Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Thank you for reading this, I appreciate any help you could lend. I just aquired a new White's Tree Frog from a friend (he's moving). I have a question about heating his terrarium. Currently there's a heater pad attached to the side of the terrarium, on the outside of the glass. I am worried that the frog will burn himself should he decide to climb up the glass on the inside of the terrarium where the heating strip is attached. Is this a legitimate concern?

Thank you again for your time.

>>Thank you for reading this, I appreciate any help you could lend. I just aquired a new White's Tree Frog from a friend (he's moving). I have a question about heating his terrarium. Currently there's a heater pad attached to the side of the terrarium, on the outside of the glass. I am worried that the frog will burn himself should he decide to climb up the glass on the inside of the terrarium where the heating strip is attached. Is this a legitimate concern?
>>

This sounds like something you must decide based on measuring the heat on the glass next to the pad.

The air temperature for a White's frog should be in the 80s during the day and 70s at night. If the heating pad produces a glass surface temp over some point (95, 105, I don't know) that may either discourage the frog from resting there or he will rest there too long and suffer damage.

And even if the pad isn't too hot, you should check the air temperature in the enclosure (away from the pad) to see if it is OK. The frog should be able to roam around the enclosure and not have to hug the glass to keep warm. There should be a gradient: warm next to the pad and cooler furthest away from the pad. Shoot for a range in the 70s to 80s during the day, and cooler at night.

I use a 25-watt bulb in a dome for my frog. It raises the air temps a few degrees into the desired range but doesn't create any true hot spots. And it rests on top of the screen cover so the frog can't get to the bulb. The light is off at night.

It's a legitimate concern, they can burn easily. I would test the temp on the glass. If you think it's too hot you can cover it with a piece of cocoa panel and that would help to disipate (sp?) the heat.

Make sure he has a soaking area, plenty of hides and hopefully nice leafy live plants.

You may want to check out this other board I frequent, they have lots of people on there with White's. It is frequented much more than this one so there is a nice flow of info and you don't have to wait long for help.
http://www.repticzone.com/forums/TreeFrogs/index.html

Also this is a link that I've been looking at again since I'm planning my next tank. It has care and setup info for Whites and RETFs(which I just got). It has a really nice walk-thru on setting up a self maintaining tank. Sounds good to me!
http://www.helixpro.net/anuran/frames.htm

Thanks so much for your help. The temperature on the glass is 80 degrees, as is the ambient air temperature on the warm side of the tank. Things appear to be alright with him. I appreciate your sending me that link, I'll check out that forum this evening.

Thanks again.

That is probably too hot on the glass for the frog. If your frog just sits on it for heat, it will burn itself, and they are not smart enough to say "ouch this hurts, I'd better get off" so maybe you should either implement the cork bark suggestion or move the pad. Unless you live in cold climat (like my winters can get) you shouldn't need more than room temp for your frogs, with a light to create a slightly warmer area. If you are worried about the cold, a ceramic heat lamp should do the trick, don't keep that on all day, I couldn't get my frogs through the winter without mine, that's for sure! You need to mist more often to keep the humidity up though.
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I think my frog owns a megaphone....