Dendroworld:
FAQ:
Vivaria
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It is not essential to have a background inside the vivarium, but frogs feel insecure if they can be approached from all sides, so covering the outside of the glass except for the front (by painting or with printed scenes) is a minimum requirement. Not having an internal background makes it easier to dismantle a vivarium if this becomes necessary. the advantages of internal backgrounds are aesthetic, they make it easier for frogs to climb and allow attachment of epiphytic and climbing plants. There should never be any spaces behind any background that frogs can get trapped in.
Corkbark is a common and robust choice for a background material. Pieces of natural corkbark can be attached to the glass with silicone aquarium sealant. This is quite a lengthy process.
Cork floor tiles (no chemical treatments) can be used but natural corkbark looks better until it is covered in plants.
Coconut fibre, tree fern or other panels can be attached with silicone aquarium sealant. These may have varying lifespans depending on price and composition.
Epiweb is quite a recent background material. Made from recycled plastic it is enviromentally friendly and has some quite amazing properties. Originally developed for growing orchids, it has been adapted by hobbyists to use in vivarias. For more information on this material please goto the Epiweb website.
Fernroot is expensive when compared to materials such as coconut fibre. This material is now quite hard to get hold of and appears to be slowly being replaced by Epiweb. Below is a photo of a vivaria with fernroom (left) and epiweb (right)
Polystyrene can be sculpted to shape with a hot knife and stuck to the glass with silicone aquarium sealant, or expanding polyurethane foam sprayed into the vivarium to form a three-dimensional background. Both of these look quite unnatural but may be covered with a mixture of peat or other natural fibres in a slurry consisting of waterproof PVA adhesive (e,g, Unibond) and water (1:1).
B&Q and other D.I.Y. stores as well as garden centres a a valuable source of materials for furnishing vivaria. Beware of chemicals (fungicides, pesticides, etc) in commercially grown plants.
A properly setup dartfrog vivarium does not require complete cleaning as it forms a simple mini-ecosystem. Plants utilize and recycle the waste products produced by frogs. Regular maintenance which is required includes:
Occasionally, it may be necessary to completely dismantle a vivarium, but this is not required routinely. Unless all the contents are to be destroyed (e.g. in the case of disease), place the contents (plants, etc) in translucent plastic storage boxes as they are removed. This keeps plants in good condition ans it's surprising what long-lost frogs sometimes reappear during this process!
Exo Terra make a range of vivariums which can be used for dartfrogs with a little adaptation. The main problem is that the top has too much ventilation, but this can be fixed by (partially) covering with a sheet of glass or plastic. Flies may escape through the doors depending on the construction of individual units. This can be fixed by a bead of silicone aquarium sealant along the edge of one or both doors.
Some frogkeepers prefer to suspend the planting substrate on a permeable
membrane to prevent it becoming waterlogged, leaving an air space below. This
is called
a false bottom. The usual way to do this is with "eggcrate" lighting
diffuser sheet covered with some sort of fine porous mesh which allows water
but not the substrate to percolate through.
The alternative is to use a drainage layer placed directly in the bottom of the vivarium. Gravel is cheap but heavy. LECA (often sold as Hydroleca) is light but more expensive. Some people also use a fine mesh separator between the drainage layer and the substrate.
Below are two photos that show the difference between vivaria with false bottoms (left) and vivaria without false bottoms (right).
It's not usually necessary to use feeding bowls for dartfrogs, simply place the food directly into the vivarium. The exception are food items which rapidly disappear into the substrate, e.g. waxmoth larvae. Dartfrogs will only eat living food items which move, but vibrating feeding bowls will not usually fool them into taking dead prey items ('cos they're smarter than you think!).
Foggers produce a mist-like vapour in the vivarium. This is good for maintaining high humidity and may look attractive, but is not effective at removing wastes from plant leaves etc, so misting is required in addition to fogging.
Hot glue (sticks melted in an electrically powered gun) can be used to attach
epiphytic plants to backgrounds and branches until they root. The glue is non-toxic
when set (very quick) but adhesive power varies under high humidity. Alternatively,
wooden cocktail sticks, string, etc can be used to temporarily position epiphytic
plants until the plant's own root system anchors it in place.
Dartfrogs require constantly high humidity (not saturated, but high). Escaped frogs perish very quickly (within hours) in a normal room, so if a frog escapes, place damp towels around the room at various levels until the frog is found, or it's crispy frog. Humidity in vivaria is maintained by regularly spraying with water, and possibly by additional fogging. (See Ventilation)
In nature, dartfrogs manufacture vitamin D3 required for calcium metabolism and healthy bones by exposure to weak ultraviolet (UV) light in diffused sunlight. In captivity, this requirement can be supplied by UV light tubes and/or supplementation of food with a vitamin powder containing D3. UV light tubes need to be replaced every few months as the UV output falls rapidly.
