Setting up your Frog's Terrarium

Before purchasing your frog, you should have the terrarium ready to put him in when you get home. The most common terrariums today are the half water and half land habitat, for semi-aquatic frogs and toads, such as leopard frogs. However, the half and half terrarium is a great choice for any frog. You need to know which frog you're getting so you know which habitat's best for him. To find out more about frog habitats, check my article: Your Frog's Habitat.

When you're choosing the bedding you're going to use for your frog, DO NOT use gravel at all. Frogs can swallow gravel and it can clog their intestines and be fatal.







Things you'll need to setup a frog terrarium:

• Moss, coconut fibers, sand (for frogs who prefer a drier climate), or other bedding
• Water dish
• Food dish (optional; water dish can serve both purposes)
• Logs (for frogs to hide under and climb on)
• Plants (live or plastic)
• Heat lamp
• Thermometer
• Hydrometer (optional, but recommended)
• Terrarium humidifier or squirt bottle
• 5.5 gallon tank (at least; you can use a larger one)
• Large bucket
• Warm water

How to set up a frog terrarium:
Soak the moss block, coconut fiber block or other bedding block you chose in a bucket of warm water. The water to bedding ratio should be 2 to 1. Slosh the bedding around in the bucket and let it sit for 15-20 minutes.

Ring the bedding out leaving about 20% moisture in it. Spread the bedding on the terrarium floor. The bedding needs to be 1.5 to 2 times thicker than the frog it's housing. I strongly suggest using moss in your frog's terrarium. Moss keeps the tank humid and retains moisture. Also, moss adds a natural look to your terrarium.

Make sure that there are no sharp edges on any of plants or logs. Place the logs, plants, water dishes, etc. around the terrarium. Live plants help retain moisture in the terrium along with moss. Arrange the plants so that your frog has plenty of places to hide, hunt and explore.

Place the thermometer and hydrometer where it's easily visible but where your frog can't easily get to it.

Squirt down the terrarium with a squirt bottle (you can buy a humidifier that will automatically mist the aquarium for you, but a squirt bottle's about 1/10 the price!). Set the heat lamp on the terrarium lid (yes, you will need a lid... frogs can climb out of their habitats; the lid needs to be well-ventilated no matter what frog is housed) where your frog CANNOT access it. Frogs will climb up to the heat and can burn themselves if they touch hot heat lamps! Turn on the heat lamp and you're ready to bring your new frog home.

Things to remember:

To prevent your bedding from rotting, squirt the terrarium 2-3 times a day generously. Keep the heat lamp on during the day to evaporate any excess moisture that can cause mold to grow. Mold can hurt the frogs... and humans. If you happen to see mold starting to grow in your terrarium, do a thorough cleaning (see my article: Cleaning your frog's Terrarium) and remove all bedding, live plants, logs, etc and get rid of them.

In the case of mold, warm water (as suggested in my article) won't work. It will only spread the mold spores around. What you need to purchase is a chemical that can be found at almost any Petco or Petsmart. It's called WipeOut by the Zoo Med brand. It's a deodorizer and disinfectant that works great for problems like this, but will harm your frog if you let it touch him. When you use this chemical, remove everything from the terrarium and use generously. Then do a thorough warm water wash over your entire terrarium.

Mold can be caused by not having enough ventilation in your frog's habitat, or by having too much moisture and humidity.