# how cold is your frog room getting?



## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

I've monitored the temperature lately and where I keep all my mantellas ranges only in the high 50s and low sixties for a day time high. Night time temperatures stay in the mid 50s.


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## packer43064 (Nov 30, 2010)

Is your heat even on? lol

That's cold, you might need to be worried about yourself also.


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## Eric Walker (Aug 22, 2009)

yea, up here in Minnesota the last week has been cold. yesterday I woke up to -20 at 7 am. with a day high of -2. 

I moved my frog room to the basement come fall and put up tons of extra insulation and plastic. 3 of the 4 walls in that room are exterior walls. 
Also our furnace is in that room as well which has been doing great. 
I do run a oil filled heater quite a bit. yesterday at 9am when I went to check the frog room it was at 65 that is the lowest it has gotten yet.
normally it stays right around 70.


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## Colleen53 (Jan 19, 2009)

It has/had been cold around here and I do not turn my heat on. My mantellas (3 of them) are always out. The temps have been in low 60's to 50's at night. I wear a jacket inside my house when it gets chilly, but the mantellas don't mind at all.


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## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

What about the rest of you Dendrobatid keepers? I know there are quite a few cold loving species like E. anthonyi. I keep my Santa Isabels upstairs now but I used to have them experience temps in the mid sixties as a daytime high.

My tincs are super bold in the winter when the temp stays only between 70-75 degrees


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## stemcellular (Jun 26, 2008)

mid to low 60s.


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## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

Hi Ray, for all of your frogs, or just the mantellas and highlander dendrobatids?


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## james67 (Jun 28, 2008)

in my last house (i just moved) temps would gradually get to the high 50's (59 is the lowest) and all my darts did fine. i can tell you though that the central heat broke down AND my secondary heater stopped working and temps shifted from the high/mid 70s to the low 50 in the course of an hour or two and i lost everything that was positioned low in the room.

the moral is that as long as you let temps change gradually they should be fine (at least into the low 60's high 50's) however changes in temps that are too sudden can result in the loss of animals.

james


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## stemcellular (Jun 26, 2008)

All of them, generally the temp stays between 70 and 67 during the winter/spring and 72-78 in the summer.


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## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

> in my last house (i just moved) temps would gradually get to the high 50's (59 is the lowest) and all my darts did fine. i can tell you though that the central heat broke down AND my secondary heater stopped working and temps shifted from the high/mid 70s to the low 50 in the course of an hour or two and i lost everything that was positioned low in the room.
> 
> the moral is that as long as you let temps change gradually they should be fine (at least into the low 60's high 50's) however changes in temps that are too sudden can result in the loss of animals.
> 
> james


What was positioned low in the room? How big were the tanks, and what species (if you don't mind sharing)?

Someone told me long ago that a friend lost a group of expectata when it briefly hit 57 degrees. All my expectata experience that regularly and seem to enjoy it. I have heard stories of people's tincs experiencing temps in the mid-80s all summer with no harm as long as the tank was well ventilated.


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## james67 (Jun 28, 2008)

i lost 2 small highland lamasi, a pair of pumilio, and an auratus. all were in relatively small or QT housing.

james


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## michaelslenahan (Mar 10, 2009)

Rain_Frog said:


> I have heard stories of people's tincs experiencing temps in the mid-80s all summer with no harm as long as the tank was well ventilated.


I've had imitator tanks hit 82-83 during the day for a week or so at a time in the summer with no problems. Cooled to mid 70's at night. Didn't see them much, and they didn't call much, but they still came out to feed.


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## Woodsman (Jan 3, 2008)

Hi Doug,

These temperatures seem way too low for dendrobatids. I find that if my night time temps are lower than 68deg., the frogs become lethargic and don't feed as well (eventually losing weight). I keep the house temp at 68 at night and 70 during the day. The lights in the frogs room bring the day time temp to about 73-74deg. In the Summer, I work to keep the temps below 80deg.

Take care, Richard.



Rain_Frog said:


> I've monitored the temperature lately and where I keep all my mantellas ranges only in the high 50s and low sixties for a day time high. Night time temperatures stay in the mid 50s.


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## stemcellular (Jun 26, 2008)

Woodsman said:


> Hi Doug,
> 
> These temperatures seem way too low for dendrobatids. I find that if my night time temps are lower than 68deg., the frogs become lethargic and don't feed as well (eventually losing weight). I keep the house temp at 68 at night and 70 during the day. The lights in the frogs room bring the day time temp to about 73-74deg. In the Summer, I work to keep the temps below 80deg.
> 
> Take care, Richard.


