To much moisture in enclosure and a question about heatpad

[Musicpanda]

My terrarium is made in plexiglass and according to my combo-thermo/hydrometer it's 85% moist. And I've read that it should be 70% for my Pacman. I wipe inside the enclosure 2-3 times a day cause the moist sticks to the plexiglass, it's not what I would consider "wet" in the substrate, but I'm still worried why there's so much moist in the air and if it can give my frog fungus.

The other question I have is about my heatpad, I actually have it under the plexi bottom of the terrarium (there is space so the heat won't make a fire) it's only a 7w pad, the instructions to it said not to have more than 1 cm substrate covering the heatpad, so I follow that, but then a thought struck me, my frog can't burrow there now can he? ... that seems pointless considering that the heatpad covers 28x28 cm of the frogs space (It's not even half of his space but anyway). I guess what I want answered is why they produce heatpads if you can't use substrate over it? If I put it on the side the heat wouldn't be as effective now would it? Considering heat is ascending.

/Leonard

[Deku]

IMHO I think you shouldnt worry too much about the moisture. They come from south america, where its constantly moist. You should post some pictures of your pacman. I love these frogs.

[Musicpanda]

IMHO I think you shouldnt worry too much about the moisture. They come from south america, where its constantly moist. You should post some pictures of your pacman. I love these frogs.

Okay I'm just a bite overprotective now after my albino recently died I'll try to take some pictures of him next week when my girlfriend is here with her camera. It's a promise!

So anyone knows an answer for question two, the function of heatpads?

[Deku]

Okay I'm just a bite overprotective now after my albino recently died I'll try to take some pictures of him next week when my girlfriend is here with her camera. It's a promise!

So anyone knows an answer for question two, the function of heatpads?

Oh I forgot to see that question! Heatpads go underneath the terrarium and give heat from below. Personally I dislike to use them for that reason, the frog could get burnt if it digs down which it will. What I recommend is you get a "heat lamp". Doesnt have to be bright. You can even get the ones that make no light whatsoever that are "Black" lights. It will provide some heat. Just remember if you are using a 10gallon aquarium only use a 40-50watt light NO MORE. If its a 20TALL use a 75watt. 20long 40-50watt. 30breeder 40-50 watt. Because of the height. You can put one of these on one end. But because of the height it would give off too much heat and the frog will be in stress. Just measure the heat it gives. If its not enough return it and upgrade for one step above. Dont over do it though. And good luck.

[Musicpanda]

Oh I forgot to see that question! Heatpads go underneath the terrarium and give heat from below. Personally I dislike to use them for that reason, the frog could get burnt if it digs down which it will. What I recommend is you get a "heat lamp". Doesnt have to be bright. You can even get the ones that make no light whatsoever that are "Black" lights. It will provide some heat. Just remember if you are using a 10gallon aquarium only use a 40-50watt light NO MORE. If its a 20TALL use a 75watt. 20long 40-50watt. 30breeder 40-50 watt. Because of the height. You can put one of these on one end. But because of the height it would give off too much heat and the frog will be in stress. Just measure the heat it gives. If its not enough return it and upgrade for one step above. Dont over do it though. And good luck.

How do I measure how much gallons my terrarium is? I'm not that good at maths. Only problem is what I should do with my heatpads now They shouldn't burn at 7w? I've touched the floor and it's barely warm (maybe the don't even do anything xD), but winter can sure be hard in Sweden so I might use lamp now and some additional heatpads then if the lamp doesn't goes all the way. Can't the lamp burn the frog btw? And is there lamps without UVB? I'm not that existed about those lamps...

[Deku]

Im just cautious about heat pads. Lamps CAN burn the frog if they are too close. You can measure your tank by length x width x height.

so post here how long it is, how wide it is and how tall it is. Do it in either feets, or inches. I dont do centimeters. Yes there are bulbs that are strictly for heat only without uvb. I think one is from ZOOmed. It doesnt produce light yet produces heat.

[UncleChester]

How do I measure how much gallons my terrarium is? I'm not that good at maths.

Measure length, width and height in centimeters. Multiply these three numbers together, call this 'ANSWER'. Type "ANSWER cubic centimeters to gallons" into google, and behold the power of the internet.

Example: if you measure length=60cm, width=30cm, height=30cm, you get 60x30x30=54000. Ask google "54000 cubic centimeters to gallons" and google tells you "54 000 (cubic centimeters)= 14.2652908 US gallons".

If your ruler is inches, you can replace "centimeter" with "inches" above, but I figured you are in Sweden. Alternatively, if you know how many liters your tank is, ask google to convert it directly for you (or just divide the number of litres by 3.78 to get US gallons).

