Humidity?

[clownonfire]

Hello and welcome to Frog Forum! By your user name, you probably have Fire-bellied Toads. If this is the case, you could simply create a more aquatic environment for your frogs. FBT need more water than land. Mine are housed in a 3/4 water and 1/4 land enclosure. But you could do a 2/3 water and 1/4 land. If you can provide them with an environment that is semi aquatic, you will not have to use foggers (the Exo-Terra one is terrible by the way. If you ever invest in one, my experience with the Zoo Med Repti Fogger has been more positive) nor will you have to worry about keeping the humidity up when on vacations.

I like you live in a cold, cold city (Montreal). I use a heat pad (and heat cables) under the tank, attached on one side of my vivariums. The great thing with heat cables (or heat pads) is that it will not dry out the skin of your frogs, like a heat lamp may do. If you do have plants and if they need some sort of lamp, you can get fluorescent bulb (the Repti Glo 2.0 Full Spectrum by Exo-Terra for example, which your plants will love because of the 6700K it has). The lamp shouldn't be on for more than 10 hours a day.

If you need example of fire-bellied toads enclosures, here are some on our forum. If you need more help, feel free to ask any other question:

Cheri's fire-bellied toad vivarium (moderator).

Fruitloop's fire-bellied toad vivarium.

My own fire-bellied toad vivarium. Mine has completely changed. I've replaced all fake plants with real ones. But it will give you an idea of how much water you can have.

Eric

[bshmerlie]

My tank is vertical simply because that is the only tank I had available for them. Ideally you would use a horizontal setup. What my setup does show is another option when it comes to firebelly tanks. My bottom is all water and then I have two turtle docks on either end. I also have three rocks that sit in the water that allows them to stop and rest while in the water. The advantages of a fully aquatic set up is that it is very easy to keep clean. Firebellies go in and out of the water multiple times a day. With this setup there is no dirt for them to drag into the water. Then I use an external canister filter to keep the water clean. You could also use water heater much like they use for fish to keep the water warm. Tetra sells one made for turtles that has a cover over it so they don't get burned by the heater if they touch it. The main disadvantages of this setup is you lose a lot of crickets when they jump into the water before they are eaten. You don't have to worry at all about humidity because they spend most of their time sitting on rocks in the water. I have tried many different ways to setup FB tanks. I don't feel this one is any better than some others ways just different. If you provide a large water section for them you don't have to worry about humidity and you can heat the water to keep them warm.

[firebellytoadsx4]

As of right now i'm doing the 2/3rds water 1/3rd land, i have lots of aquatic plants and a nice rock waterfall, i figured that the waterfall would keep the humidity relatively high. i am probably more worried about the plants drying out to be honest, because my water doesn't fully cover them.