Aspen Shavings - Quick Question

[ogdentrece]

Hey I've just started using aspen shavings in my display tanks and I'm not really sure on what it does to humidity. I've read that they are bad for humidity and cannot hold humidity, but if my ambient humidity is around 60-70%, would using aspen dry it out slightly and reduce the humidity in the tank? Or is it just bad at holding water when misting to increase humidity?

One more thing is that, if I do have to mist, how much should I mist? (misting too much and/or regularly can cause it to mold right?)

Oh and yes I do have digital hygrometers to measure them but I'm not sure what is causing my humidity to decrease in the tanks, if its the aspen or if its some other external factors.

[Alexandra V]

Aspen shouldn't dry out your air, what people mean by "bad for humidity" is that it just doesn't hold moisture like cypress or coconut would. If your ambient humidity is 60-70% then I'd say you're golden, you don't need to worry about adding more humidity, so aspen should be fine.

I'd say use your discretion on this one - if you find you're misting all the time and the bedding is always wet then you might need to cut back on your misting because that's when things start to funk.

Tanks are notorious for humidity loss, so it could just be because of your enclosure type or something external; I'd highly doubt it's because of the aspen bedding.

[PghBall]

I use aspen in my one and only tank. My humidity stays right around 55% without issues. I just throw a few damp paper towels in the hot side hide during the shed. Haven't had any issues with bad sheds to this point.