This is the internet way for those of you who didn't go to a school at a time when not being able to convert various units of measurement around meant you failed. It's also for those who didn't grow up in a country confused on whether it used imperial or metric measurement.

[SethD]

My terrarium is made in plexiglass and according to my combo-thermo/hydrometer it's 85% moist. And I've read that it should be 70% for my Pacman. I wipe inside the enclosure 2-3 times a day cause the moist sticks to the plexiglass, it's not what I would consider "wet" in the substrate, but I'm still worried why there's so much moist in the air and if it can give my frog fungus.

The other question I have is about my heatpad, I actually have it under the plexi bottom of the terrarium (there is space so the heat won't make a fire) it's only a 7w pad, the instructions to it said not to have more than 1 cm substrate covering the heatpad, so I follow that, but then a thought struck me, my frog can't burrow there now can he? ... that seems pointless considering that the heatpad covers 28x28 cm of the frogs space (It's not even half of his space but anyway). I guess what I want answered is why they produce heatpads if you can't use substrate over it? If I put it on the side the heat wouldn't be as effective now would it? Considering heat is ascending.

/Leonard

Don't worry to much about humidity. It is not critical. They can handle it from very humid up to quite dry assuming they have access to a water bowl. Secondly, a heat pad probably isn't needed at all. They do fine at room temp's assuming that it is 70's or warmer. If your not comfortable with that and you want to give him access to a little more warmth what you are doing is fine. A low powered heat pad or heat tape under a portion of the tank will give him some place to go if he gets cold. Don't worry about substrate depth either. Assuming the substrate is loose he will be able to burrow down to the heat if he gets cold. I have kept rococo toads semi-outdoors through periods of of freezing weather this way. It works just fine with many burrowing species. The only thing you need to do if you have a lot of substrate in your setup is make sure the heat pad isn't trapped under the tank with no way to vent excess heat. That can potentially start a fire depending on you heat pad and thermostat type( from your post though I think you know this). Make sure the edges of the tank are raised enough to let a little air get in. I will usually use a hard rubber spacer under each corner about the thickness of three quarters stacked on top of each other. That is plenty to allow built up heat to vent a little and prevents a potentially hazardous situation.

[Deku]

Don't worry to much about humidity. It is not critical. They can handle it from very humid up to quite dry assuming they have access to a water bowl. Secondly, a heat pad probably isn't needed at all. They do fine at room temp's assuming that it is 70's or warmer. If your not comfortable 4with that and you want to give him access to a little more warmth what you are doing is fine. A low powered heat pad or heat tape under a portion of the tank will give him some place to go if he gets cold. Don't worry about substrate depth either. Assuming the substrate is loose he will be able to burrow down to the heat if he gets cold. I have kept rococo toads semi-outdoors through periods of of freezing weather this way. It works just fine with many burrowing species. The only thing you need to do if you have a lot of substrate in your setup is make sure the heat pad isn't trapped under the tank with no way to vent excess heat. That can potentially start a fire depending on you heat pad and thermostat type( from your post though I think you know this). Make sure the edges of the tank are raised enough to let a little air get in. I will usually use a hard rubber spacer under each corner about the thickness of three quarters stacked on top of each other. That is plenty to allow built up heat to vent a little and prevents a potentially hazardous situation.

Pacman frogs are south american tropical species. If I remember the come from argentine or peru or near there. Which in deed is constantly moist.

These frogs like to dig down. So 2inches of substrate isnt enough for them; they should have atleast 4inches of depth of dirt. It gives them enough to burrow down and escape the heat or element which in nature is what they would do. I agree with not needing a heat pad as it can burn the frog(seen incidents where I used to work). But it should have some sort of heat, because it comes from a tropical region. But since he needs something that isnt constantly bright and can use it DAY AND NIGHT he should get those heat bulbs that dont produce light but produce heat. Ived tried them. not the infrared bulbs. Those are obnoxious to use. Iam talking about the ones that act like a heater and produce heat WITHOUT the light. He should still add some light in there so it makes some sort of light cycle but he doesnt need uvb/uva either. All he needs is just a simple flourescent or incandescent, leave it on for 12 hours and then turn it off at night and its done. The heat lamp can be on during day and night. Iam saying this because he said and I quote "the winter where I live can be harsh". The temps should never drop bellow 72 which is the normal lowest tropical temps.

[Paul Rust]

How do I measure how much gallons my terrarium is?

Aquarium Volume Calculator
http://www.fishlore.com/ConversionCalculator.htm

[John]

Secondly, a heat pad probably isn't needed at all. They do fine at room temp's assuming that it is 70's or warmer.

