# Frogs & Toads > Pacman Frogs >  Heating mat for pacman frog?

## mankind

I have had a pacman frog for about 3 to for months now and its been getting cold nowadays. the only heating the frog has is a lamp that is on 12 hours a day. Sometimes the temperature drops to 60 degrees f and 55. Im planning on going to petco where they sale heating mats and stuff like that, but what else would i need to regulate the frogs temperature and make it act normal again? lately it hasnt been eating much and i assume its from the worms i fed it a while back, they were superworms and its about 4 inches long, and albino. 
Heres what i plan on buying it

Zoo Med Repti-Therm UTH Under Tank Heaters at PETCO

Also 
I have a heating rock from my past lizards that i gave away and im wondering if i can use it for the frog aswell

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## Amy

Firstly, the temperature cannot drop that low or it will kill him.  You need to remedy that immediately.  I use a ceramic heat emitter on my red eye tank.  It works well, no light, and doesn't zap the humidity.  I use it in combination with a thermostat.  Heat rocks are a no no, it will burn his skin.  I'm not sure the heat mats would bring the temps up to 80 degrees when they're dropping so low at night.  You may want to bring up the ambient temp to help maintain your frog tank a little better.  I know when my house temps dropped to 58-59 degrees, it was a big struggle to get the tanks heated to a healthy level and that was with a combination of heating elements, heat mats, ceramic heat emitter, and an incandescent bulb.  Even a space heater in the room with frog would help in addition to a product to heat the tank.

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## Carlos

Hello and welcome to FF!  Please read this ASAP to learn about your frog needs:  Frog Forum - Pacman and Horned Frogs - Ceratophrys - Care and Breeding. Recommend to heat the air couple in. above substrate to 82F now.  Low temps can kill your frog and even long exposure to mid 70sF can cause permanent damage to frog's kidneys and lymph hearts resulting in edema  :Frown:  .

Heat mats are inefficient when used on sides (can't attach to enclosure bottom with frogs); so recommend use a dome with built-in dimmer (Flucker's or others) and a 60W Ceramic Heat Emitter.  You can cover the whole screen top in aluminum foil, trace the dome with a Sharpie and cut around circle making it around an in. wider.  That will help retain heat and humidity in.  Hopee this helps and good luck  :Smile:  !

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## mankind

> Firstly, the temperature cannot drop that low or it will kill him.  You need to remedy that immediately.  I use a ceramic heat emitter on my red eye tank.  It works well, no light, and doesn't zap the humidity.  I use it in combination with a thermostat.  Heat rocks are a no no, it will burn his skin.  I'm not sure the heat mats would bring the temps up to 80 degrees when they're dropping so low at night.  You may want to bring up the ambient temp to help maintain your frog tank a little better.  I know when my house temps dropped to 58-59 degrees, it was a big struggle to get the tanks heated to a healthy level and that was with a combination of heating elements, heat mats, ceramic heat emitter, and an incandescent bulb.  Even a space heater in the room with frog would help in addition to a product to heat the tank.



I understand, my room temperature always drops to 60 and below and the tank even lower which is why i spray the tank glass with hot water, avoiding the frog of course, so the humidity and temperature can rise for the night. its risky i know, but it does the job. Thursday im getting the heat mat just in case and placing it under the water bowl since it always burrows the opposite side of the waterbowl. I will also look into the heat emmiter but a 60 watt bulbb is the maximum my lamp could use. would that be a fire hazard if im using the maximum?

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## mankind

> Hello and welcome to FF!  Please read this ASAP to learn about your frog needs:  Frog Forum - Pacman and Horned Frogs - Ceratophrys - Care and Breeding. Recommend to heat the air couple in. above substrate to 82F now.  Low temps can kill your frog and even long exposure to mid 70sF can cause permanent damage to frog's kidneys and lymph hearts resulting in edema  .
> 
> Heat mats are inefficient when used on sides (can't attach to enclosure bottom with frogs); so recommend use a dome with built-in dimmer (Flucker's or others) and a 60W Ceramic Heat Emitter.  You can cover the whole screen top in aluminum foil, trace the dome with a Sharpie and cut around circle making it around an in. wider.  That will help retain heat and humidity in.  Hopee this helps and good luck  !


Im going by your words, are you sure a heat emitter bulb is enough for the frog? my tank is a 10 gallon by the way. I would by both the emitter and the mat but why waste money on both yknow?

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## Lija

Ceramic heat emitter or infrared lamp are the best, you need a dimmer to control the amount of heat though, I use everything plugged into hydrotherms. 
heat mats are not really useful and if with lamps you can reposition them any time, heat pad is one time use only, you need to get the biggest that can stick to the side and the glass might crack if sprayed directly.

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## DVirginiana

> I understand, my room temperature always drops to 60 and below and the tank even lower which is why i spray the tank glass with hot water, avoiding the frog of course, so the humidity and temperature can rise for the night. its risky i know, but it does the job. Thursday im getting the heat mat just in case and placing it under the water bowl since it always burrows the opposite side of the waterbowl. I will also look into the heat emmiter but a 60 watt bulbb is the maximum my lamp could use. would that be a fire hazard if im using the maximum?


The problem is that spraying the tank with hot water doesn't do the job.  That's what your frog isn't eating...

