Humidity

[Feebo]

I'm currently using a plastic vivarium for my chameleons (which ARE being seperated by the way. I have another tank arriving soon) These tanks have glass fronts. What I've done is drill lots of eighth inch holes in two sides then cover with plastic mesh to guard against food escape. Although they need spraying a couple of times a day, do they actually want particularly high humidity? I'm just thinking that screen top or sided enclosures seem to be the enclosure of choice for most. I can't imaging you'd hold hardly any humidity in those? Even with my twenty plus large holes in two sides, my humidity is fairly constant at 90%. Should I be looking at changing one of the glass panes to a sliding mesh frame do you think?

 

[daveo]

Ok, I am going to open my mouth here, because I am no expert, however I have done some research on humidity requirements of veilds and jackson's and I think that 90% is a little high. i know Jackson's require more humidity than veilds and I think it is supposed to be around 75%. I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong. I have an all screen cage and I keep the humidity up with misting and a humidifier.

 

[snipeusa14]

Real plants always work with humidity

 

[Feebo]

Yeah I'll be picking up some plants at the weekend. I think a solution here is to make a dripper so I'm not spraying twice a day in order to make sre they have water available for drinking. They maybe just a slight spray in the morning and evening. How does that sound?

 

[Carlton]

I'm currently using a plastic vivarium for my chameleons (which ARE being seperated by the way. I have another tank arriving soon) These tanks have glass fronts. What I've done is drill lots of eighth inch holes in two sides then cover with plastic mesh to guard against food escape. Although they need spraying a couple of times a day, do they actually want particularly high humidity? I'm just thinking that screen top or sided enclosures seem to be the enclosure of choice for most. I can't imaging you'd hold hardly any humidity in those? Even with my twenty plus large holes in two sides, my humidity is fairly constant at 90%. Should I be looking at changing one of the glass panes to a sliding mesh frame do you think?

That is too high if it is constant. That will stagnate the air allowing mold and bacterial growth. Ideally you'll want to provide periods of higher and lower humidity through good air exchange. What hand sprayers, auto misters, or fan driven ultrasonic humidifiers provide in addition to moisture is a forced air exchange during their cycles. One of many reasons I prefer using them to drippers. Screen sided cages do work depending on your particular climate and indoor situation. I usually use screen because I can make much larger cages, but then I add sheet plastic or plexiglas panels to the outside to make the cage humidity adjustable. To me that is the key...and make sure to monitor humidity carefully. Then you can tweak the setup whenever you need to.

 

[Feebo]

Thanks So are you counting the handsprayer as forced air exchange because you've had to open the door to use it? I have a couple of foggers but they run for five minutes and then need cleaning! Not really useable...

 

[Carlton]

Thanks So are you counting the handsprayer as forced air exchange because you've had to open the door to use it? I have a couple of foggers but they run for five minutes and then need cleaning! Not really useable...

Well, in a minor way. If you use a hand pump pressure sprayer to soak down the cage plants it does push some air around. If all you had was a dripper in a closed tank it would not move air. The little terrarium foggers are not all that great for a few reasons. They have small reservoirs, often exposed to the cage residents, the nebulizer disks are small and get clogged with minerals from tap water, they don't produce all that much vapor for a larger cage situation, they overheat if they go dry. Ultrasonic room humidifiers (same basic nebulizer disk technology on a larger sturdier scale) add an internal fan to push the fog. And, their reservoirs are usually over a gallon or two. If you use RO filtered water in them and keep them clean they work for years.

 

[Feebo]

Yeah it sounds like a couple of those will be in need once my little chams need thier adult enclosures. For now in thier two foot vivs it seems a light spray and a dripper will do the trick. I've just made a dripper and got it all working but I plan to down size it a little tommorrow and put some green garden wire around the tubing so I can set it how I want it and the chams can climb on it without any shape changing. The garden wire is rubber coated It seems putting the tubing in a few loops will do the trick, although it's actually working fine right now anyway. There's even a structural resovior where I have the bottle on top. ideal that, I'll just block one end off and that can guard against any leaks.