Perhaps in Texas, but Pacman frogs in my experience are rather cold sensitive and can develop health problems if exposed to temperatures below about 17 °C (63-65 °F). I would think that's more of a concern in Sweden.

Pacman frogs are south american tropical species. If I remember the come from argentine or peru or near there. Which in deed is constantly moist.

Different species of Ceratophrys come from different parts of South America. I must say I think it's rather funny to generalize two countries as "moist". Peru has a lot of rainforest but it has other habitat types with various climates, and Argentina definitely can't be summed up as "moist".

[SethD]

Perhaps in Texas, but Pacman frogs in my experience are rather cold sensitive and can develop health problems if exposed to temperatures below about 17 °C (63-65 °F). I would think that's more of a concern in Sweden.

Which is why I specified room temps as being in the 70's or warmer and said if he felt it was getting to cold it was fine to use a heat pad.

[SethD]

I must say I think it's rather funny to generalize two countries as "moist". Peru has a lot of rainforest but it has other habitat types with various climates, and Argentina definitely can't be summed up as "moist".

Ditto that John. Most of the recent Cranwelli imports came in from the chaco region of paraguay which is a lot closer to a desert than a rainforest.


Deku,
I understand your trying to help but you are leading people in the wrong direction in a lot of areas and I also get the impression your making things up as you go along in sometimes in an attempt to sound knowledgeable. Saying for example in just this thread " So 2inches of substrate isnt enough for them; they should have at least 4inches of depth of dirt" is a prime example. You are telling people this based on what? Did you experience problems that were narrowed down to having only two inches of substrate while four made things better? No. It isn't helpful to say off the wall stuff like this and it adds to the confusion. People then repeat it and before you know it it becomes an established hobby myth because many people either make stuff up or repeat things without actually knowing if they are true or not. Now I don't want to be to hard on you because everyone starts somewhere and your making an effort but please try to be a little more careful and not just randomly make stuff up.

[Deku]

SethD:
Again Iam not making stuff up, this stuff I read on careguides a while ago(books). I don't go making stuff up as I go along. Thats just rude and stupid thing to do. I dont want to "sound" knowledgable. I dont care what anyone thinks of me, Iam just trying to give along what I and my friend have experienced.

My friend has a ornate pacman(green, yellow and white). His frog lives in a forest environment. It has a high moisture and the temperatures are in the 80s in one end and in the other they go down to the low 70s(75). His frog hides say.... 6-7hours a day? The rest of the time he spends on the shallow water dish I made for my friend. Or under the basking lamp. HE chose to provide a basking lamp that has a low wattage. So it gives enough heat, and uvb/uva. Frogs generally dont need it, but doesnt harm it either. Though the frog constantly sits under it. Ill tell my friend to post a picture of his frog if he ever makes an account on here. His frog, has had no problem and has gotten bigger and has had a brighter coloration. His tank has 4inches deep of earth and he always burries to deepest part of the tank where he literary sleeps for 6-8 hours. Depending on the day. His room is cold so he has to make sure the tank is constantly warm. But other than that, his temps are high and so is the moisture. The frog likes it. He doesnt even seem stressed or anything. He sits on his hand and doesnt even try to bite. hes on a diet of worms, since he hates to chase crickets. Honestly ived been keeping my share of frogs for 5years now. Ived sitted frogs/turtles/toads/dogs/cats/ferrets/fish and pretty much any other animal. Ived learned from their owners, books and sites. Ived never had a terrestrial frog die on me. Only frog that EVER died on me was an african clawed frog. I had it in a 20long tank, I went away for the weekend, it somehow jumped out of the tank through the automatic feeder, and dried up on the floor but it had lived with me for 2-3years without anything happening to it. Asides from that. Never had a frog or toad die on me yet. So I must not be doing anything wrong. Sure his pacman frog isnt mine, but Ived cared for it when he goes on vacation and learnt about it.

@ John: I dont know too much about regions asides from the basic climate and temps. I have a friend from argentina and where she lives it rains every week(once or twice). It stays very humid too.

[Musicpanda]

Measure length, width and height in centimeters. Multiply these three numbers together, call this 'ANSWER'. Type "ANSWER cubic centimeters to gallons" into google, and behold the power of the internet.

Example: if you measure length=60cm, width=30cm, height=30cm, you get 60x30x30=54000. Ask google "54000 cubic centimeters to gallons" and google tells you "54 000 (cubic centimeters)= 14.2652908 US gallons".

