# Heating Dart frogs in winter



## obrowell (Aug 6, 2010)

Hi all,

First time poster here from the UK. Having kept loads of salamanders etc over the years I have decided to move into Darts. Although it is a few months before I will need to do this, what is the best way for heating the viv? My house is not centrally heated and the room with the frogs will get very very cold. The viv is an 45 exo cube. I've read loads on conflicting reports on the use of heatpads and ceramic bulbs and am a little confused as to what is best.

Any advice would be great! Thanks


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## tonying (Mar 6, 2008)

I've been pretty worried about the temperature in my viv from time to time, due to my previous flat being too cold for comfort during the past winter. I did pull through without any problems, but after that I set up an experimental environment in my unpopulated 10 gallon testing tank. I tried to simply have a drainage layer with approx. 10-15 cm of standing water, with a conventional aquarium water heater immersed. The water heater was set to approx. 26 degrees C if I recall correctly. In my experience, this created a stable air temperature in the viv. I suppose that a somewhat overpowered heater would be better at providing a buffer for cold temperatures. 

The possible drawbacks would be access to the heater in case it breaks down. But apart from that, I think that using ordinary aquarium water heaters (perhaps a pair for redundancy and more even dissemination of heat?) in combination with a constantly wet drainage layer could be an affordable and rather simple solution. I don't know exactly how it would work on a larger scale though.


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## Enlightened Rogue (Mar 21, 2006)

Hello.
While not a very popular choice around these parts I use heating pads.
Never had a problem in about 5 years.
I have them stuck to the bottom of the tank, and because of the water there it also raises the humidity nicely.
Ok now, I also don`t have have 15-20 viv`s like most people here.
The heating pads would not be very practical in that situation.
You could try those portable space heaters, they would also work.

John


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## catman25 (Jul 17, 2007)

i have about 28 tanks in my frog room and thats located in my basement . i think it easier to heat tanks rather then cool them . so i finished my base ment and that allows summer tmeps to stay constant 70-75 but in winter that temp drops to 60 .. I put up temporary door to the 2 entrances of that room and a small space heater that is temp controlled to turn it self off at 74 ... with the lights is add 2-4 in temps ! the only issue i have in the winter is fruitflies cultures dry out alot so use of this enclosed space with a heater you may need a humidifier as well


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## hexentanz (Sep 18, 2008)

Heat Cables


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## tonying (Mar 6, 2008)

I might add that back when I had aquariums, I used a heat cable in my 85 gallon tank. It was very reliable, I kept it running 24/7 for years without any problems. One of the big pros about using a heat cable is that you can keep the heating apparatus outside of the viv and thus replace it if it breaks down without having to tear up the viv to remove the cable itself.


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## chris31 (Aug 6, 2010)

what do these heat cables look like? or who makes them so can google them


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## Wyoming frogger (Dec 18, 2009)

I found that a very small portable space heater will keep my whole frog room at a constant temp all year long. There are just too many variables and dangers with heating individual vivs. I bought the thing for like $25, and it is absolutely controlable / accessable.


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## tonying (Mar 6, 2008)

chris31 said:


> what do these heat cables look like? or who makes them so can google them


Back when I had aquariums, I think the cable I had was from Dennerle; Dennerle Aquaristik - Bodengrund und Heizung


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