My female has started shedding I noticed today. I see it doesn't bother them like it botheres snakes then! My snakes go potty sometimes when they're shedding! lol Right, I'm off for some care browsing

 

[Carlton]

Yeah it sounds like a couple of those will be in need once my little chams need thier adult enclosures. For now in thier two foot vivs it seems a light spray and a dripper will do the trick. I've just made a dripper and got it all working but I plan to down size it a little tommorrow and put some green garden wire around the tubing so I can set it how I want it and the chams can climb on it without any shape changing. The garden wire is rubber coated It seems putting the tubing in a few loops will do the trick, although it's actually working fine right now anyway. There's even a structural resovior where I have the bottle on top. ideal that, I'll just block one end off and that can guard against any leaks.

My female has started shedding I noticed today. I see it doesn't bother them like it botheres snakes then! My snakes go potty sometimes when they're shedding! lol Right, I'm off for some care browsing

If you put their adult cages side by side you can use one humidifier to fog two cages. Using pvc water pipe or flexible pool tubing you can direct the fog into both cages. Depending on the type of spout the humidifier has there is often a way to attach the pipe and divert the fog anywhere you want with a T fitting.

 

[Feebo]

Now that sounds like a plan

 

[coldbloodedAL]

I just bought a ultrasonic humidifier this week and set it up with pvc pipe going to the cage. It works great and my jackson loves it!

 

[Feebo]

I tell you what I don't trust my digital hygrometers at all! They both show vastly different readings. 92% at the front, 70% at the back and 52% at the far side. All this in a two foot tank.......

 

[kwmc]

I am wondering if my digital hygrometer takes the reading accurately...

After more 2 mins mist and the humidity is just barely reach 50% (I have a screen cage)!!! And it drops right away to low 40's within 15 seconds... Is this normal?

 

[Feebo]

That was my point with screen cages. There's next to nothing to hold any humidity in because they're screened....
They do seem to be the main type of enclosure used though. I suppose it would depend on the type of screen. If you want more humidity held in there try an open container of water at the warm end so it will evaporate constantly. Screen the top of it though obviously.... I do that for snake egg incubating and it works a treat

 

[kwmc]

That's good idea. Thanks Feebo.

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

I wrap a few sides of my screen cages with clear shower curtain liner (cheap, easy, barely noticeable) and have a humidifer that is PVC piped into the cages directly that comes on for 30 minutes every few hours. Humidity sits at 50% normally and when the humidifier is on it spikes at 70% and gradually goes back down. The screen allows for good airflow and varied humidity so everything dries out sufficiently.

90% constant humidity is much too high and will allow mold and bacteria to flourish in the warm, moist environment.

 

[Feebo]

I keep and have kept various snake species that require modewrate and high humidity. My tank is not 90%. Not a chance! I don't trust those hygrometers at all as I say. The readings are changing drastically deoending on where I out them. That may be down to the fake leaves on the ground. I'll take them out and see what happens I think but I still won't trust them. I've yet to find a hygrometer I trust as much as my hand and my face Disclaimer:- never use face as hygrometer with huge bad tempered Blood python in viv!! lol

 

[Carlton]

I keep and have kept various snake species that require modewrate and high humidity. My tank is not 90%. Not a chance! I don't trust those hygrometers at all as I say. The readings are changing drastically deoending on where I out them. That may be down to the fake leaves on the ground. I'll take them out and see what happens I think but I still won't trust them. I've yet to find a hygrometer I trust as much as my hand and my face Disclaimer:- never use face as hygrometer with huge bad tempered Blood python in viv!! lol

I've found that leaving a hygrometer in the cage constantly can affect its "response" to a change in humidity. It could be that the sensor gets saturated or develops a memory point...not really sure. I started to keep my hygrometers outside the cage until I want to check the cage level. The response to the change in conditions might give you a more accurate reading. But I'm sure different types of hygrometers are more or less accurate based on how they detect moisture. Might be worth a try anyway to see if that helps.