Pacman Frog aquarium background?!?

[chrisvela91]

Im going to be getting a pacman frog within the next couple of days. For the meantime I've been setting up the terrarium. I want to put an aquarium background on the back. Just as you would for a fish tank. My question is are aquarium backgrounds heat resistant? Because, I want to place a zoo med under tank heater on back of it as well. Since, placing it under the terrarium can burn the frog. And I don't want to burn my pacman frog's belly. Hopefully, someone may answer my question. I'm actually new to frog forum. Thanks in advance guys!

[hydromaestro]

Yo whatsup dude when I made my enclosure I cut the part of the backround piece out that the tank heater was on because the heat wouldnt go through the glass and backround. its been working great and I still get the full strentgh of the UTH

[FwoGiZ]

UTH are 4W or 8W... they cannot possibly burn a frog!!! This doesn't make em any good tho... they're quite expensive for the heat they emit (they can't emit much cause that would be dangerous).
Major problem about burrowing frog and a UTH tho is that it destroy the frog's logic! A frog will burrow more and more, if it's too hot for them. They burrow to reach cold! So with UTH, the frog will endlessly try to burrow itself...
Placing a UTH on the back of the tank is a waste of money too...
It is really important for a pacman frog to have good temperature tho because they will have digestive issues if temp is in low 70s for say.
If you can't give em a good 80, you will want to heat em up by one of those 2 ways; best one imo, is to raise temperature in the room they're at. I am assuming you have a CFL bulbs for lighting purposes on top of the tank? Room temperature a bit higher along with the CFL should bring you close to 80.
If that is impossible, your other best bet is to use a low (25-40W) basking spot but if you do this, you will run into humidity issues. This can be prevented by extra misting. Lotso misting. You always want their substrat to be moist, not soaked but if it becomes dry, this is real bad for them.

Those frogs are awesome !! but can be tricky to give em what they need if you noticed poop with lotso insect parts in it, they might enjoy a bit more heat to help em digest!

So to answer your original question, I personally use terrarium paper background.. I don't like building real background because I don't want em to smash their head on something that can scratch em. I keep it pretty simple..

Hope this helps!

[chrisvela91]

Thanks for the advice guys. I really do appreciate it. My next question is, and I don't want to sound dumb.. Is there a difference in heat lamps? I went by Petsmart to purchase one, they were $22 I think it was from Zoo Med. It was for up to 150 watts. I left and went to Walmart. At Walmart in the hardware section they had a clamp lamp for $7. Which could also be used up to 150 watts. Both lamps look completely identical. Is there a difference? Or can I use the lamp from Walmart. Since its not the lamp that's emitting heat, but the bulb itself. I purchased a 40 watt Zoo Med nightlight red bulb. Thanks in advance guys.

[Mentat]

Get yourself a Flukers or similar dome with built in dimmer and a 60 watt Ceramic Heat Emitter (good for 5-10G tank). Cover screen top with aluminum foil, trace dome edge with Sharpie marker and cut-out hole with scissors around 1 in. larger. Adjust dimmer to desired temp and you are done !