in recently making a new enclosure I am reminded of some things I learned from wrestling with this issue with incubating chicken eggs. I was reminded by a fellow enthusiast that humidity isn't just relative to heat but it goes the other way as well, heat is relative to humidity. latent heat of vaporization, the heat consumed by water evaporating actually lowers temperature, that's why we sweat, it's the principle of a swamp cooler. even though in technical terms it increases the "specific heat" (amount of heat) of the air. it seems invariably that a substrate when moist will maintain a lower temperature than once it dries out. it also seems that droplets of water condensation can influence a probe's ability to accurately detect temperature. I've seen all this lead to significant temperature swings in incubators I've used and I see it in my enclosures. it helps a lot to maintain a steady temp if you can reduce ventilation, while staying within the needs of the critter, to maintain a more steady humidity. if you let the humidity drop, the temperature can spike, if the humidity spikes, the temp will drop. I have given up on using heat lamps because they require having the enclosure so open that maintaining humidity becomes too tedious, then it just feels like a game of over shoot and under shoot. I by no means have this all figured out, I just know it's a bit of a "push me pull you".
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