How we research & fact-check

By The Bognook Team · written & researched by amphibian keepersJul 26, 2026🔍 Keeper-reviewed for accuracy

Care information is only worth anything if you can trust it. Here's exactly how Bognook's guides are researched, what we check them against, and how we stay honest — including about our limits. We'd rather show you less than show you something we haven't verified.

The sourced gate: nothing published until it's checked

Every care number on Bognook — tank sizes, water parameters, temperatures, humidity, feeding schedules — has to be fact-checked against an authoritative source before it goes live. A species page only shows its full care details once that's done; until then it says the guide is still on the way. Right now 51 of 51 species have passed that gate.

What keepers ask and worry about online tells us what to write about. It is never our source for what's true. The demand comes from the community; the facts come from the authorities below.

The authorities we check against

Our care numbers and health notes are checked against recognised husbandry and veterinary references, including:

AmphibiaWeb — the scientific natural-history and species database.
Caudata Culture — long-established axolotl, newt & salamander husbandry.
Josh's Frogs care guides and Dendroboard / dart-frog husbandry references.
The Merck Veterinary Manual — amphibian disease and physiology.
Primary scientific literature and natural-history data where available, cited directly.

When a source is unreachable, we fall back to another authority — we never fill a gap with forum lore or a guess. Every health or husbandry guide ends by naming what it was written and fact-checked against, so you can follow the trail yourself.

Our integrity rules

Triage, never diagnose. We help you tell normal from a red flag and decide when to act — we don't diagnose illness or prescribe treatment, and we send you to an exotics vet when that's the right call.
Current husbandry, not folklore. We teach the modern evidence-based standard and correct outdated pet-store advice — kindly, and with the reason why.
The animal comes first. We'd rather send you to a vet than keep you on our page. Captive-bred over wild-caught, always.
Post and tool agree. Our articles, tools, and care sheets are built to never contradict each other on the same fact.

Health notes & our review status

Health and safety guides carry an honest close: they're written and fact-checked by amphibian keepers, and keeper-reviewed for accuracy — but not vet-reviewed. So if your animal shows the signs described, please see an exotics vet rather than rely on an article.

We're working toward named veterinary review of our health content. When a qualified exotics vet has reviewed a specific guide, it will carry a “🩺 Vet-reviewed by [name]” line on the byline — and you'll only ever see that when it's genuinely true. We will never fake a review or a credential.

We keep it current — and we fix mistakes

Every guide shows when it was published and, where relevant, when it was lastupdated. Amphibian care keeps evolving, and so do our guides.

If you find an error or something that's fallen out of date, please tell us — a good correction makes the guide better and we're grateful for them. 📧hello@bognook.com · more about us on theAbout page.