humidity still too high..HELP

[ADEE]

I've added more holes, I've put his enclosure on top, I've taken almost all water out (maybe ½" in water bowl) and were still running about 90% :eek: we are in Florida and have horrible humidity but I'm concerned it can hurt them, what will happen with humidity being too high? grrr i know these guys need water, ill try adding more holes. the temps otherwise on surface are 88 degrees and the sensors directly over the UTH (stuck to glass so i know how hot the mats are getting in case God forbid they push the bedding over i know they wont get burned) is running 91-94, i keep turning it down drops to 88 and then i turn it back up a bit, again what is ideal? taking into concideration where i have the sensors, should i move them so im not obsessing over the uth temp?

[CntrlF8]

what kind of bedding? what's the humidity in your house, outside of the tank?

You are correct in measuring the temp on the glass directly over the UTH. If they need more heat than they are getting through the substrate they WILL dig...

Also, for the humidity, try a smaller diameter bowl. The depth of the pool is irrelevant. Evaporation occurs at the surface, and the more surface area you have the more evaporation can occur. Think about it this way... if you set a glass of water outside next to a large bowl with the same amount of water in it, which one would evaporate first? The bowl, because it spreads the water out more...

[ADEE]

i think its aspen.. you can see it in my other posts. ok, ill try a small dimension bowl. im not sure what the humidity is in the house, never tried to find out before.

[JLC]

Ashley, your temps seem fine to me. If you want to bump the temps at the top of the substrate a bit, then just lessen the depth of it. You really only need a thin layer of substrate for absorbing waste. But really...it'll be fine the way it is now.


As for the humidity...CntrlF8 is right on about the shape of the water dish. Also make sure it's as far away from the heat source as possible. And compare the humidity levels in the tank to the ambient humidity of the room it is being housed in. If the ambient humidity is running really high, then it won't matter how many holes you put in the tub. If that's the case, then you might try a different room in the house where the air conditioner has more effect drying the air...or get a dehumidifier to run in the room where the tub is now.

If the ambient humidity isn't particularly high in the room...try the stuff with the water bowl...make sure no water has spilled onto the substrate....and give the whole thing a few days to settle out. Sometimes these things take time to get a true reading on how your little micro-environment will balance out.

[ADEE]

thank you thank you. ill have to find out what the humidity is in the house. the a/c runs constantly thanks to good ole' warm florida. ill def. give the temp thing a go and maybe lesson the ammount of substrate ive been putting in i like for them to be kinda cozy



as a side note! for those of you who feed in their enclosures, how do you keep your snakes from eating the substrate? caution (who ate wonderfully yesterday i might add) ate a long peice of aspen, looked like a giant toothpick, i was freaking out praying it didnt puncture anything. part of me wanted to pull it out but didnt know what kind of damage it would do, or if i could even do that.. let alone the fear of him regurgitating! these snakes are going to put me in an early grave!!!


we have a pet rat now too, my son has nicknamed her big ears (he calls the snake big eye lol, gotta love those 3yr olds) her name is remy (ya know that new pixar/disney rat movie..) anyway, were going to go get her a friend today so shes not all alone (A female!) shes blk/wht ill post pics later. i plan to get a creme/wht one later on.. they are super cute! i wanted to make sure my husband (who insists rats arent pets) wouldnt kill me for brining home more pets. shes on pine (which ive learned is BAD) shes almost sneezing/coughing.. its the same stuff she was on at the pet store, im going to switch them to aspen or maybe that recycle stuff (gotta look) shes lots of fun so far though.. im sure the bedding shes on is agrivating her making her sneeze

[GirDance]

If the humidity is still way too high, try hanging a small canvas or flannel bag with some rice in it from the top of the enclosure. It will take a little while to make a difference, but the rice will absorb a lot of the moisture.

Non-Instant white long grain rice seems to work the best. If it's absorbing too much of the humidity simply dump out some of the rice till you find the right amount.

[Kagez28]

also try running a fan in the room. that will circulate the humidity and keep things moving.

take the hydrometer out of the tank and see what the humidity is in the room. you might have to get a dehumidifier in the room.

[frankykeno]

If the humidity is high for short periods of time during the hotter hours of the day but there is no condensation forming, I've always been told it's not that big a deal. Very low humidity seems to be far more damaging or high humidity if it causes condensation to form which drips onto the bedding.