What Bulb for Grey Tree Frog Terrarium?

[Rae]

Hi there! I have an Exo terra 18x18x24h terrarium for our lil Frodo who is an Grey (Hyla versicolor) Tree Frog and want to double check what bulb I need for him.

I was planning on getting the Repti glo 2.0 compact! (by exo terra)

but the petsmart is sayiing i dont need lighting for them.

Suggestions please

[JimO]

It really depends on whether you want to grow plants and, if so, what types. Lighting for most frogs is for aesthetics and/or to have healthy plant growth. As stated in another thread, I use inexpensive daylight (6700k) 26-watt bulbs made by GE that sell for $8 a pair at Wal-Mart. Two of those would be plenty of light for most plants in your viv.

[Rae]

As of now I dont have any live plants but the recent edition of some sheet moss and I might plant Pothos once I read more about it =)

I know greys dont need alot of heat but I want to give them the uva/uvb rays that all creatures need.

The 2.0 bulb is supposed to be a low heat, uva/uvb, high viewing and suitable for all frogs (even nocturnal) and inhance there activity, appetite, and vitamin D absorbsion. and good for plants =)

Will any light do this?

[JimO]

Well, I'm not an expert, but I know that a lot of frogs don't normally get direct sunlight in the wild. Also, some UV wavelengths cannot pass through glass, so if you have a glass lid, you might not be seeing the benefits the lighting would offer. The daylight bulbs (6500k) are supposed to emit UV, but I don't know how much. I do know, however, that the specialty bulbs are not always necessary and they are much more expensive.

It would be interesting to know how much lighting and of what wavelength different types of frogs need. I have mostly dart frogs and they live well below the canopy and probably don't get any direct sunlight, especially the ground-dwelling species. Some frogs stay hidden beneath rocks, logs, dirt, etc. during the day. However, bullfrogs, leopard frogs, etc. probably get quite a bit of sunlight.

Will any light do this?

[Greenlove]

Hi there! I have an Exo terra 18x18x24h terrarium for our lil Frodo who is an Grey (Hyla versicolor) Tree Frog and want to double check what bulb I need for him.

I was planning on getting the Repti glo 2.0 compact! (by exo terra)

but the petsmart is sayiing i dont need lighting for them.

Suggestions please

I have the Repti Glo 2.0 26 watt in my Exo Terra for my 11 Grays. I was also told they didn't need it, but read some articles that said it wouldn't hurt them either. I decided to get them and try them out, and if I saw that they were hiding from it I would have taken the bulbs out. No need for that though, because....THEY LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!! They tried to climb on the screen lid to get to it! So I figured, since they want to be near it I would put a branch up there and see what they would do. LOL, that's where they sleep all day!! I was really surprised because these frogs are arboreal and I figured they wouldn't like so much light------I was wrong. Anyways, I was only going to buy one light and see how it went but I ended up having to put another in there because they were sleeping on top of each other to get close to the one light. I also purchased a few of those Flukers bend a branch because I could manipulate it closer to the light, one branch is about 2 inches from the screen top and the other is about 7 inches from the top, just to give them the option if they don't feel like being that close one day. My froglets use the top branch 95% of the time so they must like the light and the little bit of heat that is emitted. I got the extra wide bend a branch because it will make them feel more secure when they get bigger. These bulbs give off very low heat, so don't worry about little Frodo being too hot under it. I also purchased these bulbs because I have pothos and ivy in the enclosure and the plants are thriving under the light. If you do decide to get live plants, make sure you wash all the dirt off the roots in case they have fertilizer in the soil. I didn't plant mine in the enclosure, I just replanted them in organic potting soil and left them in their plastic 4 inch pots. I find it to be a lot easier when trying to clean the enclosure, I just pull them out and set them to the side. I think Frodo would be very grateful if you bought him some plants and lights.

[vince]

I have kept my Greys under a low voltage daylight bulb ,those that are like a fluorescent tube that are coiled around and your plants grow as well, the advantage with the low wattage bulbs is they take time to warm up so if any frog is close to them when you turn them on they just move off, and they are cheap to buy and run.