Richard, fyi, wild mantella sp. experience similar temps, esp. the highland species. Remember, its not like Douglas keeps non-mantellas!


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## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

Not anymore, but I used to keep my E. anthonyi at 65-68 degrees as a high during the winter with no problems.


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## Mitch (Jun 18, 2010)

> I keep the house temp at 68 at night and 70 during the day. The lights in the frogs room bring the day time temp to about 73-74deg. In the Summer, I work to keep the temps below 80deg.


Same for me


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## ggazonas (May 11, 2008)

temps can drop down to 60 in my frogroom, but generally they get down to 65 at night and then rebound to the low to mid 70's during the day in the winter. I haven't lived in the house during the summer yet but aparently it stay relatively cool...low 70's.


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## ggazonas (May 11, 2008)

Rain_Frog said:


> Not anymore, but I used to keep my E. anthonyi at 65-68 degrees as a high during the winter with no problems.


Epips like the cooler temps and will do just fine with that range. With some species you'll get better breeding.


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## varanoid (Jan 21, 2011)

The temperature at my place is the same as it is outside. My roomate has dogs so he leaves the doors open all day and night. San Diego has very mild winters but can be chilly at least for frogs. My room temperature gets into the mid fifties in the night. I notice that my leucamelas behavior changes significantly whenever their tank temperature gets below 70. They hide, are largely inacactive, and eat significantly less. I ended up getting a heat pad that sticks to the side of the vivarium. Not the most attractive thing, but only will be needed for a couple months out of the year.

As far as heat is concerned, my leucs dont seem to be affected much by higher temperatures. It has reached the mid 80s in their vivariums during the summer and they don't seem to mind all that much. They remain active and feed normally.


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## james67 (Jun 28, 2008)

varanoid said:


> The temperature at my place is the same as it is outside. My roomate has dogs so he leaves the doors open all day and night. San Diego has very mild winters but can be chilly at least for frogs. My room temperature gets into the mid fifties in the night. I notice that my leucamelas behavior changes significantly whenever their tank temperature gets below 70. They hide, are largely inacactive, and eat significantly less. I ended up getting a heat pad that sticks to the side of the vivarium. Not the most attractive thing, but only will be needed for a couple months out of the year.
> 
> As far as heat is concerned, my leucs dont seem to be affected much by higher temperatures. It has reached the mid 80s in their vivariums during the summer and they don't seem to mind all that much. They remain active and feed normally.


be careful, as high temps will kill quickly! SURPRISINGLY quickly in fact. i wouldnt venture into the mid-high 80s with most darts. (retics can handle 90, and pumilio and tincs seem to do ok in low-mid 80s for semi-extended periods of time)

you also should consider sealing your room with draft guards, great stuff, etc. and getting a small space heater. there are several units that are reasonably priced and most are quite safe now (as opposed to older units which were known to start a very large portion of home fires in the US). i would look for oil filled or hydronic heaters which dont have an exposed element, as i still consider these much more safe, particularly in houses with animals like dogs and cats.

james


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## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

> The temperature at my place is the same as it is outside. My roomate has dogs so he leaves the doors open all day and night. San Diego has very mild winters but can be chilly at least for frogs. My room temperature gets into the mid fifties in the night. I notice that my leucamelas behavior changes significantly whenever their tank temperature gets below 70. They hide, are largely inacactive, and eat significantly less. I ended up getting a heat pad that sticks to the side of the vivarium. Not the most attractive thing, but only will be needed for a couple months out of the year.
> 
> As far as heat is concerned, my leucs dont seem to be affected much by higher temperatures. It has reached the mid 80s in their vivariums during the summer and they don't seem to mind all that much. They remain active and feed normally.


Personally I think we need to reconsider things a little bit when frogs become less active at such and such temperature and humidity. Frogs in nature experience different weather and if you remember, Ed K. posted an article of how tincs behave in the dry season. 

At first I enjoyed seeing my tincs out all the time during the winter because of the milder temperature, but it became difficult to keep weight on them compared to when it was warmer and they were less active.

So, I've purposely lowered the humidity to make them less active and it seems to be doing them some good. They are going back to having "seistas" during the day but also out a lot when they choose to. 

Its more noticiable with heavy breeder mantellas that start to pick up weight from being less active during drier, cooler conditions of the winter months. They can lose a lot of weight during the breeding season from all the activity.


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## varanoid (Jan 21, 2011)

Thank you james for the warning. They are rarely exposed to temperatures above eighty. And if they do, I can move them into a cool basement.


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