Heating for frog terrerium help plz

[melcoggio]

Hi, so I'm picking up my red eyes and dainty tree frogs tomorrow. I have a great set up, but am concerned about the safety of leaving the heating on during the day.

My boyfriend bought me a 50w reptile one daylight basking lamp.. will this be suitable for my frogs.. and if so what is the safe amount of time to leave the lamp on for? I'm afraid of over heating...

will my frogs be OK if i don't leave any heating on during the night (i live in Sydney)

isn't it dangerous to "mist" the terrarium with the lamp sitting above?

i have done heaps of research before setting up my tank, but haven't found much on safety precautions.

Please give me your advice :?

 

[user 16324]

I dont keep frogs but what i'm going to say is pretty common sense in regards to most reptiles. Put a light cage around the heat lamp. So your frogs dont jump onto it and burn themselves. And get a good thermostat to control the temp. So it wont get to hot or to cold day or night. You can get day/night thermostats so you have a temp for daytime and a temp for night time. Misting should be okay as long as you dont drench the light fitting.

 

[Frozenmouse]

I kept green trees for a while with no cage heating but had a 3 foot fish tank 1/4 filled with water and a water heater set to 26 oC and small pump to circulate the water

 

[melcoggio]

thanks guys, heat lamp is sitting above the tank mesh in a reflector... good idea about the thermostat. ive left the heat lamp on all morning and it seems the hottest it will get is 25.7 degrees

 

[frix1]

Heat lamps are generally not the best way to go with red-eyes as they do prefer a little humidity. Unless you have a large water dish you will find the conditions will become dry very quickly.
The lamp will also heat metal mesh screen tops and cause damage to the frogs skin. How many frogs do you have, how large is your enclosure and what substrate are u using?

 

[melcoggio]

hi my enclosure is 45cm squared. i have two red eyes (they are pretty small atm) and one dainty
i have it set up as a natural vivarium, there is a rain chamber and a natural bank.. so plenty of water for them... the land area has live plants and sphagnum moss substrate.
i have an Exo Terra light hood and have heat lamp on one side and uv on the other. - sitting above the tank.
whats the best/easiest way to heat them if this isn't good enough?

 

[frix1]

The set-up you have should be sufficient for maintaining humidity. My opinion is that your vivarium is good whilst the frogs are juveniles. Red-eyes are a very active frog and are happiest when they have plenty of room to jump and climb. I would recommend a 2x2ft enclosure as a minimum for 2 adults. A large enclosure will allow for a larger water area in which an aquarium heater can be used. Having holes drilled in the bottom of the enclosure will allow you to install taps to allow for drainage, hence maintaining a healthier environment for your frogs. Sphagnum moss is not the ideal substrate as it gets messy quickly and the feeder insects will hide in it. I prefer to use polished aquarium rocks large enough that the frogs can't swallow. If you would like to try to breed them, you will need a reasonably large water area. A 3x3ft or a 4x2ft enclosure or a separate enclosure purposely built as a rain chamber can all be used successfully to breed. Please send me a PM if you have any further Q's as I rarely check the forums.

 

[melcoggio]

cheers guys - I've ordered a 25 watt water heater off eBay