Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i am a snake person but i also have some fire belly toads and bahaman anoles. my friend has dart frogs so i want to try them.

i'm going to start with the 10 gallon tank. i've read you can use aquarium gravel with sheet moss over that. i have been experimenting a little with the gravel and a live pothos plant. i don't have it totally set up...lack of funds right now... but i was wondering how you keep the humidity up? i've read they need like 80% humidity.
so far i've only been able to get it as high as 54%. there is water in the gravel and i have glass over the top of the tank and i mist it daily.(my anoles get misted daily or every other day also so i'm not new to that.) as soon as funds allow i'm going to finish setting it up but was wondering about the humidity issue.
my friend has the same problem but she says hers are doing fine with only 50% humidity.they sing and eat fine.

also i was thinking of starting with the leucs darts. i've read they are a beginner frog and sing alot. are males easy to come by? i'm mostly interested in them becasue i love the sounds frogs make and my friend says her different frogs sing alot. any advise will be helpful. i'm hoping to get some at the tucson show here in arizona in sept.

What kind of humidity gauge are you using? If it is a pet product circle dial thing, than it is crap. Use a weather station (you can get it at wally world, target, etc.).

You can also use a humidifier. You can see how I plumb it at my website under "how to articles". http://www.joshsfrogs.com
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Josh Willard
www.joshsfrogs.com

it is one of those digital ones, got it at walmart, that has a long line you can put in the tank and then it sets outside the tank. it messures the inside and outside temps too. i have a little light on and its 80-81 inside the tank. room temps are like 76-77.

The probe (the knob on the end of the line) only measures temp. You have to stick the whole thing in the tank to get the humidity.
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Josh Willard
www.joshsfrogs.com

OK! thanks. i put the whole thing in and the humidity jumped to like 75%. i thought the little probe thing messured humidity. see...learn something everyday.

I would suggest raising the light up a bit to bring down the temp. You might be having humidity problems because you live in the Arizona area. Another way to check humidity is if you have fog on the glass, then you are fine.
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phflame

with the little light off the temp is 76ish...our room temp. don't you need a light for the plants? the light on there now is just a little aquarium light though not a floresent light. will the floresent lights keep the temp down?

to keep the temp down. 76 is a good temp, from what I have heard. You will probably need some kind of light for the plants.
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phflame

Other people answered everything else. I think leucs are a great choice for a first dart. They can utilize all levels of a tank, so if your humidity isn't quite right in one area, they can go to another, perhaps closer to plants or water, where it will he higher. The problem with humidity gauges, is they measure only the humidity level of where you put them, and this may not be the same all over. In a crisis, your frogs can hunker down next to or even in water. I still think it's important to maintain an overall humidity level for them, but if this fails in one part of the tank, they can survive in another. That's why I think some kind of waterway and falls is helpful, as well as having bromeliades on the background, etc.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

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