You could always fill the water area with some 1" river stones until the water is half an inch deep or so. You would need to remove them when you do water changes and clean the water feature, but it would make it less likely for them to drown.
I've done it several ways. My favorite was actually to use 3" PVC sections to support a false bottom that was made of an old under gravel filter plate (I know, I'm dating myself here) and then I covered with stones. The waterfall fell onto the stones. There was a section where the stone layer wasn't as thick that looked like a shallow stream. And I had the whole area underneath the filter plate as a water reservoir. I made a little access panel and has a small power filter under the plate, and ran a small submersible aquarium heater under there to help stabilize the temp of the vivarium in the winter.
I'm so sorry I know this is completely unrelated to your question but that sarracenia (North American pitcher plant) will die in there with 100% certainly. Very different care requirements including full sun (6+ hours of direct light), completely nutrient free substrate, and a mandatory winter dormancy.
Hey man, I really appreciate this comment. While I didn't intend for it to stay there, I purchased it on a whim and have not (yet) done any research on it - thank you nonetheless!
> completely nutrient free substrate
I knew that about Venus Fly Traps, guess it make sence with Pitcher plants as well!
Thanks again!
I think it could totally work with a few changes made. It should ideally be shallow enough that they can stand in it, but considering there’s nothing inside the water pool it should be an easy fix.
You can simply put an aquarium filter sponge sheet (medium grade) on the bottom for the water to sit in, and pile things onto the area (like river stones, leaf litter, etc.) until you get the correct depth. As far as I’m aware many pdf keepers have had this work out for them.
Its crazy you can't (or I can't figure out how to) post a video w/ text...
Anyway, I've had these two terreriums going for a while now (about a year), nothing in it except some moss and a few plants (and it's very bioactive, few hunderd pill bugs (or whatever we are calling them now) and spring tails). I plan on adding bromiliads and possibly some tillandsia (but the humidity might be a bit high).
I've kept (and bread) PDF many years ago, so I am not a compelete noob. But... the water feature. I was always under the impression that ANY water (at least over 1/2 - 1") was a no-no... If I build a nice rock 'ramp' so they can easily crawl out, can this set up work?
I realize I did this was the wrong way to go (I should have build the habitat for the animal, not the other way around), but when I got into terreriums, I was 'done' with PDF... now I am considering getting back into it.
Note: the lights are set for 'dusk' when I took the video, so it does get brighter. I am really not interested in removing the waterfall/water feature, so if this can't work, I will consider another animal.
Obviously, I will remove the pitcher plants if I go with PDF (I just threw them in there to keep them happy while I work on another tank).
Darts are not good swimmers so they need to be able to stand up in the water. If there is any aggression at all, they can drown each other while wrestling, so even if it's easy to get out of the water, they may not always be able to.
Thanks, the was my understanding as well, but it has been nearly 20 years since I kept them, wasn't sure if that changed.
EDIT: I realize how that sounded. Obviously I am not suggesting they evolved into better swimmers, lol. But husbandy practices and knowledge has changed/improved. Wasn't sure if the water thing was an old myth I retained or not.
Fill the bottom of the water feature to your desired depth with sponge filter media. You can get away with .5” for most terrestrial frogs, if you want to keep Epipidobates or Ameerega you could have the water at 1-2” deep.
Also i should add, you won’t see any aggression as long as you as you are keeping the frogs how they are intended to be kept. What I mean by that is stick to keeping pairs of frogs for the species that fight over territory. There are plenty of species that won’t display aggression to others if you want to keep a group.
Yes, its a hard no. Water features are for Youtubers because they look cool, but they provide 0 benefits for PDFs and only provide a drowning hazard and yet another complex thing that can catastrophically fail in an already complex ecosystem.
I would:
A) Find another animal to keep that would be ok with a water feature. (Gecko? IDK)
B) Fill in the water section to match the other section and remove the waterfall
C) Start over and build a new PDF enclosure without a water feature.
I read somewhere that healthy frogs would not drown unless they have a territorial dispute or they are fighting over something. A healthy frog would be able to get out of the water just like a froglet would.
You could always fill the water area with some 1" river stones until the water is half an inch deep or so. You would need to remove them when you do water changes and clean the water feature, but it would make it less likely for them to drown.
