If you have amphibians, in our case, White’s Tree Frogs, you need to do a bit of planning before moving house with them as they are sensitive little critters.
Checklist
- Paper towels
- Dechlorinated water
- Plastic carrier
- Blanket or sheet
Moving day
Amphibians are delicate creatures, so I wanted to be very careful when we moved these guys. We have three White’s Tree Frogs who live in a glass tank with heating and light. The first important step is not to feed them the day before. I didn’t know how long they would be in their carriers, and I didn’t want them sitting in their own poop, so I skipped their meal the previous day.
We got a small, plastic carrier and put paper towels on the bottom and then I then soaked the paper with dechlorinated water to keep it moist. I don’t handle my frogs at all, so was a little nervous about catching them. You must wet your hands before touching them, so using the dechlorinated water, I sprayed my hands. I then took out the larger branches at the front of the tank and cupped the frogs in my hands to stop them from jumping away. They were then placed in the carrier, and the carrier was then placed back in their main cage until it was ready to be moved so they could still reap the benefits of their heat mat. The whole tank was then covered with a blanket to keep stress levels to a minimum.
Next, I emptied out all of their logs, branches and plants and the tanks was wrapped in bubble wrap by the removal men. The heat mat was unplugged and we put in in a plastic bag to keep it safe and dry. The lid and lighting were wrapped up separately to stop them from breaking.
At the new home, I used to dirt that I already had in the cage and smoothed it out. I didn’t want to throw it away and replace it because I have a living set up, and there are little springtails living in the dirt who keep the cage clean. It’s important to check all the logs and branches before putting them back in to make sure nothing had broken, and there weren’t any sharp edges that could hurt my frogs. Make sure all the branches fit in securely as I didn’t want any to fall and do any harm.
I plugged the heat mat and lighting in (although I kept the light switched off for the first day to minimise stress) and made sure everything was working correctly before putting the frogs in. I gave it a really good spray as everything had dried out and frogs need a humid environment to thrive. When I was confident everything was ready, I put the plastic carrier into the main tank and opened it, They were pretty keen to get out, and just hopped out. I didn’t feed them that day either, as they were a little unsettled, but the next day, they all fed well.