A late spring update for The Woods: Upcoming Project Blog

It has been a few months since we last provided an update for you about this upcoming project. Many details and realizations became clear. We will share more of the details below in this blog update.

The animals are all thriving, and everyone is waiting for the construction to begin. Ace, Pious, Oracle, and Esther were all chosen to live in the upcoming large enclosure. All four animals are confirmed to move into the habitat, but the other male toad Wellsboro, will join them. This decision was more challenging than you might think because Wellsboro has been more difficult to keep in a multi-toad enclosure. He and Navi cannot live together without him trying to mate and harass her or Navi trying to starve him because she will not let him eat. Wellsboro (pictured above) had the opportunity to move in with Pious, Oracle (pictured above), and Esther. So far, Wellsboro has been behaving and not food aggressive. It was noted that the tense interactions between Ace and Wellsboro were a problem years ago. Only time will tell now that every toad and wood frog is parasite free if both toads will coexist.

Aside from the addition of Wellsboro to the group, every frog and toad have been thriving for many months. These are slow times featuring the frogs and toads because everyone has been doing well. Maybe we will have some featured content of the five frogs and toads soon.

The Rusty Red Carpenter Ant Colony is thriving. The colony has many new broods and eggs. The queen (still unnamed) has been busy establishing her presence in the ecosystem. The ant colony is around 8-11 workers and many on the way. The goal is for this colony to grow large enough to become one of the two staple feeders for the frogs and toads mentioned above. They are also pets and fascinating creatures in their own right. The colony has been eating honey, crickets, and moths as the main food source, and they continue to show much personality. Like the frogs and toads mentioned above, the ants are thriving; and there is nothing noteworthy as of late. Their goal is to grow the colony, and I eagerly await that.

The Canyon Isopod Colony is also thriving. It is unclear how well they are doing currently; because they have been hiding more, and their habitat was not saturated to draw all the isopods deep in the soil to come towards the surface. Two new groups of 10+ were purchased and introduced recently, and they are not a feeder choice for the frogs and toads. This colony is far ahead of the ants but still has a long way to go before it is trusted to be a source of food for these animals. They are also fascinating and are high-class pets, like the ants.

The important news for this blog update features mostly to discuss the change of the size of the enclosure and the layout for the gadgets. The original habitat was supposed to be 96x18x30, but the size is too big to fit into the room it will be featured. We are reworking sizes with the spacing in mind for the animals. It is vital to understand this habitat is not larger for clout but large after the years of research and observing the individual animals and learning about their preference for space, and comparing more of that to the wild habitats to get the size originally planned.

It appears we will have to settle for 80 to 82.5 inches long. The length is still too short for five frogs and toads that are nomadic to cohabitate. The opportunity to expand out involving expanding the width is the saving grace for this project. It appears we will have the possibility to grow the width to potentially 22 to 24 inches. 82x24 would give more breathing room and allow the animals to spread out with a much larger width, unlike the original 18 inches. The height is either 30 inches or will expand to 36 inches. We are unsure of what is possible with the budget, but we are optimistic we will build the largest enclosure possible that can maneuvere into the room the vivarium will stay. We have many opportunities; and nothing decided on yet for the size of the habitat, but we will be sure to release a new blog update when we have the dimensions decided.

Devices and gadgets had to get evaluated to fill in the shorter length of the upcoming enclosure. Fewer misting nozzles will be required, and fewer light fixtures and other devices. Some key additions, like a duct fan/blower keeping a constant breeze to avoid bacterial buildup and dry out the enclosure since we will be having thunderstorms and fog storms! A fountain pump and an additional aquarium will pump more water down the artificial waterfall and keep water levels managed. The Pocket 6K is still the featured camera, but after careful consideration, we have decided the GoPro Hero 10 Black is not the B-Cam because of the grainy night clips it produces. It will serve best as a unique scene camera like slow motion or underwater scenes. The Sony A6300 is a very usable camera at night. If no B-Cam is purchased before production begins, the A6300 will likely be the B-Cam. The vivarium being smaller in length means more resources will be compact. Additionally, it might be better to film chase scenes or fewer plants required to fill the space or fewer resources to create the weather conditions as promised. More information featuring the technical aspect and the gadgets will be more in-depth as we prepare to construct the habitat once the dimensions are selected.