If your ruler is inches, you can replace "centimeter" with "inches" above, but I figured you are in Sweden. Alternatively, if you know how many liters your tank is, ask google to convert it directly for you (or just divide the number of litres by 3.78 to get US gallons).

This is the internet way for those of you who didn't go to a school at a time when not being able to convert various units of measurement around meant you failed. It's also for those who didn't grow up in a country confused on whether it used imperial or metric measurement.

I was never good in maths, I've graduated from a music school and will read japanologi on Lunds university in September. I thank you for the free education!

Don't worry to much about humidity. It is not critical. They can handle it from very humid up to quite dry assuming they have access to a water bowl. Secondly, a heat pad probably isn't needed at all. They do fine at room temp's assuming that it is 70's or warmer. If your not comfortable with that and you want to give him access to a little more warmth what you are doing is fine. A low powered heat pad or heat tape under a portion of the tank will give him some place to go if he gets cold. Don't worry about substrate depth either. Assuming the substrate is loose he will be able to burrow down to the heat if he gets cold. I have kept rococo toads semi-outdoors through periods of of freezing weather this way. It works just fine with many burrowing species. The only thing you need to do if you have a lot of substrate in your setup is make sure the heat pad isn't trapped under the tank with no way to vent excess heat. That can potentially start a fire depending on you heat pad and thermostat type( from your post though I think you know this). Make sure the edges of the tank are raised enough to let a little air get in. I will usually use a hard rubber spacer under each corner about the thickness of three quarters stacked on top of each other. That is plenty to allow built up heat to vent a little and prevents a potentially hazardous situation.

I'm more confused about it being 1 cm in end where the headpad is, I have coconut substrate that's a bit chunky and sucks in moist very good. I'm a little afraid to make the substrate hight more than 1 cm because of the instructions that followed with the heatpad, but it sure seem non-logical that heatpads even exists if they can't have substrate on them more than 1 cm...

Perhaps in Texas, but Pacman frogs in my experience are rather cold sensitive and can develop health problems if exposed to temperatures below about 17 °C (63-65 °F). I would think that's more of a concern in Sweden.

Different species of Ceratophrys come from different parts of South America. I must say I think it's rather funny to generalize two countries as "moist". Peru has a lot of rainforest but it has other habitat types with various climates, and Argentina definitely can't be summed up as "moist".

Yes it can be very cold in the winter, temperatures near -20 C outside. Now when it's summer it's about 20-30 C outside depending on day and month.

Ditto that John. Most of the recent Cranwelli imports came in from the chaco region of paraguay which is a lot closer to a desert than a rainforest.


Deku,
I understand your trying to help but you are leading people in the wrong direction in a lot of areas and I also get the impression your making things up as you go along in sometimes in an attempt to sound knowledgeable. Saying for example in just this thread " So 2inches of substrate isnt enough for them; they should have at least 4inches of depth of dirt" is a prime example. You are telling people this based on what? Did you experience problems that were narrowed down to having only two inches of substrate while four made things better? No. It isn't helpful to say off the wall stuff like this and it adds to the confusion. People then repeat it and before you know it it becomes an established hobby myth because many people either make stuff up or repeat things without actually knowing if they are true or not. Now I don't want to be to hard on you because everyone starts somewhere and your making an effort but please try to be a little more careful and not just randomly make stuff up.

Actually I have some books about Pacmans and the hight of the substrate should be twice the frogs hight and that would make Dekus statement very accurate when it comes to my frogs size. I don't think he makes things up from thin air so lets be friends now shall we?

[Deku]

@Leonard: Thank you. I don't like to make stuff up when it comes to care because it involves the life of an animal. That would be sick and twisted to just make things up. As for being friends, trying to, but he keeps arguing which is no good. I hate arguements in general. :U Otherwise Id join the debate team and wipe the floor with everyone(jk). xD But I agree with you.

[dbolack]

The other question I have is about my heatpad, I actually have it under the plexi bottom of the terrarium (there is space so the heat won't make a fire) it's only a 7w pad, the instructions to it said not to have more than 1 cm substrate covering the heatpad, so I follow that, but then a thought struck me, my frog can't burrow there now can he? ... that seems pointless considering that the heatpad covers 28x28 cm of the frogs space (It's not even half of his space but anyway). I guess what I want answered is why they produce heatpads if you can't use substrate over it? If I put it on the side the heat wouldn't be as effective now would it? Considering heat is ascending.

From keeping hermit crabs, we habitually keep the heating pads mounted on the side of the tank, half in, half out of the substrate. But a typical crab tank probably has a bit more substrate than a frog tank, putting the pad a bit more in the air. Heat lamps muck with the humidity and you can use heat rocks with crabs. Seems like the issues should be the same.