I think your right. Some people don't want to care for their pets. They buy them and let them sit as if they were wall hangings. But, some people aren't about status. When I bought 3 betas from the store I had a seperate tank for each of them, one beta tank ( you know the 1 lt tetra tank) and two bowls. I was told that they only live for 2 years. That seemed like an acceptable life span for a fish, and I didn't want to be committed any longer than that. I cleaned their tanks every week, talked to them every day, named them. After 3 years I moved them up to larger living accomidations (even though they are "supposed" to like small places), and they loved them. After a while they gave me the eye attitude resenting the fact that they weren't again upgraded. So I bought them each a 5 gal tank. Again they loved them. Those guys lived 6 1/2 years!!! The pet store couldn't believe it. They had so much personality that after they died I bought another one. I put it in the 5 gal tank. It lived only 1.5 years- and had none of the attitude :( I'm not going to buy another. But, I loved them very much and fussed over them constantly. I had the slim coat, and the special foods and gravel, only the soft plants etc. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that not everyone is irresponsible, just misinformed. And I think your right, the pet store needs to know what they are doing and tell people the optimal not minimal conditions required for a pet. I'm glad I had them, but if I was told they would live for 6 + years I would have rethought the situation- like getting a dog.

your best bet for PDF Vivariums would be to use soil; super soil is great as it's just that, no perlite or anything toxic or dangerous, also, milled sphagnum peat moss; this lowers the pH for that nice moss action and also hold water. use sand to make soil drainable. you should want to establish the nitrogen cycle which will do a few things. one, help break down waste and two: feed the plants. also you should be sure that your soil doens't come with animal waste or wormcastings. if you opt for repti-bark or other off the shelf products, save your money instead. research soil mixes by looking at google.com for key words: Naturalistic Vivariums" also, i've been adding to the soil a single layer of oak leaves. i wash them very good of course. they have tannins that help the soil, and some PDF's just love hiding and breeding in the liter. what species are you interested in?

rhizo, thanks for the info. i read the article and looked at some photos of the cuban tree frog, and while the photos bear a marked similarity with the frog in my photo, the description of the cuban tree frog does not match with the frog i observed. but i hope it's not the cuban tree frog. i live in california and found the frog in a cool, dark, dry cardboard box where i store jars of seeds outdoor. i'd say it's about 1.5 to 2 inches.

I think she was being a little sarcastic, amy. scarlett, You've have quite a few posts on this forum almost on the same sort of thing. I remember the Christmas light thing where your husband plugged the lights into the wall still in the box so you served him raw food. You acted like it was funny, but it still sounds to me more like it's a little passive aggressive on both your parts. I'm not really sure what the answer is, but someone has to at least try to break the adversarial relationship. I would suggest you start. I would suggest you seriously try to treat him like he's someone else that you respond gentler too.. act like he's your child, your boss, your best friend. When he acts stupid about e-mail, just say "Oh, I guess I could see how you thought that" (Even if you can't see how he could be so dumb, just try to be overly nice) not "What, were you born on Mars, why would you think that?". It sounds like you are in a very challenging competitive reltionship which can be exciting in ways, but if you are always trying to compete and out do one another, or always have to be the right or smarter one and often respond sarcastically, etc... after a while no one is happy. Try "kindness" instead of trying to be right or knocking your husband down to size whenever you can. Kindness can work wonders. If it doesn't help, and it's very constant and abusive, and you really don't think you are contributing to his negativity towards you, I wouldn't totally rule out your husband possibly having a mood or personality disorder.