# Tanks "Hit" 85 F...



## jbherpin (Oct 16, 2009)

I use Saran Wrap to cover screen tops for 2 tanks, and have a Cube Exo-Terra tank. All tanks have "hit" 85 F for 2 days now. What are some "poor man" suggestions to maintain them at at a max 80 F? If I run fans, would it matter with the tanks being sealed? Thank you all so much!

A room air conditoner is not an option. The room has not 1 window, only 2 large sliding glass doors.

JBear


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## jeffr (May 15, 2009)

jbherpin said:


> I use Saran Wrap to cover screen tops for 2 tanks, and have a Cube Exo-Terra tank. All tanks have "hit" 85 F for 2 days now. What are some "poor man" suggestions to maintain them at at a max 80 F? If I run fans, would it matter with the tanks being sealed? Thank you all so much!
> 
> A room air conditoner is not an option. The room has not 1 window, only 2 large sliding glass doors.
> 
> JBear


Remove some of the Saran wrap to allow ventilation and turn the lights off


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## Peter Keane (Jun 11, 2005)

Well.. several mistings a day should lower the air temps in the tanks for a few degrees, shutting off the lights can also drop another 2-3 degrees on the vivarium (although would not drop it below the room temperature) whereas mistings will. I would hope that you have a heat tolerant specie in there. If you have an automated misting system, just program more frequent mistings in shorter duration to reduce risk of flooding the vivarium. 

In a pinch I had some mantella frogs in a vivarium that was getting above 80 after a power outage and no generator. (Now have a generator for my frog rooms and a bigger one for my home to operate the air conditioners). I moved them to a smaller vivarium and placed a few of those pphase -22 panels in each and sealed tight with a few plants and the interior temp of the vivarium dropped 6 degrees to 75 while the room temp was remaining at 81. 

Peter Keane


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## jbherpin (Oct 16, 2009)

The lights have not been turned on in 2 days for fear... The frogs in question are D. tinc, D. leuc, and P. vitt. None of the frogs are showing outward stress AT THIS TIME, but I am sure it will begin to bother them. Although summer months in tropics can be quite warm... A part of my initial design strategy for the Tinc and Vitt tanks was to incorporate slab stones. It is my opinion if the frogs retreat into these crevices, the stones should stay cool enough to allow for a regulation if needed. I have no means of temping the crevices for fear of crushing frogs within the crevices during probing. I would like to add, the tincs behave normal... The vitts have always been skiddish, and the leucs appear like "business as usual". 

Any input based on these particulars would be greatly appreciated..

JBear


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## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

is the temperature dropping at night?


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## jbherpin (Oct 16, 2009)

Rain_Frog said:


> is the temperature dropping at night?


Dropping to about 78 F.

JBear


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## WendySHall (Aug 31, 2010)

I know! I can't believe this weather we're having! It should only be in the 70's around here, yet we're battling the 90's!

If your using Saran Wrap...pull it back and expose some screen for ventilation. Keep the lights off. Turn some fans on them. (Just be sure not to dry them out.)

I've got a window air conditioner in the next room that blows straight into my "frog room"...and even still...it's pretty warm.

Hang on...hopefully this will be over soon!


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## Peter Keane (Jun 11, 2005)

I like your idea with the slab stones.. that may be just what the doctor ordered.. You are so right the tropics can be hell in the summer months.. reaching into the 90's at times, even at night, the temps go down a little, but the humidity and mosquitos goes up.. 

I just checked the weather in Venezuela today and for the week ahead its highs range from 80-86 degrees.. 
Tarapoto, Peru ranging from highs 88-91 all week, 
San Jose, Costa Rica 77-84 degrees and 
Paramaribo, New Nickerie, and Paranam, Suriname's highs for the week range from 85-89 degrees.. 

I remember seeing reticulatus very active in the Peruvian heat, 96 degrees and little red flashes darting about. 

The frogs you mentioned should be fine.. as long as the combination of air circulation and humidity are good... 

