Humidty Control Help

I have to add, because I see it a lot on here: You have to take into account your house humidity. Nobody seems to account for that. I say this because my apartment in the winter is as dry as a desert and it doesn't matter what kind of enclosure you have humidity is an issue. I run a humidifier that does very little, I'm constantly refilling this thing but the humidity never goes up. I constantly mist the enclosures. And I've had glass and did all the tricks. I have one in a tub that gets dry as a bone because I have to have a heat lamp on it because the flexwatt alone does very little to create a warm spot (why does everyone praise these things) when the ambient is 70 F. The other one is in a T-8 with an RHP and I have to mist that thing daily as well. Fact is, you will have to be proactive if your environmental humidity is low. There is no one trick to solve the problem. Tricks will help if your environment is maintained at 40-50% but here in the plains the indoor humidity is 30% at best.

We had a tank with a mesh top for a few weeks until we got a pvc enclosure. To moderate the humidity in the tank, we put foil over the top, but it was a constant battle. The heat bulbs really do dry things out, but a ceramic bulb might be a bit better. Also, be careful with an under tank heater if you don't have a thermostat regulating it. It's an investment, but getting a pvc enclosure and a quality thermostat (we got a herpstat) has helped a lot with regulating temp and humidity and our time and anxiety. Also, I would advise getting a cheap digital hygrometer from target or walmart instead of the dial ones that come in the tank packages. Just a thought. Oh! And moss. When we had the glass tank with the mesh top we used sphagnum moss to help keep the humidity up and that worked wonders! I hope this helps :)

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Originally Posted by SiXandSeven8ths

I have to add, because I see it a lot on here: You have to take into account your house humidity. Nobody seems to account for that. I say this because my apartment in the winter is as dry as a desert and it doesn't matter what kind of enclosure you have humidity is an issue. I run a humidifier that does very little, I'm constantly refilling this thing but the humidity never goes up. I constantly mist the enclosures. And I've had glass and did all the tricks. I have one in a tub that gets dry as a bone because I have to have a heat lamp on it because the flexwatt alone does very little to create a warm spot (why does everyone praise these things) when the ambient is 70 F. The other one is in a T-8 with an RHP and I have to mist that thing daily as well. Fact is, you will have to be proactive if your environmental humidity is low. There is no one trick to solve the problem. Tricks will help if your environment is maintained at 40-50% but here in the plains the indoor humidity is 30% at best.

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Yes! We actually have 2 digital hygrometers - one inside the enclosure and one sitting on top of it. I live in Virginia and our humidity is down to about 15% in the house now that we have the heater going. It's definitely helped paint a better picture of the overall humidity situation.

I use the exo-terra glass tank for both my BPs and my corn snake. My humidity in winter is 45-50% unless they are in shed then i raise it to 60%. Both have good sheds. I use a uth with a zoo-med thermostat, bought at petco- 48$. My bedding is cypress mulch with spagnum moss under the hot hide. Both hides are the rock hide type with one opening. I use a rock foam background, and a duel lamp 40 watt heat lamp in one and a small refridgeorator light bulb in the other, my house is very cold in winter, so the extra heat is needed for ambient temps. I also use a zoo-med reptifogger on a timer it does a 30 min fog 3 times daily and 4 when they go into shed. There is an oversized rock water bowl filled to the top everyday, and 2 of the 4 screen top sections are covered with plexiglass cut to size. I also use silk plants which absorbs the water from the fogger so as they dry between foggings the humidity doesn't drop that far. Hope this helps. Keeping your BP in a tank is a little more work, but if you only have 3 like i do its not that bad.

you should use tanks with screen tops , cover the tops, except the areas the lamps sit on, with packing tape or saran