Humidity a BIG problem for my cham! HELP

[PicassothePanther]

Hey guys,
I have been trying to keep my humidity consistent at 50% or more, but it is not working.

I have tried everything; this is a description of my setup now:

1. I have the left side and the back sealed off by garbage bag side.
2. I have a habbamist (sucks but its what my kit came with, its what im using for now) My habbamist goes off every 3 hours for 15 seconds
3. I have a dwarf umbrella tree in there
4. I spray a very fine mist spray in the morning when i wake up and when i get home (so at 8:30 or so I spray, then spray again at 7pm) - i cant get home to spray during work

My humidity seems to shoot up to 70% when i spray the fine mist, but then every 10 minutes or so it goes down another 10%, then flatlines to 0%.. WTF

Help me!

 

[draetish]

okay, don't panic. You don't want the humidity up all the time, the cage needs time to dry out. You're okay, not great, but okay. It could be that your gauge is incorrect. Try a digital one. Also, the more plants on the bottom, the more the humidity. As long as you have a drip going for 6-8 hours, your cham is getting hydrated. Do you have a drip?

 

[Chameron]

Try a pothos plant =] they add a lot to a cage and it gives your cham a nice drinking surface.

 

[atsutane]

up the spray duration to 30 seconds, or even 60, and have it cranked down to the finest mist the thing can produce

 

[Chameron]

And if you can get your hands on a reptifogger or even better a mist king that would make your humidity great

 

[fluxlizard]

In New Jersey your ambient humidity shouldn't be too bad. Maybe it's your winter heating in your home? My sister in law has a house like that- after a couple hours I'm all itchy and my lips are dry.

If that's not the case- maybe your hygrometer is worthless? I've got one of those myself...

If it was me- I'd just go buy an inexpensive cool air humidifier and run it in the room the cage is in... Then I'd throw the hygrometer out, relax and watch the chameleon instead- is it really thirsty every time water is available, does it appear dehydrated, etc...

 

[OldSkoolxReasons]

You do want the cage to dry out in between mistings but that doesn't mean the humidity should hit 0! With a humidity of 0, which I highly doubt i is unless you're cranking heat out and have no real plants and a super hot basking spot, your cham WILL dehydrate very fast and also can encounter problems shedding. If the toes and tail tip do not shed correctly they can cut off circulation to the digits and tail and cause it to turn black and become necrotic. Also get plenty of REAL plants and stuff them in there to help hold humidity. One schefflera, unless it fills up over 70% of the cage is not going to keep your humidity up around fifty. The more leaves to hold water, the more humidty and the longer it will last. Since two of your sides are covered already I would go with getting more plants and making the miser mist for 30 seconds instead of 15. I doubt all of that will bring it up from 0% to 50% so you may have to get a little humidifier. If you keep it in the room the cham is in and keep the door to the room partially open you will not need to shut it off for the risk of over humidifying the little guy. However humidifiers are not good for your floors, ceilings, or much else that is water sensitive in your house. Also you may consider switching the garbage bag for sheets or towels. The towels and sheets get damp and hold moisture and slowly release it. They seem to hold humidity better for me and allow more air flow. However you will need to wash/change them twice a week or else they will become bacteria ridden. Good luck and let us know it anything helps, I really think the humidifier is the only solution as you have tried all the others and you are not how during the day to hand mist with a fine mist spray bottle. It is the only way I can keep up the humidity when I work all day.



Justin

 

[pssh]

No one has said it yet, but you shouldn't mist before bed time. They need to have a dry cage to sleep in otherwise you may end up facing RI problems.

 

[PicassothePanther]

Thanks everyone. I will get a humidifier.

I do already have a digital humidity gauge. It is working properly.


I will get another plant in there. I'll get a pothos and I'll get a humidifier.

I was thinking of making a contraption that I saw on here before - it's a tube that connects from a humidifier to the cage, which allows direct humidifying from the humidifier to the cage.

And I'd put it on a timer - just not sure how often I'd need it to run.
Anyone have an idea on if this is a good idea and time to run this / how long to run it?





Thanks guys!

 

[Chameron]

How is your humidity problem going? Is it getting better?

 

[Chameleonator]

What will hold up more humidity than more plants is having a deeper pot. More soil will help keep it constant without having to keep the whole surroundings soaked.

 

[ChamOh]

agreed, a pant or plants in a big pot(s) with lots of soil helps tons. the soil holds a lot of moisture. I live in NE Pennsylvania and struggled w/ humidity for a while and this helped me. I also took aquarium background and wrapped it around the back and 1/3 of the sides of the cage and my humidity levels are now fine. my levels were low--around 20% but 0 humidity? Are you sure gauge is working properly?

 

[Carlton]

The "contraption" you mentioned that directs fog from a humidifier into the cage can really work well. I do it routinely. Depending on the spout design of your humidifier you can attach pvc pipe or flexible tubing to the spout, make an opening for the tubing into the cage (preferably near the top as the mist is heavier than air and will pour down over the foliage), and cycle the unit with a multiple setting timer. Add another piece of plastic to the other side of the cage. With the front still open that's plenty of ventilation. The humidifier will cause quite an air exchange every time it runs.

To figure out how often to run it, do some test runs. Hand spray as you normally would. Monitor the humidity to see how long it takes to drop below 50%. Run the humidifier until the humidity goes back up to the level you want to maintain. This way you know how long to run it and how often to run it to maintain humidity. The cycles will vary as the seasons and your house climate change. Probably have to run it more often in winter because of heating.

 

[canzoman]

Yeah works wonders for me. Here is a pic. I got the safety first humidifier. I also use the aquarium background now to wrap around.

 

[Lizardlover]

you could always get some plexiglass cut for you at Home-Depot put velcro on the back of them, and attach them to three sides of the screen to help keep in humidity, you may only want to do two sides.

 

[RPCV]

It is a good idea to get RH up a bit but I'm not sure the problem is as critical as your 0% RH reading makes it appear. It is extremely unlikely (darn near impossible) that this an accurate measurement. Worse case indoors in Chicago (where I'm at and similar climate to NJ) is 10-15% RH and that is rare. Typical winter indoor levels would range between 20 - 30% RH.

I think the problem might be that most hygrometers are very inaccurate at the low relative humidity ranges. I've checked a few specification sheets on some of the mid-range ($60) digital ones from a reputable manufacturer (HOBO) and they are only accurate +/- 5% between 25 and 95% RH and not accurate at all below 25%. I'm pretty sure that most of the off the shelve hygrometers don't even come with a spec sheet or calibration curve.

Just pointing this out because it is possible that many of these threads where there is concern about very very low RH levels may simply be a function of the instrument being used to measure. (That being said - 20% is still low and likely needs to be bumped up a bit).

 

[RIGGZ123]

I would put your mister at every 1 hour for 15 seconds hope this is a good idea