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Heating and lighting for pacmans

Lemmazze

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Jun 19, 2013
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Hey there. I will be getting my first pacman frog real soon. I already set up an encloser. I have a 5000k flourecent bulb on it (for now) for the plants. Now, my apartment is pretty cool, 65 degrees most of the time and between 70-73 on hotter days. So I am going to need a heating source. What should I use? Heat pad or heat bulb? Whatever is best that would keep my tank at around 80 degrees at all times.

Also, is the 5000k bulb fine to keep? I know its fine for the plants I have, but is it fine for the ftog too?

Thanks.
-Emmanuel

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Eixa

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A heating pad is perfect. Some would suggest putting it on the side of the tank instead of the bottom, because when Ceratophrys need to cool, they instinctively burrow down. Maybe someone could verify if that's a fact?
 

froggy

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I would put the heat pad on the side of the tank. Partly because the frogs dig to cool down, but also because the soil will insulate the rest of the tank, leading to super-heated soil at the bottom and a cold rest of enclosure. If the room is very cool compared to the desired temp, make sure that the whole enclosure is getting warm enough. You want a gradient, but not too strong a gradient. Also, in a cool room, there is a tendency for the soil to remain much cooler than desired, so check with a thermometer what the soil temp is around the enclosure.

For my C. ornata, I replaced the exo-terra lid with glass (with a small vent) and, in the winter, insulate the sides and top of the tank with polystyrene (=styrofoam). If you have a fluorescent bulb, placing this close or on top of a glass lid will significantly help to warm the enclosure, too. On my vivs, the heat pad covers the whole side of the tank, below the soil line. To avoid super heating the soil next to the heat pad (on the other side of glass), I leave a channel along the glass on that side, so that there is no soil against where the heatpad is.

Hope you enjoy your new frog!

C
 
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