Woodsman (Jan 3, 2008)

Anytime Riko. I'm just a ferry boat ride away! Good to see you at Frog Day.

Take care, Richard.



eos said:


> Lookin good Richard.... I still need to see this setup in person!


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## JeremyHuff (Apr 22, 2008)

Richard
You're holding back. You need to a post a pic of your tad collection


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## Woodsman (Jan 3, 2008)

Hi Jeremy,

Are you alluding to the fact that I have too many tadpoles? Right now I'm "restocking", so I have 5 of the 24-draw towers going, plus a few dozen tad trays (that hold about 6 tadpoles each). I don't want to calculate the actual number, as it's a little depression (and with no breeding let-up in sight).

I'll add a few other photos of the general chaos that I live in (bedroom, "living" room, kitchen), but don't poke too much fun at me!

Take care, Richard.


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## chesney (Jan 18, 2007)

Wow, I'm impressed with your entire setup Richard. I really love the tad setup. Can you give info on those containers? It looks like a much better way than what I am doing!


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## Woodsman (Jan 3, 2008)

Hi Lisa,

The trays come from Home Depot and run about $5 each. They come with adjustable drawers, so can fit 9 young tadpoles well. When the tads get larger, I generally have six to a tray (which gives them about as much room as the others have in the tower draws).

The problem with my system is that I do weekly complete water changes and the process takes many hours. I learned my "method" from Patrick, give lots of room, feed with human-grade Spirulina, and make weekly water changes. It works really well for producing large metamorphs that take melanogasters readily (and I have never had any issues with sls), but it is really killing me to work this hard.

Tadpoles, gotta love 'em!

Take care, Richard (P.S. I'd like to ship Monday for Tuesday delivery next week, if that works for you. Let me know).



chesney said:


> Wow, I'm impressed with your entire setup Richard. I really love the tad setup. Can you give info on those containers? It looks like a much better way than what I am doing!


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## heatfreakk3 (Oct 15, 2008)

Awesome tad set up Richard! Could you give us a close up on those containers? I'm interested in using those now..


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## dmartin72 (Oct 27, 2004)

Looks like a lot of work!


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## Woodsman (Jan 3, 2008)

Hi Chris,

Sure, here are some closer photos. When I do my water transfers, I just set up a new tray and move the tads over by spoon (I am an awesome tadpole fisherman!) to the new tray.

I raise mostly D. tinctorius and leucomelas, but this system has worked really well for my Iquitos Vents and Varadero imitators as well.

Take care, Richard



heatfreakk3 said:


> Awesome tad set up Richard! Could you give us a close up on those containers? I'm interested in using those now..


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## heatfreakk3 (Oct 15, 2008)

Thanks Richard. Man I can't get over how awesome and affective those are! Where at home depot do you find them? I'm getting me some . Do you poke holes in the top for air?


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## azure89 (Jan 5, 2009)

That is a great frogroom and I can't imagine how long the water changes for all those tads takes but very cool, I'm glad I don't have that many tads to care for yet haha


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## Woodsman (Jan 3, 2008)

I think you can find them in the screw and nail isle. I don't think they are completely air tight, so no need for air holes.

Richard.



heatfreakk3 said:


> Thanks Richard. Man I can't get over how awesome and affective those are! Where at home depot do you find them? I'm getting me some . Do you poke holes in the top for air?


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## dtfleming (Dec 27, 2010)

Richard, very nice tadpoles trays. I would have never thought of that, cheap, simple and effective.


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## myersboy6 (Aug 23, 2010)

awesome set up Richard! I actually thought about using those for tads as i use them for all my misc bolts and what not for all my tools i just wasnt sure if it would be enough water. good to here it works well tho! Thanks for sharing all your experience and knowledge!


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## chesney (Jan 18, 2007)

Hey Richard, Monday is Memorial Day


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## Woodsman (Jan 3, 2008)

Ah, yes, I forgot to remember memorial day. How about Tuesday for Wednesday delivery? I really want to get all my shipping over before it gets too hot around here.

Take care, Richard.



chesney said:


> Hey Richard, Monday is Memorial Day


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## chesney (Jan 18, 2007)

Sounds good with me. I'll give you a call and we'll work out the details in a couple of days.

Lisa


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## Mitch (Jun 18, 2010)

Looks nice Richard! When I have my own place I'll have a frog room... or maybe two... maybe one for myself too but that comes second.


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## Dendrodaved (May 4, 2010)

Hi Richard,

I must ask...... do you have any vivs in your bathroom? lol
awsome setup, I had a similar setup when I was breeding cichlids and single,
tanks all over my apartment and yes even in my bathroom.


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## stevenhman (Feb 19, 2008)

Very cool, thanks for posting!


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## Tadbit (Jul 16, 2010)

Very nice! Thanks for sharing!


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## Kaity (Sep 18, 2010)

Richard I'm curious how you move the Tads to a morphing cantainer? All that spooning doesn't stress them to death? Also it looks like water is able to go between each section. Is that true? Thanks for sharing!


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## Woodsman (Jan 3, 2008)

Hi Kaity,

I make weekly water changes, so the tads are transferred from 12-16 times during their development. When it's time for them to morph-out, I wrangle them into a large spoon to transfer them to the morphing tank (a 2 1/2 gallon with water and a pile of Sphagnum at one end for them to crawl out on).

I think the benefit to the frogs not having to grow up in stagnant water outweighs any momentary stress they have from the transfers (which just take a few seconds).

Take care, Richard.



Kaity said:


> Richard I'm curious how you move the Tads to a morphing cantainer? All that spooning doesn't stress them to death? Also it looks like water is able to go between each section. Is that true? Thanks for sharing!


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## PantMan (Dec 10, 2009)

Frog Room!!!. Frog house is more like it, and it sounds like your collection continues to grow. Unless you moved thing around it look like you only took pictures on one side of the actual frog room.


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## Woodsman (Jan 3, 2008)

Hi Mike,

I didn't want to come across as a frog hoarder!

Take care, Richard.



PantMan said:


> Frog Room!!!. Frog house is more like it, and it sounds like your collection continues to grow. Unless you moved thing around it look like you only took pictures on one side of the actual frog room.


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## dom (Sep 23, 2007)

Woodsman said:


> Hi Mike,
> 
> I didn't want to come across as a frog hoarder!
> 
> Take care, Richard.



to late


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## varanoid (Jan 21, 2011)

First let me commend your vivariums. Top notch. Next let me thank you for sharing some of your tadpole rearing techniques.

But I must say that you frog room is not a frog room at all. It's a frog house!


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## illinoisfrogs (Apr 16, 2010)

Woodsman said:


> Hi Mike,
> 
> I didn't want to come across as a frog hoarder!
> 
> Take care, Richard.


that is a TON of tads....do you wholesale them locally? What do you do with all of the froglets?


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## deboardfam (Feb 7, 2011)

Wow.. I would say this is a dream.. but I honestly dont think I could handle that massive of a setup LOL. Would need a crew of people to keep up with water changes, fly cultures, hand misting. Shew. 

Definately nice though... and I am taking a few pointers on the tad raising. Thanks


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## Boondoggle (Dec 9, 2007)

Wait...I don't see any snakes.


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