Thoughts needed with Humidity.

[GoodKarma19]

Don't bioactive setups use leaf litter to hold the moisture in the substrate?
If the substrate maintains a lot of moisture, it's not giving it up to raise the humidity.
This is the same problem I had with the pebble "mulch"; the moisture will transpirate, but at a lower rate than some other means.

If there's such a thing as a bioactive setup without litter (or whatever) to prevent moisture loss, I think that might help.

Leaflitter is required for the clean up crew, unfortunately! It's both to shield them and provide a food source.

Bioactive definitely bumps the humidity, regardless of transpiration rate and leaflitter. Running barebottom in a 16x16x30 (medium) ReptiBreeze with 3 sides covered with a shower curtain, i was barely able to get the humidity up to maybe 40% for an hour after misting. Same set up with a bioactive base and plants and I easily get 70-80+ after misting, dropping to 30 by the afternoon. I have a very dry house, too!

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

Another thought that occurred to me... A (drain) pan filled with pebbles will evaporate more than one without—again because of increased surface area.

Blowing air across a wet surface (the more surface area, the better) will also increase humidity, but there's a downside. This is A.K.A. evaporative cooling, and will lower the enclosure temp (at least at the bottom). Adjustment can be made via basking lights, and of course the fan should only run at certain times.

The whole picture—or system—has to be considered.

 

[Lpsouth1978]

Thank you all for the recommendations!! I went ahead and wrapped the upper door last night to see what the effect would be and found little to no improvement. The enclosure was still only @ 30% humidity at 5am, with the fogger on all night and a misting session a few hours earlier. I don't think I will be keeping the plastic on the door. Instead I am going to find a new location for the enclosure, in a smaller room, and use a large room humidifier to keep the ambient room humidity @40%. Hopefully this will fix the problem. The enclosure will not be in an area where visitors will see it, but his health is more important.

 

[Lpsouth1978]

Update -

I moved the enclosure in to my bedroom instead of the family room. I have not purchased a room humidifier yet, but still plan to. By simply moving the enclosure into a smaller room, the humidity has already increased a few percent. Where I was struggling to get above 30% before, it now stays about 35% most of the time. I also added a 2nd fogger for night time use and made a screen base that sits on top of the substrate tray (drain pan). Finding a way to mount all of the lights and foggers on top of the enclosure was a bit tricky, but I got it all figured out!

 

[Lpsouth1978]

I think the humidity is good to go. I got a room Humidifier and have figured out that if I run it on Low 24/7 it keeps my ambient humidity right about 40-45%. The enclosure gets up to 70% after misting, but drops back down. I am not currently misting during the day. Instead I am basically following the misting/fogging schedule recommended by Chameleonacademy.

 

[Mrjamwin]

I know I'm late to the conversation but I have two 4x2x2 enclosures and I live in Colorado which can be pretty arid and what I did to help control the humidity was I purchased PVC Sheet panels 4x8 sheets. I cut them to size and attached them to the sides and the back. It has helped retain the humidity plus I have a Mistking system now which saves me a lot of time having to mist.

 

[Lpsouth1978]

I use this stuff and wrapped the sides, back, and lower door in it. It definitely helped keep humidity in/

 

[Mrjamwin]

I use this stuff and wrapped the sides, back, and lower door in it. It definitely helped keep humidity in/

That'll do it!

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

I have a Mistking system now which saves me a lot of time having to mist.

Not the best time & place to ask, but can those MK systems be set to go on at a specific humidity level, or just time intervals?

 

[Lpsouth1978]

Not the best time & place to ask, but can those MK systems be set to go on at a specific humidity level, or just time intervals?

This depends on which controller you chose with your system. They have 3 controllers to choose from. The Seconds Timer lets you program up to 9 mistings per day any time and duration you want (the one got). The Interval timer will mist at set intervals, such as every 3 hours. The Humidistat will turn on when the humidity drops below your set value. I chose not to get the humidistat because I was worried that it would mist so often that the cage would never dry out. Before getting the room humidifier, the enclosure would get misted and the humidity would drop to <30% in an hour.

 

[mujino]

I think the humidity is good to go. I got a room Humidifier and have figured out that if I run it on Low 24/7 it keeps my ambient humidity right about 40-45%. The enclosure gets up to 70% after misting...

Nicely done! Really glad to see you found a solution that works for your environment.

 

[Anisa.corp]

You could put a large water bowl at the bottom of the enclosure