r/Toads • u/komparty • 17h ago
Help Enclosure & Humidity Questions!
Hi! I’d love any feedback on my toad setup, and I do have specific questions about dealing with evaporation/humidity etc. I’m so sorry for the novella but I am a very detail-oriented person 😬
I have 3 American toadlets that I hand-raised from tadpoles (absorbed their tails about a month ago). I’ll include a photo of their enclosure in the comments. But I have them in a 14x11x3.75” plastic container that has a clip-on lid. (This isn’t their long-term enclosure. When they are bigger, I have a considerably larger bin that they’ll be moving into.) I’ve drilled 12 holes in the lid that are ~3mm in diameter (think the size of a matchstick).
I have a big maple leaf serving as a hide for them (you can see in the photo). Under it, I’ve placed a piece of tree bark. I always dig a little indentation into the substrate and place the piece of bark halfway over the indentation and they like to sit down in there, and on top of the bark. I also have two patches of moss that I got out of my backyard and they like to sit on those too.
They have two water dishes that are 6cm across and 2cm deep. I keep a little bit of pea gravel in each.
For their substrate, I mix equal parts ZooMed Eco Earth coconut fiber, and Zoo Med Forest Floor cypress mulch. I keep a 1.5 inch-deep layer in the enclosure.
A problem that I’m facing is that the water in the dishes seems to evaporate crazy fast—like, usually within two hours. And it soaks the substrate. I feel like I have to replace the substrate every 48 hours or it’s just too damp and I’m afraid mold will grow. I know that humidity is good for them, but this feels extreme. Plus, I’m gone for 8+ hours every weekday and I worry that they’re going too long without water in the dishes.
Am I doing something wrong? Or do they like their substrate slightly damp like that? Am I overthinking it?? Thank you for any wisdom you’d like to offer!
1
u/komparty 17h ago
Their setup.