That was very interesting thank you. Us dart frog people have ditched the balls for lining the cage we all have moved on to egg crates, that way the soil is never sat in the wet and the water drains through, so you never get any smell, I have been keeping frogs this way for a few years and they...
I keep dart frogs and I have a false bottom which is lined, all the soil and isopods and springtails are added with a pipe which I use for draining out the water with a turkey baster, works a treat.