Peter Keane


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## WendySHall (Aug 31, 2010)

Oh...I've also heard that if you have a steady supply of ice, you can put it in the viv. I think I would seperate it somehow though so the frogs aren't directly on it. Maybe take a tadpole cup with a lid and fill it with the ice. The frogs could come and go as they please to help them cool down.

Or maybe even try water dishes for them to help relieve some of the extra heat.


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## 31drew31 (Nov 14, 2010)

I know you said no AC units because of no windows. You could get one of the portable ones that have the two hoses and put that in the sliding door. Then you could cut plywood to fit in and block the rest. Wouldn't look great but with some paint it wouldn't be terrible and could easily drop the temperature 5-10 degrees depending on room size and AC size.

Other option is to fill water bottles with cold tap water and place in viv, replacing it every hour or as needed. Could even put then in the freezer first for half hour to cool them down more.


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## jbherpin (Oct 16, 2009)

I have considered the water bottles as this is an old trick in keeping aquatic newts. However, I know no way of keeping the frogs from contacting the bottle, and don't want to leave anything in there prolonged. I work All the time, and so so does my wife, we simply cannot replace ice bottles often enough to make a diff. I DO appreciate the suggestion, and would employ it if I knew a way for it to be beneficial for a lengthy period. I will peel back the saran when FFs are not crawling everywhere, and will try to regulate heat by using floor fans. The ones that draw air up from the floor and spread it out in a complete circle. This should keep the "wind" from blowing directly in the viv. Will my plants be ok without lighting during these harsh times? All my thanks!

JBear


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## dravenxavier (Mar 12, 2008)

Does the sun hit these glass doors? This can produce huge amounts of heat. I got caught off-guard myself with the rapid onset of the hot weather...even with a window-mounted AC, I couldn't get my room temp down below 80, with the AC running constantly, mostly because my windows face southwest, and radiate huge amounts of heat into the room.

However, my room is now at a nice 75, with the AC getting plenty of rest after I covered the windows with a white shade to reflect light, and then covered that with heavy comforters nailed over the window. The previously mentioned idea of putting a standing AC unit in the doorway and covering the rest with plywood is pretty good.


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## Vagabond324 (Jan 13, 2011)

How about trying to use a few of those re-freezable ice packs that we all use in our coolers. Their cheap and when you freeze them you can then set them on top of the screen, then cover over the top of the packs with some type of foam to insulate them so they last longer. I had some one inch pink foam panels that I cut and glued together real quick to make a square lid that sat on top of the tank. This would let the cool air from them to drop down into your terrarium. You could change them out every 4 to 6 hours as needed. I did this once when my Power went out and I had 10 of these sitting in my freezer waiting for use. They did me good for about 10 hours and by then the power was back on. Good luck, Jon

You can also wrap the tank with one of those windshield type reflective covered foam sunscreens to keep it even cooler inside the tank. Just an idea.


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## bshmerlie (Jun 2, 2010)

Here's a tip for those people who are in areas where it cools off at night. Last summer I moved my light cycle to 3am to 12 noon. I did that for two months and the plants didn't seem affected. I think it made a big difference.


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## PantMan (Dec 10, 2009)

Where are you getting the temps from. top of the tank, middle bottom.

The past few days I've been checking my tanks to see what works best keeping temps down. the top of the tanks are like 83-85 but at the bottom its about 80. As a side note the space between the lights and the tank is over 100. I do use fans inside the tank to circualte the airbut I cant see this is effecting temps much. In my case I'm going to hit up HD this weekend and get a small AC unit. 

I liked the idea of the portable unit but they are not cheap compared to window units.


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## Boondoggle (Dec 9, 2007)

jbherpin said:


> A part of my initial design strategy for the Tinc and Vitt tanks was to incorporate slab stones. It is my opinion if the frogs retreat into these crevices, the stones should stay cool enough to allow for a regulation if needed. I have no means of temping the crevices for fear of crushing frogs within the crevices during probing. I would like to add, the tincs behave normal...


Heat temp guns are really worth their weight in gold in these situations. You may be right and the slabs are doing the job. I'm always surprised at the micro-climates that exist in even small tanks. Here's what seems like a great deal on a temp gun.






