# General Topics > Vivarium, Terrarium & Enclosure Discussion >  Help with dart frog

## eric048

I inherited an Azure dart frog, he is somewhere between the Froglet and Juvenile phase, he is about 1/3 of an inch. I have him in a 2.5g, false bottom, sphagnum moss substrate, a little ramp dish used for hermits, and a silk plant/flower thing, temp is 74F, Humidity is 100%, glass top.

I was wondering how long it will take him to mature my friend raised him from a tadpole he is about 3months old. I am culturing and feeding him flies. I have several spare fish tanks I can use when he gets older, which would ya'll recommend? 
7, 10gallons
1, 20gallon tall
1, 20 gallon long
1, 40gallon breeder.

I was curious as to which ya'll preferred the standard tanks or those exo-terra ones with the double doors? I have one for my red eye, it measures 12x 12x 24x. I need some help in setting up a vivarium for the dart.

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## dablock

Eric, 

Your azureus frog will grow to be about 1.5 to about 1.75 inches long. This will take about a year to happen. Your temp and humidity is good. If you're going to just keep the one frog you can get away with a 10 gallon tank, but the bigger the better. He might be happier with a friend and you can do well with a 2.1 group of azureus. I keep all my darts in ExoTerra vivs (the 18 inch cubes or the 18X18X24s can work well for a small group). I really like the way they look and the way they are easy to care for. As for setting up a viv, you'll want to go with:
1. a false bottom
2. a substrate divider such as fiberglass window screen which you can buy at Lowe's or Home Depot
3. a good draining substrate such as ABG mix (Atlanta Bontanical Gardens) which you can buy from various sources online such as Josh's Frogs or NE Herptoculture
4. add some moss and some leaf litter also available online
5. use some wood and live plants (adapted to live in high humidity) such as bromeliads and ferns for the frogs to hide in and around
You can email me at dablock1@knology.net and I'll be glad to send you back some photos of frogs and viv setups. Also do some searches on the forums for more information and photos.
Good luck, David.

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## eric048

How do you clean something like that though? Also about backgrounds?

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## John Clare

Clean what specifically?

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## eric048

how do you clean a planted terrarium? I know with lizards and turtles and such you just throw out the substrate and hose down the enclosure, how do you clean a planted vivarium?

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## wesleybrouwer

You may wan't to create a little ecosystem in the terrarium.

To achieve this, it is important you don't overcrowd, that is one of the reasons you have to give you're frogs an appropriate sized tank depending on species and/or amount that is going in it.

I always put springtails and different tropical woodlice in the tanks.
The waste the frogs produce, dead leaves or dead flies etc. may be taken care of by the janitors.
In their turn, they also provide a brilliant food source to you're frogs, while cleaning you're viv, brilliantly planned by nature i think  :Smile: 

Using life plants also has a benefit.
Life plants will take up nutrients from the soil,
prefending it from heaping up and potentially doing harm to the frogs.
Beside that, they help maintain a good humidity as well.

The only thing i do now and then is changing some leaflitter, cleaning the windows and clean the feces that are stuck above ground or something,
just for the visual  :Wink:

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## eric048

sounds easy enough, I am going to need a lot of help setting up this viv.... I know nothing about it

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## J Teezy

i'm getting ready to start my first viv as well but with RETFs.  The one thing I've found in my research is that with dart frogs its important to make sure your tank is fly proof meaning no spots for fruit flies to escape.

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## eric048

the way I fly proofed my 2.5g is simply to add a glass top to it

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## dablock

> How do you clean something like that though? Also about backgrounds?


The best backgrounds are the cork tile backgrounds made by ZooMed. They're cut to fit the ZooMed and ExoTerra vivs and they look really good. You can also mount vines and bromeliads to them.

As for cleaning, the vivarium is pretty self-contained. Once a month I use a paper towel to wipe down the glass surfaces. This is pretty easy with the ExoTerra vivs. When you open the front doors the frogs tend to hide in the back while you clean and this cuts down on escapees. 

I also drain the water from the false bottom when it get to about 1/2 inch from the substrate so the water isn't wicked back up into the substrate. To do this I insert a bit of tubing (3/8" diameter I believe) that I got a Lowe's that just accomodates a length of fish tank airline hose. I insert this tubing when I set up the viv and cut it off just slightly above the substrate level. You can hide what shows with a little leaf litter. Then when you want to siphon the water just insert the airline hose into the tubing and siphon out the water.

If you use the proper substrate such as ABG mix, then you shouldn't have to break down the viv for around five years. At this time, the substrate may have compacted and broken down so that it no longer drains properly. You can then just take things out down to the substrate divider and add new substrate.

Photos of a couple of vivs when just completed and not yet grown in and an adult azureus.

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## eric048

Is there a substrate that doesn't break down? I also saw on YouTube people use foam to make backgrounds, i want nice water feature incorporated into the background

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## dablock

Eric, for your first attempt at building a vivarium, I wouldn't try a water feature. The frogs don't need them and they can often be more trouble than they're worth. Once you've made a couple of vivs, then you might want to research and try a water feature. As for substrates, I don't know of any that will never break down. Five years is pretty good for a substrate and by then you'll probably want to redo it anyway so that you can try something new. Again, I'd go for effective, but easy for your first viv attempt.

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## eric048

What if i wanted to make my own background? Also wouldn't cleaning it out after 5 years mean I have to start over from scratch?

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## Don

Yeah, I'm not a fan of water features and although they sound simple, usually create problems later on.  Pumps making noise, going out, a separated hose or clogged.... all make for a real mess unless planned out well enough to be accessible without disturbing the frogs and tearing up the hole tank.

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## eric048

Well I have two of those tetra in tank filters I was thinking of using those instead of a pump, also how do I make my own background in a way that's safe for y frogs

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