Heat Lights-Domes-Thermometer/Hygrometer Woes & Questions

[irThumper]

Martha, our newest WTF family member, has been home in her standard 10 gal QT tank for 2 days (got her Dec 2). She's mostly hiding out, which is understandable, but I do see her sometimes when she's out lurking about, and she will turn her head to look at me when she sees me. She does NOT like to be filmed... lol. I know she's been in her soaking dish (Spring water treated with Reptisafe) at least once because I found a poo in there the morning of the 3rd that was almost the size of my little WTF, Jelly Bean! I didn't know if a soaked poo would be suitable for testing so tossed it out and am waiting for a dry "land poo" to send in. Martha did not eat anything the first day/night, but she eagerly devoured some crickets (dusted with Reptocal w/ Cal/D3) and one small Dubia the night of the 3rd, and she grabbed 2-3 again this morning when they crawled toward her coconut hut... she came out like a bullet, heh! They had been in a dish but had escaped by climbing up her back...

Anyway... she's in the kitchen across the hall from a baseboard heater. The heat in the apartment is 73F, she has a Fluker's Deep Dome with a 60 watt blue daytime light in it sitting directly on top of the screen lid (there's also a planter thing with a few rocks in it on top to weight it down, and the darn lid doesn't fit right and slides around, so I'm worried about her getting out :/) Now, I have those el cheapo Petco heat and humidity gauges in there near the top of the tank, the were right under the dome and the temp read 98 F!!! I don't mind my frogs going up to 80-81 F, and I've read that 85 F is ok, but I do NOT want to inadvertently cook Martha! I'd tried the ZooMed Double Mini Domes, with one side blue and the other red light, and that was too hot, so switched back to the Fluker's one. I didn't trust the Petco gauges, so I stuck a household digital thermo-hygrometer in there that I use in my African violet tanks (it can't stay, she'd knock it over) and started watching the temps at the bottom of the tank near the coconut hut she spends her time hiding out in... over anout a 30 min period it went up to 82 F and kept going, so I moved the some to the other side of the tank (it's over the water dish now) and over about another half hr later the household gauge is reading 77.4 F, a temp I'm more at ease about since she's sequestered herself in that little hut. My other guys are about 77-80 F during the day and 73-75 F at night, so would like to keep Martha in the same general range, give or take.

Is it ok to leave the dome over the water? Will the water get too warm for her? What is a good quality thermo-hygrometer that I can use in the tank other than those Petco things? Something that Martha can't trash, being a big girl.

While I'm thinking about it, what can I do, other than a heavy thing on top of her mesh screen partially blocking airflow (not a lot, but still) to safeguard her from getting out? Being the lid doesn't exactly fit I don't know if lid clamps that might work with the top will work with a tank that it doesn't exactly fit... guh. Got the tank from Goodwill so don't know the brand, the lid is from Petco.

So anyway, Martha is otherwise doing well, feeding (yay!), and looking good. Awaiting further "developments" so I can send in a fecal sample, but in the meantime I want to make sure all her heat and humidity needs are spot on. When her QT is up she will be getting herself a bigger tank (vert Exo-Terra) and moving to the top of the cabinet behind her.


Pics from about 1 1/2 hours ago (noon) will add more pics of the current temp now that the dome is moved over to the right above the water dish.

[LilyPad]

Is there a dimmer switch on the lights? I use a ceramic heat emitter with a dimmer switch and a thermostat to maintain even and appropriate temps. The heat emitter turns off as soon as the thermostat temp probe read the correct temperature. I use it in conjunction with LED lights (no heat output) and a cheapy glass fish tank thermometer so that I can make sure of the temps.

I have used exo-terra digital hydro/thermometers (take the humidity probe out until you need it) and nat geo digital hydro/thermometer (no probes, works well except mine corroded inside because I never took it out, so I'd only put it in long enough to get a reading and then take it back out.) I far prefer the cheap glass thermometers, but having planted tanks, I usually have a good idea on the humidity levels by the appearance of the plants and the smell of the tank.

I personally wouldn't keep the hot light over the water dish because the water dish is where she'll go to escape the heat.

If the humidity is a little low, you can cover part of the screen top with glad press and seal, it works pretty well for a temp set up. I wouldn't worry about the planter on top of the tank, it's not going to block enough air flow to affect her.

You're going to need a BIG tank for all those froggies!

