Humidity Help!

I am having massive humidity issues. I feel like I am having all kinds of issues as a new beardie owner, but I'm trying. I have had the little guy for a month now and he is doing well. He has doubled in weight since I bought him and he has had a partial and full shed in that time.

All of that being said, I have had had to add lights and all of the other things you think you have under control when you start and then they laugh at you behind your back because you are an *****. I thought I finally had him in a good place when his beard lightened and he started eating even more with the addition of a tube (rather than compact) Rep 10.0 UVB bulb.

That was maybe two weeks ago. He had a full shed. Got in a bad mood about being held much (I took that to be about the shedding, but it hasn't improved much) and now his beard is dark again.

For the stats -- I figure this is part of it. The warm side on his hot spot is usually 100-105. His favorite perch is typically about 85. The cool side is about 72. The bad thing is that the humidity will swing anywhere from 45-65%!!! I have added a mini dehumidifier recommended on one of the discussion strings and that helped some. Today, I added another light because we have yet another front coming and the humility was insane again and that helped a little, but I don't want to have toasted beardie. I can't control the temp in the room at all and the building is old and leaks (not near him, but you get the idea).

I have beardie AstroTurf (whatever that stuff is called) down in his viv. Is that the problem? Do I need to switch to tile? I just haven't gotten to that yet.

I'm running out of ideas. I just want the little guy to be happy and healthy. He is eating really well but his resistance to contact and darkish beard concern me along with my struggle concerning the humidity. Please help!

Lisa

Is the humidity swing night vs day or the warm side vs the cool side?

Others will chime in but 45-60% isn't that bad, that's well within the humidity of their native habitats which is not nearly as dry as some care sheets would have you believe. The care information I've read from various Australian guides suggest around 50% for most of their desert species. So if you enclosure has good airflow and is kept clean (basically not letting the air get stagnant and contaminated with mold/fungus/bacteria) it may be just fine.

Sorry for the delayed response. I wanted to try out something you mentioned: an indirect fan. The information concerning the humidity range was very helpful, but if it goes any higher when I'm not around, then I still need to problem. Thankfully, you mentioned the circulation! I have him in a corner near a vent but I guess it was not near enough. I managed to pick up a cheap fan and bounce the air off the wall for circulation without overly impacting the temperature (go physics). The humidity dropped 10% in less than a day. Thank you so much!!