If you don't have one, pick one up. You will definitely use it.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

As noted the temperature at the bottom of the tank is the more important temperature as that is going to be more indicative of the niches the frogs can retreat to avoid the heat. 

With respect to the tinctotrius this has some temperature data from where many originate http://www.sipaliwinisavanna.com/docs/vegetation_sipaliwini_savanna.pdf

Ed


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## jbherpin (Oct 16, 2009)

Temps are 80 F at the bottom of the Tinc tank and for the Vitts. The Leuc Cube is averaging 82-85 F at the bottom. I am less worried about the temps as it is clear that these frogs DO experience temp extremes seasonally, but will continue to look for ways of bringing the heat down. Thanks to all for the help!

JBear


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## tclipse (Sep 19, 2009)

Given that phase 22's are 'rechargable' and cheap, switching out a few packs/panels twice a day could be a decent bandaid on the problem while the heat wave rolls by. They're also not cold enough to freeze the frogs and could be placed inside the viv for max efficiency..... that being said I would be pretty concerned about the 82-85 temps in the leucs tank if they continue for more than a few more days.


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## jbherpin (Oct 16, 2009)

tclipse said:


> Given that phase 22's are 'rechargable' and cheap, switching out a few packs/panels twice a day could be a decent bandaid on the problem while the heat wave rolls by. They're also not cold enough to freeze the frogs and could be placed inside the viv for max efficiency..... that being said I would be pretty concerned about the 82-85 temps in the leucs tank if they continue for more than a few more days.


Thank you! I have been misting the Leuc Cube pretty heavy in an attempt to lower temps, and it HAS caused a drop of a few degrees. The leucs will utilize even the top of the enclosure regularly as well as the bottom. This has been the behavior from day 1 when temps were sustained at approx 72 F. 

JBear


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## Baltimore Bryan (Sep 6, 2006)

Leucs are one of the more heat resilient frogs in my experience; my leuc tank friequently hits 84 during the hot part of the day, but cools down at night, and they are fine. I'm having a similar problem in an upstairs frog area, here is what I do:
Move the most heat-sensitive frogs down to the basement or first floor.
Mist with cool water in the morning, but then fan out the tank at times throughout the day. It seems with mine that higher humidity makes it feel much more hot so I keep it actually a bit more dry than sometimes, with a shallow water dish if they get too dry, and morning cool misting helps balance the humidity.
Turn off lights- don't worry about the plants at that point, they will be fine, the frogs are more sensitive.
Make sure they have leaf litter/ places to hide out of the way and in the cooler parts.
In an emergency, move the tank to the bottom of the rack/ floor and add cool phase 22 packs inside, switching out daily at least, or frozen packs on the outside on the glass. 
Keep a fan moving the air in the room outside so there is air exchange and the outside doesn't get humid/ stagnant. 
Close blinds so sunlight doesn't heat up to room.
Hope that helps, good luck!
Bryan


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## Woodsman (Jan 3, 2008)

Hi Jbear,

Temperatures are only going to keep going up. I think you should consider getting an air-conditioning unit that isn't vented to the outside. These room units probably aren't as efficient as the ones that vent the hot air outside, but could make the difference between the frogs surviving a heatwave and not.

Good luck, Richard.


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## bshmerlie (Jun 2, 2010)

I agree with Richard. You are going to need to be able to cool down the room reliably and consistently. The AC unit is going to be a must before we get into some real heat waves in July and August. They even make portable swamp coolers that might be able to bring it down to an acceptable level.


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## bsr8129 (Sep 23, 2010)

Swamp coolers don't work all that great. At least not in Cali. A portable ac unit will best bet we have one in our bed room that goes to a glass sliding door. Cools the room down quick and isn't that badly priced


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## Yobosayo (Sep 27, 2009)

When it comes to frog related items, best money I've ever spent was $300 for an Edgestar portable AC. Actually lost my air for a while this week, house was pushing low 90's, frogroom was a cozy 76.


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## slipperheads (Oct 17, 2007)

Richard nailed it - Wait to see what it's like in a couple months. You can reverse your light cycle to night. If there are windows in the room, seal them off with curtains. This has helped me before.


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