[irThumper]

Is there a dimmer switch on the lights? I use a ceramic heat emitter with a dimmer switch and a thermostat to maintain even and appropriate temps. The heat emitter turns off as soon as the thermostat temp probe read the correct temperature. I use it in conjunction with LED lights (no heat output) and a cheapy glass fish tank thermometer so that I can make sure of the temps.

I have used exo-terra digital hydro/thermometers (take the humidity probe out until you need it) and nat geo digital hydro/thermometer (no probes, works well except mine corroded inside because I never took it out, so I'd only put it in long enough to get a reading and then take it back out.) I far prefer the cheap glass thermometers, but having planted tanks, I usually have a good idea on the humidity levels by the appearance of the plants and the smell of the tank.

I personally wouldn't keep the hot light over the water dish because the water dish is where she'll go to escape the heat.

If the humidity is a little low, you can cover part of the screen top with glad press and seal, it works pretty well for a temp set up. I wouldn't worry about the planter on top of the tank, it's not going to block enough air flow to affect her.

You're going to need a BIG tank for all those froggies!

EDITED: Nope, no dimmer switch. Just a regular on-off switch, and I'm using ZooMed 60 watt blue daytime or red nightitme bulbs.

I was wondering since she's in the coconut hut most of the time and I was worried about her baking in there, as it is a very small space and the heat was directly over it at first :/ Humidity's been good, and I mist a bit ever-so-often throughout the day to counter the drying effect of the lights and baseboard heat. If it's not good having it over the water dish I think I'm going to wind up going to find a stand to get the dome further off the tank and level those temps off... that's what works for the other guys, and they are in 5.5 gallon tanks, so even more important to regulate their temps.

Not planning on keeping Martha with the other guys, actually, lol. Don't know when they will show normal levels of cocci (whatever a "normal level" is??) in their poo, it's still in various forms of unformedness (not a word, but hey, lol) and they are still being medicated-- that and Martha could try to eat Jelly bean for the size diff! I don't know when my guys will get to Martha's size, they seem to be growing very slowly, to me at any rate. I want to keep her in her own place and monitor how a frog her size grows and differs compared to my "special needs" crew. I will likely get her a housemate down the line sometime when I can afford a blue eyed or a snowflake... Mike Matson has a young froggy who looks JUST like Jelly bean, only it is a SUPER snowflake! He's asking $125 for it... *sniff* Not in the budget for me this year, but what an awesome frog! I'm going to see if he's ok with me sharing a pic of it here so folks can see Jelly's super snowflakey look-alike

[irThumper]

Updated temp pics

[irThumper]

Going to have to order the light stand online so got her a couple of 40 watt red and blue bulbs and looks like they're working out much better for her circumstances Still going to find a better hygrometer though.

[elly]

Hate to say it but if she came from a large store, Martha might have something too. I have a zoomeds lightstand and I really hope you didn't get one. It's the most frustrating thing to work with!

Hah, I've seen Bonk eying Julep for a snack through the tank wall so I have no doubt Martha would look at Jelly Bean that way. But Jellybean will probably be too big to eat in a year, and if not, well you have a lot of frogs, time for separate enclosures!

[irThumper]

Hate to say it but if she came from a large store, Martha might have something too. I have a zoomeds lightstand and I really hope you didn't get one. It's the most frustrating thing to work with!

Hah, I've seen Bonk eying Julep for a snack through the tank wall so I have no doubt Martha would look at Jelly Bean that way. But Jellybean will probably be too big to eat in a year, and if not, well you have a lot of frogs, time for separate enclosures!

Very true, which is why I'm getting her tested (as soon as she leaves me something to test, lol) The Petco she came from is newer, and apparently they don't get a lot of turnover, so she and her friends had been there a while. WAY better conditions there and health vs our local store, that's for sure :/

I already have one of the stands for the other guys, and I have to agree, it can be a beast to deal with at times Especially when I have to adjust the height. I have carpal so it's not always easy to turn that stinking knob and get the bar where I want it. So far Martha's temps have leveled out with the switch from 60 watt to 40 watt bulbs, so happy about that. I would like the stand so I can use my Mini double deep dome for her though, that way I can just turn on the blue bulb side in the morning and the red one at night. Right now I'm having to switch out the bulbs in the Fluker's deep dome and that's totally inconvenient.