Which bulbs for Zoo Med Terrarium Hood?

[Nathan Tetzlaff]

I haven't bought anything yet, but I'm currently looking at buying an 18x18x18 Zoo Med terrarium. I'll likely be getting a fantasy pacman frog to be housed in it, but would like to have everything setup before I get him. Looking around the forum, it seems most people use the domed-bulbs on top of their terrariums, but I don't like the way it looks....Is there a reason people seem to prefer the domes over the hoods designed to fit the terrarium? I'm looking at the Zoo Med 18" hood. It can house 2 bulbs and has separate switches for each light. Assuming the hood isn't a bad choice, which bulbs would be appropriate to use for a green fantasy, and would it be possible to use just the bulbs for heating an 18x18x18? My house is usually cooled around 71-73 degrees.

[GrifTheGreat]

I haven't bought anything yet, but I'm currently looking at buying an 18x18x18 Zoo Med terrarium. I'll likely be getting a fantasy pacman frog to be housed in it, but would like to have everything setup before I get him. Looking around the forum, it seems most people use the domed-bulbs on top of their terrariums, but I don't like the way it looks....Is there a reason people seem to prefer the domes over the hoods designed to fit the terrarium? I'm looking at the Zoo Med 18" hood. It can house 2 bulbs and has separate switches for each light. Assuming the hood isn't a bad choice, which bulbs would be appropriate to use for a green fantasy, and would it be possible to use just the bulbs for heating an 18x18x18? My house is usually cooled around 71-73 degrees.

Hello Nathan!

I actually have the Exo Terra version of the tank you speak of and it is much to large for a baby frog if that is what you plan on purchaing. I'm housing a 5.25" female C. cranwelli in it.

As for the Dome heat lamps. They handle higher wattage bulbs because these lamps have ceramic sockets and afe designed for incandescent basking bulbs. These lamps also can come with a dimmer switch that will allow you to accurately tweak the amount of heat and light coming from the bulb. You never want to exceed 50 watts. Look for Fluker's 5.5" Clamp Lamp With Dimmer and the 8.5" version. You can buy a lamp stand and position them above the tank.

The light hoods don't handle much wattage and do not have ceramic sockets. The made for bulbs tbat produce light and very low heat like Fluorescent bulbs with UVB output that is unnecessary. These types of bulbs are really bright and can be stressful for nocturnal frogs like Pacman Frogs. You can use low power Fluorescent bulbs in the hood, but they need to be around 13 watts and very low UVB. Around 2.0 UVB is ok, but really not necessary.

You can also place a UTH appropriately sized for the tank you have on the side to add a small amount of ambient heat. Zoo Med makes very good UTHs in varying sizes.

Now as for recomended bulbs. I use Exo Terra 75% intense Basking Spotlight bulbs for day because you do not have to dial the dimmer up high for them to produce the amount of heat needed. 50 watt strength. Night time I use Infrared bulbs by Exo Terra called Heat Glo. Also 50 watts.

Anything else you need?

[Nathan Tetzlaff]

Hello Nathan!

I actually have the Exo Terra version of the tank you speak of and it is much to large for a baby frog if that is what you plan on purchaing. I'm housing a 5.25" female C. cranwelli in it.

The guy I'm looking at isn't quite that size, but he doesn't really seem to be a baby, either. Here's a picture - I realize there's not much to go by in the picture to judge his scale by, but I'd say he's maybe 2.5 inches. I only want to buy one terrarium, and I feel if I bought the smaller 12x12x18, I'd just regret it further down the line. If he's uncomfortable in an 18", I could house him in a small critter keeper until he grows a little larger.

You never want to exceed 50 watts.

The Zoo Med version of the hood I'm looking at goes up to 60 watts, but it doesn't have the adjustable dimmer your domes have. It seems like it would be a little more difficult to get the correct temperature in the cage without a dimmer, but if I were to use a UTH in conjunction with the Zoo Med hood, it should be possible, correct? Would there be any issue with adding a cheap plug-in dimmer from Home Depot to allow me to dim the lights in the the hood? I just prefer the look of the hoods a lot more than the domes.

Night time I use Infrared bulbs by Exo Terra called Heat Glo. Also 50 watts.

Is there any difference in using the red bulbs over the blue moonlight bulbs if I prefer the color? Both are used for heating, but most people seem to use the red ones from what I've seen on the forum.

[GrifTheGreat]

The guy I'm looking at isn't quite that size, but he doesn't really seem to be a baby, either. Here's a picture - I realize there's not much to go by in the picture to judge his scale by, but I'd say he's maybe 2.5 inches. I only want to buy one terrarium, and I feel if I bought the smaller 12x12x18, I'd just regret it further down the line. If he's uncomfortable in an 18", I could house him in a small critter keeper until he grows a little larger.





