Reptile & Amphibian Forums

A little condensation on the glass is a good thing right?

ALSO, IS THE HUMIDITY TOO HIGH IF CONDENSATION FORMS ON THE PLANTS? I'M AFRAID I'VE GOT IT TOO HUMID AND ITS GOING TO CAUSE THE SOIL TO CONSTANTLY BE TO WET. THIS IS ALL STILL NEW TO ME SO I'M TRYING TO THINK OF EVERYTHING THAT MIGHT POSSIBLY GO WRONG TO AVOID AS MANY MISTAKES AS POSSIBLE, SO IF SOME OF MY QUESTIONS SOUND A LITTLE SILLY PLEASE LOOK OVER ME CUZ I'M STILL GREEN
DERRICK

Just had my glass top cut today is why I am on a roll here about humidity. I believe I read it somewhere before, but just to make sure... dart frogs do NOT need a great deal of ventilation.. correct??? A quarter inch gap in the lid along with opening the lid daily to feed/mist,etc.. should be more than adequate ventilation for the frogs & most tropical plants right?

Just finished setting up my tank today. Gonna play with some fruit fly cultures a little while before I order my frogs. Tryin' to get all my ducks in a row. Thanks for everyone's help.
Derrick

I'm not an expert but that's how I have my tank set up and the frogs seem to like it. The plants were in a more ventilated environment before and weren't growing. Since I put them in the frog tank they have started to take off. I don't even have to mist that often and their still growing like crazy.

Russ

Most of my tanks are sealed tight with hinged glass lids. The plants do just fine, as long as they are tropical and suited for high humidity. If your soil layer is drained into a circulating false bottom or gravel layer, most of the plants we use in vivariums are quite happy with this--more often overly-happy. If the bromeliads such as Neoregalias and Vresias are raised up and grown on a background such as cork bark, as long as their substrate is well drained, the humidity is an asset.

Depending upon the frogs you get, 1/4 inch opening may just give some of the tiny ones like the thumbnails an escape route. They can get out of just about anything a fruit fly can escape from. If you have such an opening, be sure to screen it.

Condensation isn't a true sign of humidity, as it depends upon the outside vs inside temperatures and dew point. But this is a sign that it is at least not overly dry in there.

If you are concerned with introducing some "fresh air," you can use one of the simple humidifiers such as "Tropic air" that is just a container of water through which an aquarium air pump bubbles air, which is then delivered via a "wand," into your tank using aquarium airline tubing. I'm not sure how efficent this is, but in hot weather, you can cool the delivered air somewhat by putting ice in the container. (You would want to use distilled water for this so it doesn't crud things up with minerals.) Other people have recommended different humidifiers, none of which I've tried personally.

As mentioned above, some tanks with circulating water and tight lids don't seem to ever need extra misting. I have three of these, in which the condensation on top even drips into the bromeliad leaves and keeps the water in them fresh.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
7 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
6 P. terribilis mint and organe
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus
2 D. azureus
4 P vittatus
2 P. lugubris

I don't have the glass hinged. So I've left a small gap in the back & small gap between both pieces of glass. I figured combined they would make about a quarter inch. I don't believe escape should be a problem because I'm looking to purchase a sexed pair of tincs (from Patrick Nabors). I placed a digital thermometer in tank today, all day, and the humidity was over 90% all day. The temperature got up to 80 degrees though. Is that too hot? I've read it can get up to 82 but I usually don't push things to their extremities when dealing with expensive animals especially. I'm going to put my lights on a digital timer on twelve hour cycles. I figure it will cool down to low 70s at night. I was thinking about running the timer into a thermostat then into lights just incase temperature inside tank got over 82 degrees the lights would turn off as a back up measure. I don't want or expect my lights to be kicking on and off all day with this method but I would like to know if I was gone on a hot day that I would have this safety feature to fall back on in the event my house was warmer than usual. Does this sound like a good idea? I have been into boas for years so I have several of these thermostats w/probes lying around. Other than that, my tank looks fantastic!!! I am so pleased. You guys have been a great help on here. To tell the truth, I've learned more from the free information I've found on the internet and this site inparticular than I have from the several books I've purchased recently dealing with frogs & dart frogs specifically. I've got the whole little setup goin' on. Clay pellets, substrate divider, my own soil mix (mainly made up of coco bedding), waterfall pouring from my great stuff background into my little pond area in center of 40 gallon tank. And its got live moss all over it. I purchased my tropical plants at lowes & wal-mart just like someone recomended on here. All I need are the frogs I will post pics soon. Thanks again, and please reply about temp.
Thanks,
Derrick

Derrick, your automated light turn off with increased temperatures is a great idea. I need to do this as well, since my only temperature problem is in one area upstairs that gets too hot in summer coupled with the added heat of the lights.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
7 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
6 P. terribilis mint and organe
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus
2 D. azureus
4 P vittatus
2 P. lugubris

Patty,
Hope it works for you! If you don't know already you can find these type of thermostats at sites like bigappleherp or probably lllreptile. Anyhow, is a daytime temp of 80 - 82 too outrageously high? If so I'm going to have to go to a weaker light or something. This is the traditional fluorescent wal-mart plant light. I have another I'd got from lllreptile. They recommended it for tropical species but I figured they were talking more about snakes. Right now when the lights on I'm figuring even the lowest temp in the tank (shaded areas) is high 70s. And the hottest temp (open areas directly under light) is probably 81 - 82. Too hot?
Derrick

Thanks, Derrick. I'm going to look for some of those thermostats.

You can also raise your lights farther above the tank, although this does cut down somewhat on the light the plants actually get. I think 82 begins to push it to the high end of tolerance. My own darts seem to be more active and out in the open more with cooler temperatures and tend to hide or get in the waterways at about 80, but species apparently do vary a bit in their temperature preferences. My thumbnails, pumilios and azureus seem to show more breeding activity in the cooler parts of the year where the temperatures tend to stay under 80 and above 65 at night, and are over-all more active at these times. Different sections of a large tank will have different temperature gradients. This is more noticeable with humidity, which can actually vary quite a bit from top to bottom, even in a smaller tank. It's hard to know exactly where in the tank to measure humidity.

Some, such as the leucs are said to respond to a period of somewhat drier, cooler conditions, followed by heavy misting and increased warmth. This appears to be true with my leucs, although I lack the many years of experience to prove it for myself, and there always seem to be other factors involved that I can't control, so I'm not sure this isn't just an impression. My tanks are not exactly under controlled laboratory conditions where one can do comparison studies. They are just my hobby.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
7 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
6 P. terribilis mint and organe
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus
2 D. azureus
4 P vittatus
2 P. lugubris