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Amphiscape
Frog tanks vs gecko humidity
A frog tank wants the air on the damp side. A gecko box needs that moisture to fall back during the day.
By animal, the common setups look like this:
- Dart frogs: litter and low leaves stay damp; bark up high can run drier.
- Red-eyed tree frogs and similar: droplets on the high branches; the core is not flooded.
- White’s tree frogs and similar: leaf surfaces can dry by day.
- Crested geckos: they come out at night to lick droplets, and the day pulls that moisture back. One dry hide, one humid hide.
- Day geckos: upper branches in the light, lower branches damper, leaves dry by afternoon.
- Leopard geckos and other arid geckos: the whole box stays dry; moisture stays in one humid hide.
One tank hygrometer gives one air reading. Mixed stocking uses one air target, then wet and dry zones or a day and night mist for the rest.
Why humidity has to match the animal
Dart frogs spend most of their time on litter and low leaves. That layer dries out, and they lose water there first. Crested geckos spend most of their time on branches and glass. At night they lick droplets off the leaves. By day, that layer needs to dry.
About 12 hours with the lights on is the daytime band. After the lights go off, the night band.
How to read humidity
A reading the moment misting stops often sits above 90%. The daytime number is the reading 1–2 hours later. A log of only the moment after misting makes the day look high all the time.
| Animal | Where the probe goes |
|---|---|
| Dart frogs | About 5–10 cm above the litter, out of the dish, the nozzle, and beaded glass |
| Crested geckos, day geckos | On a branch they use, about halfway up the box |
| Tanks 45 cm tall and up | One low, one high. When they differ by about 10–20 points, use the one at the animal’s layer |
| Arid geckos | One in the middle of the box, one inside the humid hide |
Common band lookup
Daytime numbers for dart frogs, crested geckos, and day geckos match the Feedbook. Tree frogs and arid geckos have no single Feedbook entry. The bands are common notes, and species still differ inside them.
| Animal | Day | After mist or at night | Wet and dry |
|---|---|---|---|
| Azure dart frogs and similar | 70–90% | Near 100% just after a mist, then back to 70–90% | Litter damp; bark up high can run drier |
| Red-eyed tree frogs and similar | About 70–90% | After dark, the upper end of that band | Droplets on high branches; core not flooded |
| White’s tree frogs and similar | About 50–70% | About 70–80% after a night mist | Leaf surfaces dry by day |
| Crested geckos | 50–70% | About 80–90% after a night mist, then back down | A dry hide and a humid hide |
| Day geckos | 60–80% | Rises after a dawn mist; leaves dry by afternoon | Upper branches in the light; lower branches damper |
| Leopard geckos and other arid geckos | About 30–40% in the whole box | The whole box is not raised into the frog band | Humid hide about 70–80%; the rest dry |
Matching the setup
Misting, a water dish, drainage, and ventilation pull humidity in different directions:
- Misting: raises the air within a few minutes, and stops when the leaves bead. Count and seconds are in Vivarium drainage and misting. A gecko setup turns the daytime pass off. A dart-frog tank keeps morning and evening.
- Dish and water band: they raise the rim and the foot of the bank, and do not hold the whole box. How much of the floor the water takes, and how deep it is, is in Setting land–water ratio first.
- Drainage: lets water leave the core. The air can sit at 80% while the core still breathes. Thickness is in Vivarium drainage and misting.
- Ventilation: lets the vapor out. With most of the top covered and a mesh gap of about 2–5 cm along one edge, the day can hold the band in the table. On a full screen top, in a room at about 40–50%, the afternoon often falls out of that band. With the gap shut, a short mist still beads the glass all day.
| Width | Dart frogs | Crested geckos |
|---|---|---|
| 30 cm | Hand mist morning and evening. Leave a gap in the top | Mist only after dark |
| 45 cm | An extra pass on the back wall | Probe at a mid-height branch. Daytime pass off |
| 60–90 cm | A timer is what reaches the back upper corner | Night mist, daytime off. The back upper corner dries first |
Things to watch
- A gecko still misted on the 70–90% schedule by day: The skin is still wet at noon, and the glass stays beaded all day. Turn the daytime mist off, and leave a gap.
- The meter reads 80% and the soil core is already black: The air is humid, and the water is not leaving the core. Drop the line to about 1 cm under the screen. Cushion moss hollowing from the center is the same thing.
- A dart-frog tank under 70% by afternoon: The top is a full screen, or there is only one mist a day. Cover most of the top, leave a mesh gap of about 2–5 cm, and mist morning and evening until the leaves bead.
- An arid gecko’s whole box at 70%: A frog-tank lid and a whole-box mist put the hide and the rest on the same band. Bring the box back to the band in the table, and keep the humid hide on its own.
Magic Amphiscape has no humidity percent and no seconds-per-mist control. What you can set is habitat type, tank size, and land / water ratio. A dart-frog vivarium is often half and half. A bioactive gecko vivarium is often mostly land; choosing either of the other two ratios sends it back to mostly land. A stream riparium and a mangrove tank are often mostly water. Open the studio, set those three, then put the hygrometer and the mist on the real tank from the table above.
Mist count and drainage thickness are in Vivarium drainage and misting. How much of the floor the water takes is in Setting land–water ratio first.
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2026-10-14