What am I doing wrong?

[DMBhippie]

Ok so someone suggested getting an infrared light 50 watt with dimmer. I have both a 10-20 gal heating pad and a 40 watt infrared bulb going and tinfoil over half the lid.I have the temp gauge centered on back glass of tank and its barely hitting 70. I haven't seen any waste in the tank since bringing him home unless I missed it. I'm feeding him every other day and yesterday he ate 1 earth worm but since then hasn't eatin anything. Should I be worried? Also I'm thinking of grabbing a 60 watt bulb in hope in gets the temp up?

[Bdimas]

Whats the temp in your house? Maybe your thermometer is not working properly. With all the heat sources you have going, I would think you should be over 70*

[DMBhippie]

Temp is set at 70 in the house. I threw a space heard up in the room now see if that boosts the temp a bit.

[Bdimas]

I don't have pacman frog experience. I'm sorry I can't be of more help to you. But I would think your tank temp should be over 70 if your house temp is 70. Good luck man.

[tinkgirl77]

I.don't have a pacman, but I did have temperature troubles in my a 10 gal quarantine RETF tank. I finally got where I needed the temp to be. I have a hygrotherm on one side and a temp/ hygrometer individual on other side. I have 1 8x10 and 1 5x6 uth on the bottom , then a 60 watt regular incandescent for day time and 50 watt red bulb for night. My hubby and I keep the house around 72 especially at night. So with all those great sources temp runs from 74-80. I have it set for 80 during day and 75 at night (on the zoomed hygrotherm). For a pacman, I def would not put the uth under the tank since they do like to bury themselves a bit. Dude mount it instead. Hope that helps good luck!

[DMBhippie]

Hey thanks for the response. I do have heating pad mounted on back of tank as I was aware of the burrowing. Refer to my other post I was more in depth hopefully someone will make sense of anything I'm doing wrong. Thanks again

[tinkgirl77]

Sorry, read right over the line. . Well I ended up tweaking with the lighting. if you still can't get temp up switch to a higher watt bulb or add another side mounted uth. That's what I ended up doing.

[DMBhippie]

So should I get a 60 watt daytime bulb and use the infrared 40 at night?

[tinkgirl77]

Try it but keep a close eye on it or get a zoomed hygrotherm to control the uth. I found them cheapest at thatpetplace.com. I ended up finding the perfect combo by trial and error.

[deranged chipmunk]

lisa, do you have any water collect in the bottom of your tank? if you do, you may want to re-think the heating pads on the bottom. hot glass+cool water=disaster.

[DVirginiana]

Don't get a 60 watt day bulb; those are too bright and will hurt a pac's eyes. You should be able to keep your temps up with what you've got. Go buy an infared/digital thermometer; the kind you are talking about can be up to ten degrees off either way.
In your other post, you mentioned leaving half his substrate moist and half dry. Don't do this, just make it uniformly moist; wet enough to clump up but not completely swampy.
Get a more accurate temp reading, and that will help us figure out what else may be going on. I have a hard time believing that 65-70 is accurate with all the equipment you've got. Especially the space heater, those things are great for heating the room.

[DMBhippie]

Ok so I won't get another infrared bulb if you think the 40 watt and heating pad are enough...ill dampen the remainder of the cage. What I have now is the flukers temp gauge with the needle. The space heater I used for the 1st time tonight and it was bringing temps up according to that temp gauge to 75ish but the humidity was hanging out around 90 so I got worried an turned the space heater off....I'm feeling stressed with this....I haven't done anything differently since bringing him home about a week ago and he was eating up until yesterday. He ate one earthworm and previously I was giving him 2 every other day. Today he showed no interest in food an seemed like he wanted to back away from it.

[DMBhippie]

Thanks for your reply bill. I do not have the heater on the bottom of the tank. I've done my research prior to getting him so I knew what I was getting into so the heating pad is on the rear glass like the backside of the tank.

[DVirginiana]

Ideal temps are 80-85 during the day (80-82 for babies and juveniles) and 75-80 at night. If your temps are below that the frog will start trying to aestivate; that could be why he isn't eating. It could also be that he just wasn't hungry; even young ones sometimes go a couple days without eating without it being anything to worry about.
If the temp gauge you're describing is the type I'm thinking it is, you should really go get an infrared/digital. They aren't super expensive and the needle kind are very inaccurate.
Go ahead and turn the heater back on; if you're worried about the humidity getting too high, just wait longer between misting his tank. High humidity for a little while is not really a problem (only gets to be a problem if it's long term) but the temps being that far off is something you want to correct as quickly as you can.

[GrifTheGreat]

I'd say everyone has you covered.

Now you didn't have to turn off the space heater if the humidity reached 90%. You see most heating units remove moisture from the air so the space heater wasn't the cause of the humidity spike, but if humidity in the enclosure is that high it will mess with your temps a little. I'd say you need to raise you ambient air temp in the room the frog is in to 76° or 77° and the enclosures should follow.

Post a picture of the enclosures so I can see how your setup is and where everything is positioned.

[deranged chipmunk]

Thanks for your reply bill. I do not have the heater on the bottom of the tank. I've done my research prior to getting him so I knew what I was getting into so the heating pad is on the rear glass like the backside of the tank.

Sorry hippy, i just noticed that tinkgirl had mentioned her setup. Was just trying to avoid her catastrophe. You're good. You've vot D and Grif helping you, two of the absolute best when it comes to pacman frogs

[DeSuper]

Yes. Incandescent bulbs are what you want for heat. CFLs don't produce much heat.

This is new to me Grif, thanks for the insight, I use the Exo Terra Repti Glo 2.0, should I switch to the 15w daytime heat lamp?

[Pheathers]

I use insulator foam from home depot and just a heat mat on the side of the tank. I cut the foam and cover up 3 sides of the tank (back and the two sides). It really helps keep the tank warm.

[GrifTheGreat]

This is new to me Grif, thanks for the insight, I use the Exo Terra Repti Glo 2.0, should I switch to the 15w daytime heat lamp?

There is no need for UVB light. Provide a calcium supplement that contains Vitamin D3. Incandescents will provide the heat you need.

[Lija]

I'd say instead of getting gauges, digital or analog, just get hydrotherm plug it in a fogger and infrared heat lamp Exo Terra : Infrared Basking Spot or stronger one if yours is not enough and you'll get rid of any headache thinking about temperatures and humidity again. and to provide day/night cycle just regular low voltage energy saving lamp.