hi from pa

[Frank Maxwell]

i just purchased pacman a 20 gallon tropical startup kit and three bricks of eco coconut fiber it has a heat lamp and 50 watt day blue light , a zilla heat mat, and a thermometer / barometer. i am having issues with the setup . the humidity will only go as high as 50 and the temp stays around 80 i have tried covering the screen with plastic wrap to bring up the humidity without any results. as a noob i used all three bricks so there is around 8 inches of soil could this be my problem ?

[Heatheranne]

i just purchased pacman a 20 gallon tropical startup kit and three bricks of eco coconut fiber it has a heat lamp and 50 watt day blue light , a zilla heat mat, and a thermometer / barometer. i am having issues with the setup . the humidity will only go as high as 50 and the temp stays around 80 i have tried covering the screen with plastic wrap to bring up the humidity without any results. as a noob i used all three bricks so there is around 8 inches of soil could this be my problem ?

Hi Frank! Nice to meet you. I am from PA also.

The moist soil can help increase the humidity. What will you be housing in the new tank? It's actually easy to fix the issues knowing the goal you'd like to reach. Depending on what you'll be housing...such as, dart frogs need tropical plants and its best to close off almost all air vents to help with humidity, whereas with pacman frogs an extra misting is better.

Using a dimmer switch on your dome lamp can allow you the ability to adjust your heat output. So if you want darts, temps in the 70's and humidity >80% - 100% can be achieved by turning down the heat, covering the screen 98% and adding live plants, plus misting. Pacs like 80'F and 80% humidity...keep the heat up, nice amount of moist substrate, cover 3/4 of screen and mist. Most tanks just need a bit of tweaking to get things right.

[Mentat]

Hello and welcome to FF Frank! Well, since you stated Pacman start up kit; imagine you either got or plan to get one. Please confirm that and we will go from there, thank you !

[Frank Maxwell]

Hi Frank! Nice to meet you. I am from PA also.

The moist soil can help increase the humidity. What will you be housing in the new tank? It's actually easy to fix the issues knowing the goal you'd like to reach. Depending on what you'll be housing...such as, dart frogs need tropical plants and its best to close off almost all air vents to help with humidity, whereas with pacman frogs an extra misting is better.

Using a dimmer switch on your dome lamp can allow you the ability to adjust your heat output. So if you want darts, temps in the 70's and humidity >80% - 100% can be achieved by turning down the heat, covering the screen 98% and adding live plants, plus misting. Pacs like 80'F and 80% humidity...keep the heat up, nice amount of moist substrate, cover 3/4 of screen and mist. Most tanks just need a bit of tweaking to get things right.

nice to meet you too and thanks for the response. the tank will be housing just the pacman i did cover the tank and have tried misting to bring up the humidity. i like the idea of the dimmer that will be my next step

[Frank Maxwell]

o i should have explained better the pacman is already in the tank

[Mentat]

Ok Frank, well not sure how you came to mis-combination of Pacman frog and 20 gallon tank. So let's start from the beginning and have you read this: Frog Forum - Pacman and Horned Frogs - Ceratophrys - Care and Breeding. Unless you have a full grown Ornate female; that tank is overkill and actually will stress out a smaller baby or juvenile to point it will not eat.

So read article so you get some background about their care and then please let me know what is Pacman size from tip of snout to it's vent (rear end). Also, need to know if "albino" or regular color. A photo will help ID it's species if interested. Then we can discuss proper enclosure and care .

[John]

Welcome Frank!

[Frank Maxwell]

Ok Frank, well not sure how you came to mis-combination of Pacman frog and 20 gallon tank. So let's start from the beginning and have you read this: Frog Forum - Pacman and Horned Frogs - Ceratophrys - Care and Breeding. Unless you have a full grown Ornate female; that tank is overkill and actually will stress out a smaller baby or juvenile to point it will not eat.

So read article so you get some background about their care and then please let me know what is Pacman size from tip of snout to it's vent (rear end). Also, need to know if "albino" or regular color. A photo will help ID it's species if interested. Then we can discuss proper enclosure and care .

Thank you for the link. although it is eating good 2 medium sized crickets a day. I don't know if its male or female but its 2 inches long. Here is a pic

[Heatheranne]

Hello and welcome to FF Frank! Well, since you stated Pacman start up kit; imagine you either got or plan to get one. Please confirm that and we will go from there, thank you !

Ha ha!!! Geez, Heather , lol! I must have left a few marbles behind .

[Mentat]

Thank you for the link. although it is eating good 2 medium sized crickets a day. I don't know if its male or female but its 2 inches long. Here is a pic ...

Thanks for pic Frank; it's a juvenile C. cranwelli and still young to tell sex. Well, let's discuss the tank/frog size relationship. Smaller Pacmans are kind of stressed by large enclosures, and a 20G is... huge. Also, Pacmans are wait and ambush predators, so the larger tank will make it harder to catch prey; unless you tong feed. To give you an idea; myself would keep a 2 in. either in an Exo Terra Breeding Box Plastic Terrarium medium (11.8" length x 7.7" width x 5.7" heigh) or similar critter keeper; a 5G tank; or an Exo Terra 12 in. cube terrarium. Even when full grown your frog will easily fit in a 10G tank; although would not move it there until it's 3-3.5 in from snout to vent (SVL).

