humidity problems

[mlededee]

i just got my baby bp and i have her in a 10 gallon aquarium until she gets bigger. i like using the aquarium for now because it looks nice and i can see through it. but i'm having trouble keeping my humidity levels high enough. i have a small water dish on top of the heat source (under tank heating pad), and i made the humid hide described in the DIY section and i am using wet reptile moss stuff inside of it. i also mist the tank several times a day. it seems like these things all help initially but then the humidity falls again within several hours and doesnt seem to stay much over 50%. i covered the screen top with contact paper and cut two 2 inch sections out for ventilation. is it possible that that is the cause of the humidity loss? it seems like there would need to be some kind of air vent, but maybe i am wrong about that? thanks for any input.

[led4urhead]

The holes you have for venting are perfect, in my experience humidity problems just come hand in hand with an aquarium. However there are ways you can try to keep the humidity up. You could try a bigger water dish. Have you thought about the DIY humidifier we have in the DIY section? It works pretty good, after you tweak it a bit. By tweaking i mean getting another human heating pad and wrapping it around the bottle to keep the water warm. I've used it successfully. I've also make my own out of a regular humidifier with a pipe from it to the tank and a heating pad under it to keep the water warm. What are you using for substrate? You could switch to something that holds humidity better, like some cypress mulch.

[mlededee]

i used to use cypress mulch with my lizards and it did hold in the humidity really well but they always seemed to be getting it in their mouths when trying to grab crickets and once one of the lizards bit down on it really hard and cut the inside of his mouth so i have shyed away from it since then...now i use reptile carpet.

a bigger water dish probably would help, i will try that tonight when i get home from work. i also have this contraption that i used to use for humidity when i had a gecko--its bascially just a rock-like bowl with a tube and airstone running into it from an air pump. would something like that work or would it be scary for the snake to have the moving bubbling water inside its enclosure? the DIY humidifier does look pretty easy to make so i will just go that route if you think the bubble bowl thingy isn't a good idea. thanks!

[elevatethis]

First of all, 50% humidity is totally fine for them as long as they aren't in shed. Everything that you are doing sounds just fine. Wait until next shed, and if it isn't complete, you may have to get a humidifier to use during shed times.

[led4urhead]

Doh .. missed how that was worded. Right around 50% is perfect .. as long as it doesnt go below 40-45 for an extended period of time. How are you measuring your humidity?

[mlededee]

ok i was thinking that it needed to be around 60%. i was using an analog hygrometer with just a dial on it, but i just bought the acurite digital thermometer/hygrometer from walmart on my way home tonight. i just have to clean it and put it in the tank...maybe the reading will be different with that anyhow since it should be a lot more accurate. i'll let you know what kind of reading i get.

[TB2Blazer]

You have a problem with humidity and you live in Georgia?? Hahaha. What part of Georgia are you from? I live about an hour and a half north of Atl.

[mlededee]

:!: i know! it's the most ridiculous thing ever--i live in savannah, so not only is it georgia, it's coastal georgia! the humidity outside right now is 84%, and thats pretty nice and unnoticeable for around here. my ac must be doing a lot better job of things than i even knew. crazy.

[mlededee]

ok so i got the digital thermometer in the cage and let it sit for about two hours. the cool side temp is ranging between 80-83 degrees, warm side between 90-92.5 degrees and humidity between 50-53%. does that all sound ok?

[Cody]

Sounds good to me.