Dartfrogs come from tropical latitudes where there is little variation in day length through the seasons. However, regular day-night cycles are welcomed by frogs, so buying a cheap electric timer to control the lighting cycle is a good investment. 12-14 hours lighting a day is about right, although this can vary somewhat.
Misters produce a fine spray of water which maintains humidity and washes
wastes into the substrate where it can be utilized by plants. For one or a few
vivaria,
a simple hand spray is the best bet. For very large or many vivaria, automatic
misting systems powered by high pressure electric pumps and controlled by electronic
timers can be used. These systems usually require drilling the vivarium to position
the misting heads and/or drains.
Please also see the Parts section for more
information on misting components.
Mould growing on plants and furnishings is often a sign of inadequate ventilation. In addition to high humidity, dartfrogs and plants require ventilation for health, so balancing and adjustment (covering and uncovering of ventilation panels) is required to achieve the desired levels. Please be aware that mould growth often occurs when humidity is high in a relatively immature vivaria, this mould growth is normal and usually disappears after time.
Unless you are subject to frequent and long lasting power cuts, dartfrogs will survive temporary power outages without any problems. Avoid opening the vivarium and keep the room as warm as necessary, e.g. with alternative forms of heating. Plants will be fine without lighting for several days. When the power cut is over, adjust timers, check pumps are working, etc.
Normal room temperature (20-25°C) is fine for frogs - this is the range to
aim for. Lighting usually keeps the vivarium several degrees warmer than the
room
it is in. Most dartfrogs are will not suffer any ill effects at temperatures
as low as 15°C, but will become inactive and will not feed. Temperatures of 30°C
and over are very dangerous for dartfrogs - these animals come from the cool
forest floor and do not bask in sunlight for extended periods. A cheap maximum-minimum
thermometer from a garden centre is a good investment for any frogroom. Many
experienced frog keepers feel that day-night and seasonal temperature variations
have beneficial long term effects on frog health.
For several vivaria, it is much easier to control the temperature of the room they are in than that of individual cages. If additional heating is required, electric heat mats can be attached to the outside of the vivarium with a thermostatic probe inside. Alternatively, submersible thermostatic aquarium heaters can be used in water features or under false bottoms.
Good quality clear aquarium silicone sealant can be used for attaching vivarium furniture and plants and plugging gaps. Sealants from D.I.Y. stores may contain a range of chemicals such as fungicides which are potentially harmful to frogs.
The purpose of a vivarium substrate is to maintain humidity, provide a rooting medium for terrestrial plants and complete the mini-ecosystem.
Damp paper towels are a simple substrate suited to temporary quarantine and treatment containers since they can be disposed of regularly and replaced (possibly every day sine the have little "self-cleaning" property).
LECA (Light Expanded Clay Aggregate, often sold as Hydroleca), is composed of small, very light clay pellets. This can be used as a vivarium substrate in which plants are effectively grown hydroponically. Most people (and frogs) feel that the appearance of LECA substrates are improved by a thin covering of organic matter such as soils, bark chips, dead leaves or moss. Clean dead leaves are the most authentic reproduction of the forest floor where dartfrogs live rather than lush green moss, which is frequently difficult to maintain in vivaria. Oak and magnolia leaves decay slowly in vivaria and are a popular choice.
Various soil mixes are used for growing plants, but the essential point which that they must not be allowed to get waterlogged or they will become anaerobic and possibly dangerous, as well as killing rooted plants, so a drainage layer or false bottom is required underneath a soil substrate.
In all cases, excess water should be siphoned out of the substrate with a fine tube or plastic turkey baster, although it is generally a good idea to allow a little water to remain at the base of the substrate to maintain humidity levels.
Water used in vivaria should generally be soft (low in mineral salts) and free of chemicals. If you have limescale deposits in your kettle, your tapwater is hard. Hard water leaves unsightly marks on and eventually etches glass and is bad for delicate plants.
Soft water can be obtained from the tap (if you are lucky!), as clean rainwater (buy a waterbutt), reverse osmosis water or "spring" water for drinking. Not all supermarket springwater is soft however - read the label (calcium, sodium).
Waterfalls or other water features powered by small submersible pumps or
external pumps can look spectacular in large viviaria and help maintain humidity.
However,
most dartfrogs don't swim well and drown easily, so water should be shallow
and with easy escape points. Because most dartfrogs don't swim, water features
are
a waste of space in small vivaria - all you need is a bromeliad axil or a
small shallow bowl.
Dendroworld: FAQ:
Vivaria
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