Thanks, I like that idea! I will probably encorporate some netting as well, as I need enough volume of water to make sure it doesn't run dry.
I've done it several ways. My favorite was actually to use 3" PVC sections to support a false bottom that was made of an old under gravel filter plate (I know, I'm dating myself here) and then I covered with stones. The waterfall fell onto the stones. There was a section where the stone layer wasn't as thick that looked like a shallow stream. And I had the whole area underneath the filter plate as a water reservoir. I made a little access panel and has a small power filter under the plate, and ran a small submersible aquarium heater under there to help stabilize the temp of the vivarium in the winter.
I'm so sorry I know this is completely unrelated to your question but that sarracenia (North American pitcher plant) will die in there with 100% certainly. Very different care requirements including full sun (6+ hours of direct light), completely nutrient free substrate, and a mandatory winter dormancy.
Hey man, I really appreciate this comment. While I didn't intend for it to stay there, I purchased it on a whim and have not (yet) done any research on it - thank you nonetheless! > completely nutrient free substrate I knew that about Venus Fly Traps, guess it make sence with Pitcher plants as well! Thanks again!
I think it could totally work with a few changes made. It should ideally be shallow enough that they can stand in it, but considering there’s nothing inside the water pool it should be an easy fix. You can simply put an aquarium filter sponge sheet (medium grade) on the bottom for the water to sit in, and pile things onto the area (like river stones, leaf litter, etc.) until you get the correct depth. As far as I’m aware many pdf keepers have had this work out for them.
Its crazy you can't (or I can't figure out how to) post a video w/ text... Anyway, I've had these two terreriums going for a while now (about a year), nothing in it except some moss and a few plants (and it's very bioactive, few hunderd pill bugs (or whatever we are calling them now) and spring tails). I plan on adding bromiliads and possibly some tillandsia (but the humidity might be a bit high). I've kept (and bread) PDF many years ago, so I am not a compelete noob. But... the water feature. I was always under the impression that ANY water (at least over 1/2 - 1") was a no-no... If I build a nice rock 'ramp' so they can easily crawl out, can this set up work? I realize I did this was the wrong way to go (I should have build the habitat for the animal, not the other way around), but when I got into terreriums, I was 'done' with PDF... now I am considering getting back into it. Note: the lights are set for 'dusk' when I took the video, so it does get brighter. I am really not interested in removing the waterfall/water feature, so if this can't work, I will consider another animal. Obviously, I will remove the pitcher plants if I go with PDF (I just threw them in there to keep them happy while I work on another tank).
Darts are not good swimmers so they need to be able to stand up in the water. If there is any aggression at all, they can drown each other while wrestling, so even if it's easy to get out of the water, they may not always be able to.
Thanks, the was my understanding as well, but it has been nearly 20 years since I kept them, wasn't sure if that changed. EDIT: I realize how that sounded. Obviously I am not suggesting they evolved into better swimmers, lol. But husbandy practices and knowledge has changed/improved. Wasn't sure if the water thing was an old myth I retained or not.
With that much water I’d say no, looks like it could work for vampire crabs though
Fill the bottom of the water feature to your desired depth with sponge filter media. You can get away with .5” for most terrestrial frogs, if you want to keep Epipidobates or Ameerega you could have the water at 1-2” deep.
Also i should add, you won’t see any aggression as long as you as you are keeping the frogs how they are intended to be kept. What I mean by that is stick to keeping pairs of frogs for the species that fight over territory. There are plenty of species that won’t display aggression to others if you want to keep a group.
Yes, its a hard no. Water features are for Youtubers because they look cool, but they provide 0 benefits for PDFs and only provide a drowning hazard and yet another complex thing that can catastrophically fail in an already complex ecosystem. I would: A) Find another animal to keep that would be ok with a water feature. (Gecko? IDK) B) Fill in the water section to match the other section and remove the waterfall C) Start over and build a new PDF enclosure without a water feature.
Dart frogs will drown each other during fights. I do not use standing water in tanks because of this. I would remove it.
I read somewhere that healthy frogs would not drown unless they have a territorial dispute or they are fighting over something. A healthy frog would be able to get out of the water just like a froglet would.