The Zoo Med version of the hood I'm looking at goes up to 60 watts, but it doesn't have the adjustable dimmer your domes have. It seems like it would be a little more difficult to get the correct temperature in the cage without a dimmer, but if I were to use a UTH in conjunction with the Zoo Med hood, it should be possible, correct? Would there be any issue with adding a cheap plug-in dimmer from Home Depot to allow me to dim the lights in the the hood? I just prefer the look of the hoods a lot more than the domes.


Is there any difference in using the red bulbs over the blue moonlight bulbs if I prefer the color? Both are used for heating, but most people seem to use the red ones from what I've seen on the forum.

The dimmer is to prevent the temps from getting too high. The problem with the hood is that you have to find the normal designed bulbs that direct heat and light in all directions instead of focusing it inside the enclosure. They will work and you can find heat bulbs similar to what I've mentioned above so getting the bulbs may not be a problem.

As for the external dimmer. I really don't know how the hood will work with it. They were not designed for a dimmer so it could short it out or do nothing. I don't know. You can try it and see how it works, but if anything seem off I'd remove it imediately.

You can add a UTH in conjunction with the hood if you are not gaining required climate levels. I recomend that you look into purchasing a Zoo Med Hygrotherm humidity and temperature control unit and a Zoo Med Reptifogger. This will assist greatly in maintaing his climate in such a large tank.

Infrared heat much better and put off heat in a more uniform pattern than the Moonlight bulbs. In my experience the Moonlight bulbs seem to bug the frog a bit. Think about it. The Moon isn't full every night so there isn't always moon light during the night.

[Bo]

I just struggled with the same dilemma. I got a bunch of 18x18x18 terrariums from zoo med in a trade deal with a rep. I ended up getting 40w moonlight bulb & 40w daylight blue bulb for each hood. I also have a UTH for each enclosure to mount on the side and have hooked up to a thermostat. There's a switch on the hood for each bulb, so I will primarily run the moonlight heat bulb (uva only and low light) and switch to daylight blue if we want to show them off when we have company over. The bulb/lamp will be on a rheostat(dimmer) and the uth on a thermostat. I'm hoping I will be able to dial in the temps w/the two heat sources being it's pretty cold in my home most of the year. I don't know if this info will help or not, being I haven't set these up yet, but I'd look at those bulbs as well. They're both uva only. Moonlight is very low light, and daylight blue is med light.

[Mentat]

I haven't bought anything yet, but I'm currently looking at buying an 18x18x18 Zoo Med terrarium. I'll likely be getting a fantasy pacman frog to be housed in it, but would like to have everything setup before I get him. Looking around the forum, it seems most people use the domed-bulbs on top of their terrariums, but I don't like the way it looks....Is there a reason people seem to prefer the domes over the hoods designed to fit the terrarium? I'm looking at the Zoo Med 18" hood. It can house 2 bulbs and has separate switches for each light. Assuming the hood isn't a bad choice, which bulbs would be appropriate to use for a green fantasy, and would it be possible to use just the bulbs for heating an 18x18x18? My house is usually cooled around 71-73 degrees.

Hello Nathan and welcome to FF. Would not get the 18 in. tall for a Pacman unless on a deal and cheaper than an 18x18x12 in. ExoTerra Small/Low. Pacmans do not need the extra height and the lower enclosure will look better IMO. A Fluker's Dome with dimmer and either a ceramic heat emitter or infrared bulb is the most economical and simple set-up; but if you want that top, this will help.

Do get the 18 in. ZooMed dual 60 watt max light, dual switch top and either a rheostat (manual) or thermostat (auto). You want your tank temp at 84F during day and around a 5 degree drop at night. Get a nice digital gauge like this one to help you track parameters in enclosure. Will probably need to cover the front half screen with saran wrap, aluminum foil, or a thin piece of polycarbonate plastic to help keep humidity up (75-80% is good).

Now you will need to tweak out the bulbs wattage. Talk to pet shop and see if they agree to take back bulbs for trade during this period in case need to. if a 60 watt bulb is enough to raise enclosure to 84F; then can use a 60W blue one for day and a 45-50 watt red (or black moonlight) for night. The controllers will do the final tweaking for you. If 60 watts is not enough; then get two 60 watt red bulbs and use controllers to dim power down as required. Be aware that as bulbs wattage goes up; you must increase misting. If a humidifier is on the plans; then a combo controller like this one is the way to go.

It's a hit and miss for a 2 in. frog and that size enclosure. Once temperatures and humidities are right, can try out and get Pacman. See if frog will feed couple days after move to it (let it chill out and do not handle other than for transfer). If it does, then it should be OK. If it does not eat for a week; then get a medium Exo Terra Breeding box and put some shredded coco, a water dish, the frog, and locate the whole thing inside your already tweaked enclosure until frog is maybe 3-4 in. Do remember to cover 3 sides to reduce stress and read this too for great info: Frog Forum - Pacman and Horned Frogs - Ceratophrys - Care and Breeding . Good luck !