[Socratic Monologue]

RH in the UK might be 80-85% outside, but it won’t be anywhere near that inside. Heating etc will dry the air out and it’s more likely to be somewhere between 40 and 60 inside the house

And even lower in a viv that itself is heated. RH is 'relative humidity' -- relative, that is, to the temperature. As the temp goes up, the RH goes down at the exact same level of water in the air.

In any event, the RH in the viv is almost irrelevant, especially if the probe is "in a sheltered location away from heat lamps" (and as mentioned may well be broken; humidity probes simply cannot tolerate viv conditions for long). An RH meter can be a useful tool, but in no way fully indicates that the level of moisture in the viv is acceptable.

If the frogs' last position is the substrate, they may be trying to drink (the flat position suggests this). A full screen viv with 50w of heat added is almost certainly too dry, especially since the viv does not get thorougly misted (it appears not to, given the position of the nozzles). I suspect the frogs are dehydrating. Do they hide mostly, or come out a lot? Hiding indicates (among many other things) lack of moisture.

The whole viv should get entirely (every surface but the front glass) misted at least once per day, preferably in the AM, and then have enough screen that most of the exposed surfaces -- plant leaves, leaf litter -- fairly dries out over the course of the day (which for almost everyone is a couple inch strip running the width of the viv, along with the under door vent). A viv with a full screen top is almost certainly too dry, unless misting is done every hour or two.

 

[SimonL]

Looking some more at the picture, do you have a fogger (table on the left) in the tank or a mister? Or both?

Also, what size is the terrarium? Looking at the objects in the tank, I’m guessing 60cm? (Edit: yes, you said 60cm in the first post) Is that big enough for 5 frogs? Have you monitored the frogs for signs of aggression or stress?

 

[Dane]

Something that I haven't seen referenced yet in the replies would be that wild caught/ranched/farmed etc. frogs often have a much higher parasite load than their CB counterparts, and unless you have had fecals done (or necropsies), there would be no way of knowing if this is playing a part in your losses.

 

[Chris S]

Just looking at the setup makes me think that the frogs are not getting enough humidity. I can't see how an open topped viv can sustain anywhere near the degree of humidity needed. I have a lot of trouble keeping humidity up in the Winter vs Spring/Summer, where I often end up closing a lot of my ventilation. I think your first step is that you need to cover up a portion (probably 3/4 or 4/5) of the top.

 

[Kmc]

I think the lighting is worth examining. Its kind of been glossed over.

25 spot alone would be stressful for some reptile forms in a cubic space. 2 25s, evenly strapped could actually kill a few.

A thermostat is only as good as where the probe is.

Im seeing red like an infrared spot or sm flood? For the night time?

If you were targeting dendrobates temps i dont think i would do that, and i apply warmer zones others may not, so im wondering if you are up for going into more detail about the radiant heat gear and apply?

 

[Philsuma]

Almost all dart frogs need @ 75F. Ambient (room) heat is clearly the best and safest. I would not say it's impossible or irresponsible to put a dart frog tank in a cold basement or a log cabin ect with a heat mat or a blub...but yeah I'll say it. It is not the way and very debilitating on the animals.

 

[Kmc]

You are right. Ive helped out with situations like that and the variables Rule.

In these situations - just for a notation a frequent reason isnt that the people didnt have room but that someone in the household did not want the type of animal or what it ate, in the main home.

so i started pushing thawed crickets.

 

[photoj]

Heat lamps create a hot zone with temperatures exceeding what your thermostat registers away from the heat lamp. If you measure temps above the probe and approaching the lamp you will find the temperature will climb as your approach the bulb and humidity drops as you approach as well. This zone can easily exceed 80F and be a death zone if the frog lingers in it for too long. Heat lamps are for reptiles not temperature sensitive frogs.

What do you mean? They’re only little 25 watt bulbs that sit in the canopy. As I also said, temperatures do not exceed 23C, and I don’t see why using heat lamps would be a problem provided they are controlled by a thermostat. As for the other viv, also D. aurautus.