Why is this a bad idea?

The Problem- humidity, just too dang low.


The setup/complicating factors - AP racks, in a separate room (door is closed to keep the dogs out), but shared with my ASFs (the source of endless facination to the dogs), with the following items contributing to the problem:

- Substrate is the reptizorb liners from superior shipping supplies, great for absorbing moisture from urates (and spray bottles), however I can see EVERYTHING which gives me a big advantage on catching health issues early and it's absurdly easy to keep the tubs ultra clean (I do not want to change substrates)

- I have recently turned on a space heater as it's been a bit chilly (yes, we AZ-ers consider the low 70's "chilly" ;))

- Hubby hates the smell of the ASF food (mazuri 6f, I don't find it offensive but ok?) so he put a pretty hefty air filter in there (honeywell air genius 5)

- Living in the desert, ambient humidity is pretty low anyway


The Plan - slow release humidity boxes

Basically I was thinking, since misting doesn't work, and for a humid hide to work they have to actually be in the hide, how can I add humidity in a time-released fashion, that won't immediately get sucked up by the tub liner (and yes, all the water bowls are on the heat tape already). Here's what I came up with, take a little tupperware box (like the little multipack ones from ikea) and drill or solder it full of little holes (very small holes, nothing they could get a little nose caught in or injured on, thinking ~1mm). Then cut off a piece of (new, unused) sponge, dampen thouroughly, put it in the little box, and put the little box in the tub. It's fairly cheap, reusable (the little tupperwares could be washed or even dishwasher-ed, and the sponges disinfected in the microwave), and worst case scenario they poop on it (new sponge time). Even if it pops open I can't think how they could injure themselves on a tupperware container and piece of sponge.

Is this a stupid idea? Have I overlooked something potentially dangerous? I know it might not work, but I don't want to even attempt to find out if there's some hazard I haven't thought of.

Sponges are totally disgusting and will get rank very quickly, especially in an enclosed space regardless of how many holes you have. Sure, you could squeeze the sponges out and disinfect them every day, but if you ever forget or have to go away or something, I think it will be nasty. JMO.

Get bigger water bowls or turn the air filter down/put it on a timer/don't have it on so much.

Have you considered a room humidifier, or if the space heater is the type with a fan, have the warm air blow across a pan of water, to increase the humidity in the room?

I would also make humid hides with either the eco-earth or spaghnum moss, your BP's will use them as needed. Mine did when they were in tanks. They also tend to do their business in them as well, which makes clean-up easy but they blew through the spaghnum pretty fast...

We have a hot room for the animals with no ventilation. We run a big quartz space heater and a air genius 4 on max all day all night.

These solved our problems.
https://scontent-a-atl.xx.fbcdn.net/...05430890_n.jpg

I'm in Phoenix as well and use large water bowls and Venta air washers. The air washers don't use filters so they don't get gross. Simple and it works for me.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

Have you considered a room humidifier, or if the space heater is the type with a fan, have the warm air blow across a pan of water, to increase the humidity in the room?

I would also make humid hides with either the eco-earth or spaghnum moss, your BP's will use them as needed. Mine did when they were in tanks. They also tend to do their business in them as well, which makes clean-up easy but they blew through the spaghnum pretty fast...

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I'm hesitant to use a humidifier in that room mainly because the hubby uses the closets in there to store his gun collection (I had no idea I was marrying an English closet redneck, but he gets guns and I get snakes so it works out and makes gift-giving pretty easy), and I also store meteorites in there.

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Originally Posted by Dave Green

I'm in Phoenix as well and use large water bowls and Venta air washers. The air washers don't use filters so they don't get gross. Simple and it works for me.

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Dave, how would you score those Venta washers on odor and dust removal?

I'm thinking it might end up being easier to just get a lot more aggressive on the "spring cleaning" I'm currently doing and create a new space for him to store all his toys and my rocks, and just put a humidifier in there. Ideally I could humidify only the racks, but it does seem like humidifying the whole room is simpler. Thanks guys, sometimes it takes a bit of a push for me to do things logically when I get my teeth sunk into something ;).

I like the Venta air washers a lot, they work very well for humidity and dust removal but it's tough to say on odor control.

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Originally Posted by Badgemash

and I also store meteorites in there.

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You kinda snuck that one in there.. So that's pretty cool! How many do you have/how do you come across them? Just at random?

..Or was that entirely sarcastic? lol

Yep I didn't see the part about meteorites. Super cool!

Also I prefer controlling humidity in-rack simply because I'm paranoid about mold and mildew haha

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Originally Posted by Dev_DeCoste

You kinda snuck that one in there.. So that's pretty cool! How many do you have/how do you come across them? Just at random?

..Or was that entirely sarcastic? lol

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Totally legit actually. I'm a geologist IRL, and like most of my kind am a complusive rock hoarder, which means I have (pretty) rocks and minerals on nearly every open shelf, under the bed, and spilling out of the closets. I have about 3 dozen meteorites in my permanent collection, but I like to keep a few spares of some of the cheaper ones to give as gifts (they make cool presents for kids if you forget a birthday, fossil poop is also good). Depending on type meteorites range from <$1/gram for some of the big irons (like Sikhote Alin) to >$1000/gram (Lunars, pieces of Mars are actually cheaper ~$200/gram). Some of it is knowing the right people, but you can also buy them on the open market like the Tucson gem show or even ebay. But I have to keep a close eye on humidity for both the metorites and my salts or they rust/melt.