As has already been stated, you can't put a heat mat on the bottom of the tank for a frog.  He may not normally burrow near the water dish, but the first time he decides to, a heat mat running full blast will burn him. If you get a UTH it has to be on the side.

Edit;  I've actually found my pac with everything but her nose and eyes buried under her water dish.  That's why I brought that up; they may not burrow under their decor often, but they can and will do it.

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## FwoGiZ

Heat mat is a big no no... so is a heat rock!!! spraying hot water is useless too....
people brought up all the options to your solution... and 60-70 is a matter of weeks before your frog dies. It's like I'd toss you outside at 10Celcius without a jacket for weeks.. you'll survive a while but you'll break down at some point.

-Portable baseboard room heater (best way, expensive on electricity bill)
-ceramic heat emitter (pricy but best quality of heat for just one tank)
-red tint incandescent bulb (can stay on at night, cheap and efficient but will dry up a 10gal real fast)


Heat mat cannot burn a frog tho, I don't understand why people keep saying that eheh. the one for frogs are 4W... this is completely useless waste of money as this doesn't pull ANY heat at all... it's very minimal... but the thing you have to understand is frog burrows when they're hot and want to cooldown... so you mess that up for em big time with a heatmat.
heatmat are "good" for animals that don't burrow like geckos, toads, dart frogs. ultimately using it right under a false bottom vivarium will give you best results but in all seriousness, they're a complete waste of money for what they are.

Just get a good lamp and ceramic heat emitter  :Wink:

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## DVirginiana

The reason people keep saying heat mats can burn a frog is because they can.  The most commonly sold ones in the US (idk about Canada) can easily get up to 100 degrees, and up to 120 if wires break or something else causes them to go haywire.  The small ones may not get quite that hot, but they can still get hot enough to burn/damage a frog.  There's nothing wrong with using a heat pad on the side of the tank as long as you're regulating it with a thermostat.  It can help boost heat, but probably won't be enough on its own to keep ambient temps around 80.

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## FwoGiZ

> The reason people keep saying heat mats can burn a frog is because they can.  The most commonly sold ones in the US (idk about Canada) can easily get up to 100 degrees, and up to 120 if wires break or something else causes them to go haywire.  The small ones may not get quite that hot, but they can still get hot enough to burn/damage a frog.  There's nothing wrong with using a heat pad on the side of the tank as long as you're regulating it with a thermostat.  It can help boost heat, but probably won't be enough on its own to keep ambient temps around 80.


That is interesting... what brands do you guys have? or which one are known to fail?
I've tested 3 dif brans with around 20 dif mats... none of em could ever burn anything, hell I even came to the conclusion they don't even pull enough heat to be any useful for the price you have to pay.

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## DVirginiana

A common one in chain pet stores is zoomed.  They're made to be usable for many different species so the temps can get really hot.  The thermostat I've got attached to my ball python's came unstuck while I was cleaning yesterday and it took maybe an hour for it to get to 96 degrees (luckily I caught it before it went any higher).  But that brand can get hot enough to burn a python, so it's definitely capable of burning a frog.
Another problem is that the internal wires can be damaged by bending or something like that.

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## mankind

> Heat mat is a big no no... so is a heat rock!!! spraying hot water is useless too....
> people brought up all the options to your solution... and 60-70 is a matter of weeks before your frog dies. It's like I'd toss you outside at 10Celcius without a jacket for weeks.. you'll survive a while but you'll break down at some point.
> 
> -Portable baseboard room heater (best way, expensive on electricity bill)
> -ceramic heat emitter (pricy but best quality of heat for just one tank)
> -red tint incandescent bulb (can stay on at night, cheap and efficient but will dry up a 10gal real fast)
> 
> 
> Heat mat cannot burn a frog tho, I don't understand why people keep saying that eheh. the one for frogs are 4W... this is completely useless waste of money as this doesn't pull ANY heat at all... it's very minimal... but the thing you have to understand is frog burrows when they're hot and want to cooldown... so you mess that up for em big time with a heatmat.
> ...


ALRIGHT GUYS

I bought the heat emitter and infared heat light (red) but the flukers lamp does nnot have a dimmer, its just an on/off switch, using the maximum 75 watts it produces. would that be a problem? cause i usually see lamps using the full power of the lights. would that do any harm to the frogs eyesight orcan they even see the bbright red light? also is it okay that the heat lamp is resting on the lid screen of should i let it hover over it?

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## mankind

i honestly dont trust the light on for too long lol, probably im just new to this

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## FwoGiZ

75W straight on top of the lid for a 10gal is way too much.
40W should be sufficient.

Also you don't need both... just one of the other.

Be readyto mist three times more eh? It'll dry up real fast now...

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## Lija

Home Depot, they have a light dimmer for 9-10$

 frogs don't see red light, it's ok, but watch for temps. You need 50w, stronger lamps will heat the tank too much the dimmer will solve that problem.

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## mankind

> Home Depot, they have a light dimmer for 9-10$
> 
>  frogs don't see red light, it's ok, but watch for temps. You need 50w, stronger lamps will heat the tank too much the dimmer will solve that problem.



thanks ill go to home depot by tonight, ill post update plus the frog iteself.  :Frog Smile:

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## mankind

thanks to errone that helped, got the light dimmer and placed it to 45 watts with red heat light. 


Honestly didnt know they bite hard, Java's an Albino Pacman sitting there at the bottom right  :Big Grin:

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