Humidity Too High?

You could try going with a newspaper substrate.. that would definately dry things out. That and a non-tippable water bowl (when they spill, water gets all over and humidity skyrockets..) Then you can get it to a "base" humidity and add some sprayed water in if needed.. holes in the tums are a must but not too maly; my tubs are 41-quart Sterilites and I have about 6 holes in either side.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 8b8ll

K, sounds like you know what your doing. Your just measuring the humidity on the cool side?

---

Yeah, just the cool side. That's a good point...maybe I'll stick an extra hygrometer in the back of one of the tubs to see what's going on back there. Moisture content be even higher in warmer air.

Or...maybe since I have the Radio Shack units up against the cool sides where the condensation is occurring, that's giving me a false reading that's too high. That would make some sense...you'd think with 90% humidity the tubs would be sopping wet, but they're not. They're dry as bone.

Ginevive: thanks for your feedback too. I may try an experiment with paper to see what happens. I have 5 slots but only 3 snakes (today!), so I could use the two empties to try out different substrates.

The water bowls are already untippable.

Or your humidity could be lower on the hotter side. I would for sure be measuring both sides! Try measuring the warmer side and see if that gives you a different reading! :carrot:

High humidity will lead to an R.I. The extra moisture will cause mold to start growing both in the cage and your snakes lungs.


Humidity will also be higher on the warm side...what is the humidity in the room the rack is in (that could adding to it).

I would also suggest you change to a drier substrate...aspen, paper, etc.. Turf is plastic (one way or another) and won't absorb the extra moisture well.

Also, Jason (from Jason's Jungle) is a great guy so you should give him a call tomorrow and I am sure he will have some ideas too.

Thanks for the feedback, Sean.

Ok, so I measured humidity at the warm end last night, placing the Radio Shack unit on the turf on the basking side, but not up against the plastic. The humidity reading was 72%.

Warm air holds more moisture than cool air, so the reading should have been higher. Instead it was lower. I'm going to repeat the experiment in all of the tubs to see if I consistently get the same result, using the same unit to control the variable associated with the hygrometer (if I use two different hygrometers in the same tub and compare their results, I can't be sure the different readings aren't the result of the different devices). I will also try readings at both ends with a simple analog hygrometer.

I suspect, though, that my guess may have been accurate: the high readings are the result of condensation coming into direct contact with the Radio Shack units.

Ambient humidity outside of the rack is 35%.

As to mold: I wipe down the tubs with a paper towel every day, and clean the turf using bleach and a scrub brush once per week or following waste, whichever comes first. I also sterilize the tubs once every two weeks. I'm feeling pretty good about sanitation at the moment, but I'll keep my eye on that.

Thanks everyone for your advice.