Very new to Dendros

SnakePaparazzi · #1 (**permalink**) 07-21-2008, 12:19 AM

Hello everyone!

I am new to the forum and also to Dendros. A buddy of mine just got me hooked when I went to his place and saw his killer setups. I will be setting up my first "Living Viv" here over the next few weeks and will definately keep a photo journal.

First off, let me introduce myself...

I live in Yucaipa, CA. I spent almost 7 years in the Army. I was stationed for 6 1/2 years in Germany (1 of those was spent in Iraq from March 2003 - March 2004). I met my beautiful wife of almost 7 years at a shopping mall in Aschaffenburg Germany in 2000.

I have always been fascinated with wildlife (especially herps). My most active hobby is field herping. Unfortunately, with the gas prices lately, I am unable to participate as much as normal. I am getting ready to start breeding Rosy Boas... just need to get my breeding rack and a few more locales.

Fortunately, I made friends with a guy who is also into herps (darts). He popped by to check out a tank that I was selling and we ended up going field herping together a few weeks later. I went to his house one day and checked out his dart setups... Amazing (now I am hooked and will be building my first living viv very soon).

Are there any dendros that can handle it if their viv gets above 80 degrees? I am thinking that during the summer, the avg. temp in the tank will be around 80 - 85 in the summer and the range in the winter will be around 65-75 degrees. What species (if not dendros, maybe red-eyes) can handle these types of temps?

I know I could go pick up a book and see what kinds can handle that, but I would rather ask an active (and very knowledgeable) community and get some opinions.

I feel very privileged to be able to participate in such a knowledgeable forum and look forward to future posts.

- Christian

MELLOWROO421 · #2 (**permalink**) 07-21-2008, 02:11 AM

Congratulations on your first step to your next addiction! I'm sure there are many people here who will be able to answer every question you can think of. I'll start. As for the higher temp frogs, generally we try to keep all of our frogs at a max of 80 degrees, but some people have had no troubles with slightly higher temps (hopefully they will chime in), I just would not recommend it. Many pumilio are supposed to be able to tolerate the higher temps better than others, but I would also not recommend keeping pumilio for your first frogs.
Here's a good start. It's the care sheets for many species.
care-sheets/topic18038.html
Saurian.net also has some good info and lots of care sheets that are specific to whichever darts you may be looking at.

herper99 · #3 (**permalink**) 07-21-2008, 02:24 AM

Welcome Christian. First off, as somebody new to darts, you should stick with some of the easier species to keep. There are quite a few species that are good to start with (ie. D. tinctorius, D. azureus, D. auratus, D. leucomelas, P. terribilis). However, if you anticipate temps in the mid 80's you definitely want to stay away from D. azureus, D. tinctorius, and P. terribilis. I would recommend D. leucomelas (Leucs) or D. auratus as they can tolerate temps in the mid 80's. However as stated above, you really want to stay below 80. I think it is common for people who are used to working with reptiles to "cook" their frogs. I was a hard-core snake guy for over 15 years and believe me....I know! I would also recommend the "top 10 beginner mistakes" thread. It's good and I might add funny at times.

beginner-discussion/topic24449.html

Anyway, good luck! You did a good thing by joining the board.

bruce · #4 (**permalink**) 07-21-2008, 04:59 AM

Welcome to the addiction.
Just make sure your retirement funds cannot be touched by this new hobbie.

Run I say, run quick!

tkromer · #5 (**permalink**) 07-21-2008, 11:16 AM

Many of the pumilio are said to tolerate mid-80s, but we all try to keep our vivs below 80 whenever feasible. I would say that a very moist viv with good air flow should be able to stay under 80 in an 85 degree house just due to evaporative cooling.

zBrinks · #6 (**permalink**) 07-21-2008, 05:50 PM

Leucomelas would do fine at those temps. Interemedius can tolerate them, as well, but Im not sure if they would breed. IME, auratus get very shy at temps over ~80F.

froggiefriend · #7 (**permalink**) 07-21-2008, 10:24 PM

Welcome to the board snakepapi... and welcome to a new addiction... um hobby

I suggest you get a comfy chair, turn off the phone, pop a bag of popcorn, have your favorite frosty bev ready cuz you are in for an enjoyable, inspiring, and addicting couple of late nights of reading
and make sure to check out the members viv section and you will definately be hooked.. :shock:
Kristin

SnakePaparazzi · #8 (**permalink**) 07-22-2008, 03:27 PM

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome!

Are there any small units that will push cool (not ambient) air through the tank? I am sure that I can rig a good Air system, but would need something small and hideable that will produce cool air. I was daydreaming yesterday and came up with an idea... Not sure that it is feesable, but...

I thought of the way beer from a keg was cooled... tubes running through a fridge...

If anyone has tried this, please let me know....

Take a small under the desk type fridge...
Remove the door and use plexiglass somehow attached to the front. Cut a vent hole big enough for a small computer fan (regulated by a thermostat) and run a hose (big enough to cover the fan) to a vent at the top of the viv. You would have to use a rubber flange to stop the cool air when the fan isn't running.

Would this method bring in too much cool? Are there thermostats accurate enough?

You can pick up small fridges for next to nothing on craigslist or even at Wal-Mart they are under $100.

If I had an extra room, I would do as my buddy does and keep it nice and cool... But I don't :?

I really dig on the D. leucs... Once I get my viv set up, I am going to record temps for a few weeks and see what my range is.

Once again...

Thanks for all the positive feedback :mrgreen:

- Christian

MELLOWROO421 · #9 (**permalink**) 07-22-2008, 05:56 PM

Maybe an aquarium chiller would be better. Do a quick search on "chiller" and read through some of the posts. I'm not sure if it will work or not, maybe someone here has tried it and will chime in.

tkromer · #10 (**permalink**) 07-22-2008, 06:00 PM

I run an aquarium chiller on my axolotl tank (doesn't run often as I only keep the water around 63 in a 70 degree house), but it needs very high flow rates to work right. 200GPH on my (tiny) 1/6HP chiller. Would probably work fine, but you'd need some really high turnover.