My White's Tree Frog, Retsu-chi, used to be very active when I got him. For weeks after I got him he would wake up a few hours after the heatlamp turned off and roam around poking at the top of the cage until I let him out and allowed him to explore.(With my supervision of course.)
Lately however he does not do that. (Lately as in, for one week now) He remains in his hiding place asleep unless I take him out for food or handling. Speaking of that I switched my feeding schedule 3 weeks ago to be once a week instead of once every 2 days. He used to eat 6 or 7 crickets at a time during that, this time however he ate only 5 and then immediately lost interest. He favored instead: Jumping out of the cricket gutloading/feeding tank onto the top/side and jumping into his own tank where he proceeded to return to hiding and go back to sleep.
Could this be bad? I don't want him to become totally inactive despite the fact that my tank is long instead of tall. Was it the new feeding arrangements? Or do white's normally do this after a few months of getting used to their homes? (Had him since the show around october 10)
Has the temp in your house changed? Has the humidity changed with the temp? My Dumpys eat 3 times a week... I put 12 crickets in each time... they each have 4 or 5 right a way... then finish the others off the next day. When my house gets to cold at night they do slow down. Maybe a form of hibernation... so I try to keep the night temp constant. My dumpys also love to get out and watch TV every night. My one red eye (the female) loves to get out and be held... but the male always pees on me... so I don’t' get him out as much. good luck...
Well... it HAS started snowing and therefor the temperature of my house has decreased. (Especially at night. It can get down to 60 in here.)
Should I leave the heat lamp on over night to counteract this? It is red so I worry he will forget the difference between night and day but I don't want him freezing into slowness. It sounds... unnatural....
You can replace the heat bulb with a ceramic heat emitter. It gives off heat, not light.
I use a regular 40 watt bulb in the daytime and a 75 watt infrared bulb at night on my terrarium with the screen top. I use a ceramic bulb in the outdoor shed over my tortoises. Ceramic bulbs get very hot and can melt plastic. (Trust me on this.) It's best to hang or suspend them from above so plants, frogs, turtles or the tank don't burn. I like them because they don't put out any light at night. I'm still experimenting with light/heat sources and will have to invest in a timer. I have a new used set up that I am about to fix up, and will pick up frogs at Arlington Show in March. And Thursday I will be getting the Exo-terra tank with 2 White's tree frogs from a fellow OCHS member.
It screws into a light socket. It should not be inside the tank, because you don't want the frog coming directly in contact with it. You can find a ceramic heater in Petco or any other pet store for that matter.
http://www.zoomed.com/db/products/En...JIZWF0aW5nIjt9
I am skeptical about it's ability to heat the tank beyond what it is already being heated. (Need a 10-15 degree increase as my house is 60 at night)
Problem 2: I live in a frozen wasteland hundreds of miles from the nearest petco/petco with a good heating device. Is there a way to get them online?
Also, the heat rocks/logs look like they might be useful as well. They wouldn't hurt it's skin or anything would they? *assumes they're used for reptiles and not amphibians*
Heat rocks are the worst! They are designed to go in with the animal, but often end up burning said animal. Decent pet stores don't carry them.
Ceramic heat emitters can be purchased on-line from just about any where. Petco has on-line shopping, I believe, but so do a lot other stores/vendors. Josh's Frogs and Black Jungle probably have them too.
Oh and they definitely do work. What size tank do you have?
20 gallon. (It's long, not tall)
The bulb I use currently is a 150W "Nocturnal Infrared Heat Lamp". It only seems to raise the temperature maybe 5 degrees.... Right now the tank is 70 according to the thermometer thing I put in there. (My house is generally 60-69 lately. Probably 67ish now)
I used to use a 40 watt bulb on a ten gallon and it brought it up to 85 - 90 F.
There's the problem, the bulb is too far away from the tank. When I have used heat bulbs/ceramic heat emitters they were installed in clamp lights that rest on top of the screen mesh of the cage. The mesh is metal. If the mesh is plastic, you cannot rest it on the top of the cage as it will melt. Keep the clamp light away from the any plastic, like the frame of an aquarium. Place it in the middle of the screen top to prevent melting the frame.
Can I jump in here and ask about a similar problem with my White's temperature?
I have a 24" tall Exo terra tank and I have a heat mat on the back (behind the polystyrene 'rock' background) that stays on all the time. During the day I have a red bulb on that sits on top the mesh This raises the temperature up to around 20 degrees at the highest, the rest of the time the tank is at about 18c (64f), I know this is still low for a tree frog, but I'm not sure what to use to raise the temp. When I asked at the shop about a ceramic bulb the girl there said it'll burn through the mesh on the tank. So I went for the 40w red bulb.
Also, as the temperature is dropping so low at night do you think it would be OK to keep the red light on all night?
You may have to keep it on all night, your temperatures are too low. I think that the polystyrene 'rock' background may be blocking the heat mat's effectiveness.
What's the wattage on the ceramic heater and what is the mesh top made out of?
*adjusts heat lamp so it is closer* Now we play the waiting game.
I keep my heat light (one of the red reptile bulbs, 40 watts) on 24 hrs, it has not seemed to change his behavior. Every night between 9 - 10, he becomes alert ~ hops into his water dish and waits to see if its feeding time....
Well he seems more active now since the light was lowered/left on 24/7. He looks sleepy though, like his body thinks it's daytime but he knows it's night and warm enough to allow him to explore.
The result is him just kinda sitting halfway out of his hiding place staring sleepily at the glass. (He looks healthy as ever. Just that his pupils are small like they are in the daytime and he's not climbing around, suggesting the advertisement of this heat bulb being "nocturnal" may be stretched.)
But yeah... breathing is normal and he appears at least somewhat more active then before. Before he litterally did not leave that spot all week. I put crickets in there to prove it. (When he was active he would do everything in his power to reach the crickets even if there's glass and 10 feet between them.)
Now my only worry is rather or not he'll adapt to constantly red light with no periods of darkness until summer.
I would shut the light off at night. If you need continued heat, use a ceramic heat emitter instead of a heat bulb. The frog needs the darkness to properly function.
Sorry to interrupt the thread again.
I missed your reply earlier Kurt, sorry.
I don't know what the watt of the ceramic lamp was, the mesh on the top of the tank is metal. I replaced the 40w bulb for a 100w bulb, it made a couple of degrees difference to the temperature but after 5 days of having it on continually, the bulb has blown! It wasn't cheap either! Grrrr
I'm thinking it'll have to be a ceramic bulb during the day and a red bulb at night to stop the temperature dropping too low.
Also where would be the best place to put the heat mat for maximum benefit? I have around 3 inches of water in the bottom of the tank, so the bottom is out. I was concerned about putting the heat mat where the frog can sit directly on it (through the glass) as I thought it might burn the frog?
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