[Darts of Hazard]

Just setup a vivarium (36x18x18 Exo Terra) but looks like my house stays too cold as the tank temperature seems to have maxed out at 67F. Plan is to get a pair of tinc cobalts once I get the tank established, start fruit flies, etc. But no frogs right now so have all the time I want to figure this out.

Searched the forums and most of the "heating" threads are very old so asking again on the off chance anyone has figured out better ways to increase tank temperature. Basically gleaned the following from the old posts.
- heating pads have risk of cracking the glass in place underneath and do not work all that well on the side through foam backgrounds possibly leading to foam detaching from glass.
- aquarium heaters need to have sufficient water to work which most dart frogs setups do not have
- cables may work, but didn't see much about how to effectively work them in.
- heat lamps, will raise the temps just fine but also run the risk of cooking the frogs and saw at least one posting of a lamp cracking someone's glass top.
- raising room temperature seems to be the best option, but in my case that is not possible. No room in the house averages mid 70Fs without running a space heater which carries its own risks and costs.

So anyone come up with any new ways to increase tanks temps? Or have any advice on how to safely heat the tank without raising room temperature a ton? Leaning towards trying to setup a heat lamp over the front screen portion of the top in a way the frogs wouldn't bake or maybe experimenting with cables.

 

[Anon123]

Not much has changed, unfortunately. The best/safest option is still to heat the entire room. If 67F is the max, what's the min?

 

[Darts of Hazard]

64F

 

[Anon123]

This thread should answer your question:

how to increase temps

Hi, ive been trying to find realistic solutions to this problem. My viv is situated in a basement (my work office) and the room temps sit between 60 - 72 , colder when the rest of building is getting AC. The viv runs 64-72. It wasn't a problem this winter but is becoming one now. I can't run a...

www.dendroboard.com

 

[Darts of Hazard]

Thanks! Looks like you are better at searching than I am. Sounds like 60Fs may be fine for the frogs, theyl just be less active. And like you said best option is to try to heat the room.

 

[JasonE]

64F

The Canadian froggers here will tell you your temps are fine for darts. I don't have any experience with keeping frogs at lower temps but I'll trust them when it comes to the cold.

 

[Llehctim]

Im Canadian and my home goes to 61 at night and 69 during the day during the winter. I have not kept darts for that long, but they seem to have no ill effect from it. I was going through old posts when I was wondering the same and someone had mentioned their frog room went down to the high 50’s often enough. I wouldn’t be too worried. I do notice that as my home gets warmer they tend to be marginally more active, but terribs don’t seem overly active in the first place!
I would also mention that it seems even when it’s cooler the viv seems to be a couple degrees warmer than the room, so 61 in my house was often at least 63 in the tank.

 

[fishingguy12345]

The Canadian froggers here will tell you your temps are fine for darts. I don't have any experience with keeping frogs at lower temps but I'll trust them when it comes to the cold.

My frog room is usually 63-68F and my frogs have shown no ill effects.

 

[Woodswalker]

If you used a temp gun, you might find that the temperatures in your tank aren't uniform. In general, the shadier and wetter areas are cooler, and closer to the lights there is more warmth. Your frogs will find these and be able to self-regulate. It's a good idea to have one of these on hand so you can spot check and keep an eye on things.

 

[Darts of Hazard]

Yea have been checking various spots today and even with the lights being on all day the bottom back of the tank that is basically a cave gets as low as 58F. Going to check again before turning the lights on tomorrow to see what the absolute coldest it would be down there.