Hi everyone,
I'm setting up a paludarium and could use some advice on heating. The tank dimensions are 100 cm wide, 60 cm deep, and 110 cm tall, with about 20 cm of water at the bottom. I’m planning to keep dart frogs, and I want the water temperature to stay around 25°C (77°F).
For supplemental heating, I was thinking of using a heat cable embedded in PU foam (expanding foam) behind the background. However, I’ve never tried heating a tank this large before, so I’m unsure if this is the best approach.
Here’s what I’m wondering:
Has anyone here heated a similar-sized paludarium before?
What type of heat cable (brand, wattage, length) would you recommend?
Is embedding a heat cable in PU foam effective, or are there better alternatives?
Would love to hear your experiences or suggestions!
Thanks in advance,
Jurjen
by purrifier
4 Comments
I am far from an expert, but from what Ive researched, you can’t keep dart frogs over water. They’ll drown.
As to the heat.. Im interested also. My paludarium stays around 70
As someone who kept dartfrogs – great size for them! Regarding the water feature: you really don’t need it for dartfrogs and you will almost never find them there…. Maybe if they fall in, but thats it. They can swim if they have to, but there were posts about them drowning (maybe they were already sick… we’ll never know). The tadpoles will be carried in bromelias and other small water “cups” (driftwood puddles and similar). If you absolutely want it – the water in my paludariums (not for dartfrogs) was always automatically heated from the lights with the rest of the setup. You could fill it up with water, turn the lights on and measure the temperature in the evening. If it’s not to your liking, you have enough room for a small heater that you can secure in a diy box so no frog accidentally touch it. Have fun building!
It’s hard. Because you’ll get a lot of no’s but I have 5 dart frogs Costa Rican ones to be exact. And they thrive with the water set I have. In fact they like to stay under the bridge I built. I setup a big flat rock under the bridge. And majority of the time i will always find 3 of them chilling under
I’m no expert either but maybe a heat mat for seedlings underneath would be enough? Or measure and adjust as ya go, it looks awesome so far
Or depending on how much water volume maybe drop a heater in it for nano tanks that will definitely get it warm