Humidity problem!!

[Kjewell89]

Ok, so I just put Cyprus mulch into my t-8 last night (was taking care of a mite problem). I wake up this morning to condensation on the glass doors and a humidity level of 99%!!! My ambient temp has been hanging out at 81 and hot side is 91. Unfortunately I have work today so I can't handle the issue until I get home. Any ideas on how to bring down the humidity?? Don't want a RI as a result of this...


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[Rickys_Reptiles]

A big bowl of raw rice.

[NH93]

Hmmm... Usually the questions on here are about too LOW of humidity, not the other way around!
What I would do is take your snake out when you get home and air out the vive. See how much that drops the humidity. Don't fret too much.
The next time you add in the mulch you can dry it out beforehand - not completely if you don't want, but let the bag air out or some people put it in trays and either put it in the oven or sit it in the sun. Haven't tried that myself so I can't vouch.

Whenever I clean the decor and hides in my guy's PVC vive the humidity rises quite a bit (temporarily) too, because I let the things air dry and of course not all the water will be gone. mostly inside the decor I imagine.

Sorry I can't be of more help.
All the best!

[Darkbird]

Actually what NH93 said is a really good way to go about it, you could add a small fan blowing into the cage to circulate more air. Or you could take a batch of extra substrate and dry it some, then just change it out.

[CORBIN911]

Actually what NH93 said is a really good way to go about it, you could add a small fan blowing into the cage to circulate more air. Or you could take a batch of extra substrate and dry it some, then just change it out.

Dont place a fan directly blowing on viv, or cage, UNLESS snake is not in there! Indirect draft would be better. Ceiling fan and such.

[Darkbird]

Dont place a fan directly blowing on viv, or cage, UNLESS snake is not in there! Indirect draft would be better. Ceiling fan and such.

Read the post before mine, taking the snake out was part of the process. You wouldn't leave the door open with the snake still in there, and the fan would have little or no effect with it closed.

[Kjewell89]

Ok so I removed my snake, turned my fan on and left the cage open for a few hrs... I even spent an hr using my hair dryer on the substrate and it's STILL 99% humidity. Now it's time to turn in for the night and I work again tomorrow. Is this extra humidity going to hurt him if it takes a few days to lower??


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[Darkbird]

First, double check that there's no condensation in or on your humidity guage, which would cause a false reading. While I doubt a couple days would hurt anything, you could just remove the substrate and put down paper towels for now, while you dry said substrate enough for your needs. Spread it in a thin layer and leave it in the sun, or maybe bake it in the oven on very low heat, no more than 200°. It's just wierd to be trying to go this direction rather than trying to get humidity up for once.

[Kjewell89]

We've had rain all week and it's supposed to continue all weekend so outside is out. I can try the oven when I get home tonight.


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[bcr229]

It won't hurt for a day or so as long as he is warm enough.

I do a split substrate for my BP's during the summer and winter in my 41-qt tubs - newspaper over the UTH on the warm side, and cypress on the cool side. This lets them treat the cypress on the cool side as a humid hide as needed, while the humidity on the warm side stays around 50%.

Also OP with all the rain you're getting, your ambient/environmental humidity outside the enclosure may be high enough you won't need much cypress. I use a lot more in the winter and summer when the heat/AC is running, as my house gets very dry.