Obviously your frog is eating, so maybe it forgot to get stressed . But keep that in mind if things change. If it does, you have two options; get a smaller tank, or get a plastic keeper and place that inside the 20G.

The only things you need with frog are a water dish (prefer ramped ones) that fits whole frog with water to it's chin; shredded coco (mixed with dechlorinated water until slightly damp and begins to clump in fist without water squeezing out) to a depth same as frog's height; and a small plant to provide a sense of security). It will also help if you cover back and sides of enclosure to reduce stress.

For raising humidity would like you to please tell us how many watts is the heat lamp (and all other heat sources) and the temperature of room where frog is. Would recommend you cover with saran wrap the whole top minus area being covered by lamp(s). Do leave a 1 in. gap around lamp fixtures so the saran wrap is not melted by lamp's heat. Think that and couple daily sprayings should help with humidity. BTW, if using heat mat it should be on a side, not under enclosure.

Cricket should be same size as distance between frogs eyes. Can also feed night crawlers (not dyed kind at Walmart's sports section or bait shops) cut from pointy end around same length as frog. Food should be dusted with CA/D3 2X and vitamins 1X weekly on different days with skip day in between.

Hope this gets you started and good luck !

[MatthewM1]

I wouldn't trust analog gauges. I had analog ones originally and thought I was having a hard time keeping the humidity up but after I switched to digital I realized that I was not only over spraying the hell out of it and keeping it well above 80 and temps were 5 degrees higher than I thought as well.

Sent from my LG-P930 using Tapatalk 2

[Frank Maxwell]

Thanks for pic Frank; it's a juvenile C. cranwelli and still young to tell sex. Well, let's discuss the tank/frog size relationship. Smaller Pacmans are kind of stressed by large enclosures, and a 20G is... huge. Also, Pacmans are wait and ambush predators, so the larger tank will make it harder to catch prey; unless you tong feed. To give you an idea; myself would keep a 2 in. either in an Exo Terra Breeding Box Plastic Terrarium medium (11.8" length x 7.7" width x 5.7" heigh) or similar critter keeper; a 5G tank; or an Exo Terra 12 in. cube terrarium. Even when full grown your frog will easily fit in a 10G tank; although would not move it there until it's 3-3.5 in from snout to vent (SVL).

Obviously your frog is eating, so maybe it forgot to get stressed . But keep that in mind if things change. If it does, you have two options; get a smaller tank, or get a plastic keeper and place that inside the 20G.

The only things you need with frog are a water dish (prefer ramped ones) that fits whole frog with water to it's chin; shredded coco (mixed with dechlorinated water until slightly damp and begins to clump in fist without water squeezing out) to a depth same as frog's height; and a small plant to provide a sense of security). It will also help if you cover back and sides of enclosure to reduce stress.

For raising humidity would like you to please tell us how many watts is the heat lamp (and all other heat sources) and the temperature of room where frog is. Would recommend you cover with saran wrap the whole top minus area being covered by lamp(s). Do leave a 1 in. gap around lamp fixtures so the saran wrap is not melted by lamp's heat. Think that and couple daily sprayings should help with humidity. BTW, if using heat mat it should be on a side, not under enclosure.

Cricket should be same size as distance between frogs eyes. Can also feed night crawlers (not dyed kind at Walmart's sports section or bait shops) cut from pointy end around same length as frog. Food should be dusted with CA/D3 2X and vitamins 1X weekly on different days with skip day in between.

Hope this gets you started and good luck !

Ok let's first talk about the tank i made an error it is a 10 gallon that is 20 inches long. i have a 8 watt zilla heat mat mounted to the back side of the tank, a zilla day blue 50 watt lamp and the room temp is 70 degrees. i did cover 3/4 of the tank top with saran wrap and have been misting. the tank temperature right now is 80 degrees and humidity is 70 percent. i did mess up by putting 3 eco coconut fiber bricks in the tank so there is around 7 inches of substrate in the tank right now. could this be part of the problem? If so can i remove the overload and use it later or is it to late once its wet? thanks

[Frank Maxwell]

I wouldn't trust analog gauges. I had analog ones originally and thought I was having a hard time keeping the humidity up but after I switched to digital I realized that I was not only over spraying the hell out of it and keeping it well above 80 and temps were 5 degrees higher than I thought as well.

Sent from my LG-P930 using Tapatalk 2

I did think about that Monday i will go for a digital setup. D you have any suggestions on a good quality digital that won't break the bank?

[MatthewM1]

I went with an accurite from Lowes for about $10,but would recommend looking for a probed one no matter what you get. I got one that sits in the tank but the high humidity is effecting the display just a couple months later.

I'm thinking about springing for the large model that has multiple wireless "probes" (they are black boxes you would mount on the wall of the enclosures) so I can see temps/humidity in multiple enclosures all in one place

Sent from my LG-P930 using Tapatalk 2

[Mentat]

I did think about that Monday i will go for a digital setup. D you have any suggestions on a good quality digital that won't break the bank?

ExoTerra Digital Combo .

[N3XU5]

Hello Frank Maxwell.