Tank cooling in the summer

[Helena]

Hi, I have three FBT's and I was wondering, in the summer my tank gets really hot and Sometimes I just let some ice drip into the water of the tank to keep the water cooler and my friend said that is really bad for the frogs.

Is this true? and are there other ways to keep the tank cooler in the summer?

thanks

 

[froggy]

Provided that the ice is made from dechlorinated water, it shouldn't be a problem. Bombina orientalis (I assume this is what you have) are very heat tolerant - how warm is your tank getting and for how long? A friend's heating system recently broke and his B. orientalis survived a day or so at around 40C.

If the heat is within their tolerance range, it can be better to leave them than to expose them to a rapidly fluctuating temperature cycle set up by adding ice, which slowly melts, then adding new ice.

There are ideas for tank cooling here: Caudata Culture Articles - Cooling if you need them, though.

C

 

[JoshBA]

You can check to see if there are any appliances that are producing heat: light, filters, ect. If so they can be turned off temporarily during a heat wave. Also rotating frozen water bottles (w/ declor. water) in and out of the tank (one in freezer, other in tank) works fairly well. Increasing evaporation works well, as well as providing more ventilation. These methods are fairly effective as well as extremely simple.

 

[JoshBA]

The only way ice dripping into their tank would be bad is if it was dripping directly onto the frog's skin. This would cause a massive temp. change in the frog and potentially shock it or stress it out. Otherwise ice dripping is perfectly okay as it gradually cools down their tank.

 

[Helena]

okay, thank you! I'm not quite exactly sure the temperature of my tank but In the summer i notice that their skin gets all dark and changes in color and that means they are stressed (probably because of the heat) So then I let some ice drip into the water, and once the tank gets a little cooler their skin returns to normal and it seems they are more calm.

Is it true that when their skin turns color it means they are stressed?

 

[JoshBA]

The toads skin would change color to any environmental change around them. This could mean that it is stress, or just a reaction to a different temperature/humidity range. As long as their environment around them is good (temperature, humidity, water quality, ect), then them changing color is perfectly normal.
Many species of frogs are observed changing color based on the temperature/humidity around them.