Is a light for during the day on my viv a must or down to personal preference? do I need a UV - some reptiles do I think, but no sure about amphibians?
Pulse stats, micro stats - there are loads. What's best?
I've looked at the magical eye 1's that switch temp for night time, but they where getting bad reviews regarding the sensor. What type are people using?
Cheers
Hi dan
Of all the millions of horned frogs kept, most are probably kept without a UVB light and they do well as UVB is not in the husbandry of most books on horned frogs or general information. Because horned frogs have a wild diet that includes a lot or solely vertebrates ( C. Cornuta feeds on frogs) D3 can provided by the diet as D3 is in the liver of vertebrates. It's unknown if they will partly use UVB and until studies are done on this species any suggestions that it is necessary in this species is anecdotal. It is a good idea to use a UVB for non albinos if you can provide plenty of plant cover and shelters as a this will work as a back up should you by mistake not supplement enough with D3. Many brands that sell UVB lights are claiming that they need it but their opinions are biased. Small frogs like dart frogs, fire bellied toads, most true ranid frogs and many small and large tree frogs frogs should be provided with UVB because they are mostly insectivores or high baskers. You will need to provide your frog with a day and night cycle, though.
Pulse thermostats are best with heat mats and you can place the probe under the substrate on top of heat mat. You can also use the day/night pulse ones with a ceramic heat emitter. The dimming the are the only suitable to use with bulbs. The probes are bulky and annoying in most thermostats.
What's the best setup for lights on a day and night cycle? And as above, are the day night/stats reliable/do they work ok?
Cheers
Most people just use a 12:12 day and night cycle by connecting the lights into a plug timer. If you're using a day light heat lamp and the room is not too dark then this will do, otherwise a UVB or daylight tube made for reptiles. You can also use LEDs. The microclimate day and night thermostats are annoying as they have a light sensor on the box which you need to place in a bright position. So if your room is not light well or the natural daylight reduces in winter then so will the hours of heat. Habistat do one with a light sensor on a cable so you can put this in your viv to sense the internal lighting. I think digital ones don't need a light sensor and it's just programmed. If you're using a mat then you don't need day/night ones but any radiant heater that you'll be using 24/7 will
You could get this
http://www.exotic-pets.co.uk/zoo-med...ibian-kit.html
http://www.exotic-pets.co.uk/zoo-med...ome-combo.html
then a day and night zoomed daylight heat bulbs, around blue bulb 40-60w for day and 25w-40w dark purple or red at night or use the nocturnal bulb 24/7 connected to day/night thermostat and compact UVB in the other socket
easy and cheap solution
No problem, I've done a lot of mucking about with equipment and wasted money so it's best to save someone else from doing that
for daytime heating and lighting zoomed do daylight blue bulbs and the 40-60watt ones should do but it depends on your room temp. Red and purple nocturnal bulbs can be used at night for heat and viewing when the daylight bulb is off but it's best to go for a lower wattage so you get the night time drop, so the 25-40w ones. An easy way is to just get a 40-60w nocturnal bulb to give heat for during the day and night but connect it to the thermostat for a drop at night, if they're on full power 24/7 they will dry the tank out too much. For daytime light on the other socket on the combo dome you could use maybe a 5% Exo Terra UVB100 13w for the photoperiod and some UVB, which may or not be use to the frog, or you could just use a fluorescent "daylight" reptile bulb again at 13watts
The Zoo med Hygrotherm is a really good thermostat, you can plug your heat source and if you have a fogger you also plug this in to. It has the day and night setting for temp so it will do the drop for you at night and you program the max and lowest humidity needed and your worry free. I will be honest that there abit pricey but its worth every penny, you might be able to find one cheaper on amazon or ebay then in a actual store. I use them with my horned frogs and i love them.
Yet to try that myself might get it and a fogger at one point. If I have problems with humidity mainly during the winter I just use sphagnum moss and feed off tongs or use a heat mat on stat for the hot spot and just use a bulb to warm the air to 75F (24C).
Before I had one of these for each of my pacman enclosures to compensate for the humidity in the winter I used a big Bionaire humidifier in the room. It worked really well because it had sensor on it that you could set so if dropped below the desired humidity in the room it kicks it self on. I would set it 55% and it worked well, I needed to change things because my frog room is only so big and there was moisture starting to form on my walls. Was worried about mold. I lucked out bigtime with the hygrotherms because the guy at the shop here had to do a clearance sale in the store to make room for some new displays so I got a really good deal on them.
I'm going to order a ZM twin dome fitting and a blue lamp and also a nocturnal one, and basically have a play around with it until get the temps where they need to be. The Hygrotherm is over my price range at the moment, but it looks a nice bit of kit.
If you can I would try to order a set of domes that have a dimmer built into them and you adjust your temps like this. Or you can buy a lamp dimmer at Walmart for about 10 bucks. Or you can find some cheaper thermostats that don't have both features ( heating/humidity) that are still good products but are only half the price of the Hygrotherm. Not saying you need things you could tinker with it yourself, just thought I would throw these suggestions out there for ya to think about.
[QUOTE=monster;273654]If you can I would try to order a set of domes that have a dimmer built into them and you adjust your temps like this. Or you can buy a lamp dimmer at Walmart for about 10 bucks. Or you can find some cheaper thermostats that don't have both features ( heating/humidity) that are still good products but are only half the price of the Hygrotherm. Not saying you need things you could tinker with it yourself, just thought I would throw these suggestions out there for ya to think about.[/QUOTE ]
Yeah, all input is appreciated . All the types and options of equipment is giving me a headache
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