Heat/Humidity frustration

[Sasha]

I have an 18x18x24 exo tera terrarium for my 3 Whites tree frogs. I use eco earth for the substrate and I have a large piece of drift wood and some fake plants/vines and a piece of bark covered cork as my background. I have a Zoo med hygrotherm and I currently use a fogger to keep the humidity around 69% and I use a heat lamp to control the heat. It has worked pretty good until now. The past two days I've noticed that even though I have the heat on in my house set to 70 degrees, the tank is only getting up to about 73 with one heat lamp. I've added an additional lamp to amp up the heat and right now it's at 77 degrees. With the additional heat lamp my humidity has now tanked and was at 56%. I'm assuming I have to get a UTH. My question is how big does it need to be and where on the tank should it be put? When I had my Exo-tera 12x12x18, I had a small UTH that I attached to the side of the tank. I never really felt like it did the job.

On another note, Skitter has been acting different the past few days and I don't know if it's the whole heat/humidity problem. A few times a day I will find him sitting in his water bowl for over an hour. Normally the water bowl is something he just passes through. Yesterday I caught him sleeping in it and took him out and put him on a leaf. He's eating normal, and I think he's pooping normal too because there was some in the bowl with him this morning and he was the only one in there. I picked him up for an inspection and his coloring looks normal, there was some redness on his legs but I think it was just from him trying to escape my grip.

[Hoppity100]

I'd be careful if too much humidity: maybe frogs get pneumonia...or if too dry, may have difficulty breathing or swallowing?

[HerpDerp]

I highly recommend not getting a UTH. They are really a waste of money. Especially since an 18x18x24 is just over 30 gallons so the UTH would have to be pretty big. Are you sure your heat lamp is still working properly. They do eventually lose effectiveness. If you have a false bottom you could put enough water in it to cover a small aquarium heater. That would probably help both heat and humidity.

Glurmo always gets in the water dish if the humidity drops too low. And he's just a lazy frog, he'll just fall asleep in it sometimes. I used to worry quite a bit but I've learned that if I just leave him be he'll eventually climb out and sleep somewhere else. Can you turn your fogger up or set it to run for longer intervals (sorry I don't know how these things work lol)? Or you could just mist your tank as well to maintain humidity. But the first thing I would check is to make sure your heat lamp is still fully functional.

[Sasha]

Thanks for the advise. I don't have a false bottom but I will check the light. Things were better this morning. Temp was up to 77 and humidity was at 63%. Last night I made sure the humidifier in the house was filled and then refilled it again this morning. The fogger for the tank has been running constantly. The nice thing about the hygrotherm is that you set it to the temp you want and the humidity level you want and then it turns everything on and off as needed.

Skitter was in his water bowl this morning, got out for about 1/2 hour then went back in and closed his eyes! I just left him this time, I figure he will be okay once things get back to normal. I just freak out when they sit in that bowl for so long because that's what Fiona did before she died.

[Hoppity100]

Oh, you're welcome! You have quite a set up! Glad everything is ok.

[deranged chipmunk]

Skitter is most likely reacting to the sudden drop in humidity levels. the real concern is this: if your fogger is running 24/7, why is your humidty only 63%? it should be ridiculously higher.

[deranged chipmunk]

also....you could probably tie a home heating pad onto the tank temporarily until you figure out the problem. they actually don't burn as hot a UTH, but every little bit will help Skitter be more comfortable until it's sorted.