Big humidity gradient, tiny tank?

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zampano

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Hi all,

So little Anti is doing well, I think/hope! I'm not even 3 weeks in with her yet so I am still a total nervous wreck about every little thing :)

She just shed for the first time since we brought her home and her colors only seem to get more impressive. Pics don't really do it justice and you can't see her awesome blue shading, but look, totally gorgeous :

108608-9740539994.jpg

They grow so fast!! :mrgreen:

(Based on my really rudimentary research so far, I'm considering her to be something like a Red Trans Dunner until she's identified otherwise or someone has another opinion. I found lots of pics so far that are nearly identical to her coloring and patterning, especially the tail)

Her appetite isn't as great as I've read babies usually are, and that's made me worry a little. I was hoping she'd shed soon so I could see if her appetite got bigger afterwords, but not particularly. So I've been trying to troubleshoot things to make sure she's happy and comfortable and if I can do anything.

I replaced the Zilla T8 bulb I had last week with a Reptisun 10.0 HO bulb and my heating gradients have been really on point so I think as far as light/heat goes, she is ok.

I give her a nice warm bath daily or every other day, try to get her plenty of water (not a great drinker), and have been mixing up her foods as best I can so she doesn't get bored. If she doesn't want crickets, I'll give her worms, if she doesn't want worms, I give her roaches, and I make sure she's getting proper amts of calcium/vitamins.

Anyway, I just got a humidity gauge (the Imagitarium round/analogue) which was one thing I'd been putting off. I don't know how quality the gauge it seems to be working okay. What's surprising me is that on the hot/basking side of the tank, the humidity is usually hovering right around 30%. Across the tank on the cool side the humidity is usually no less than 50%. I've seen it as high as 55-57%.

At night it seems like it's getting in the upper 60's, which I know is probably okay but worries me. No lights/heat at night, the room temperature at night is already in the 70's.

My tank is only 10gal so I was a little surprised that there was such a difference in such an enclosed space. Is this normal? I totally get the heat lamp is keeping the warm side dryer, but it still seems like a lot.

Solutions I've tried to get the cool side a little dryer:
* sock of rice
* box of baking soda (next to rice right now)
* keeping water dish out of tank most of the day / not spritzing the tank (more just her)
* keeping the really noisy fan on in my room pumping air around as best I can
* nothing obstructing the mesh/airflow at top of tank

All these helped me get the humidity down by only about 2%.

I looked into those mini-dehumidifiers and it seems like the smaller ones are still something like 9-10" wide and frankly that's just too much tank space I think. I already worry about her feeling cramped in there.

Given that Anti spends most of her time on the warm/basking side during the day, where the % is kind of in the middle around 38-40% usually, should I even bother worrying about this?

I'm waiting on her 120gal Zen Habitats enclosure but it's probably not going to arrive before the end of July, if this month at all. The new enclosure will be going in the main room of the house where its less stuffy and there are usually windows open (nowhere near where the tank will go, no worries). So hopefully the airflow and bigger tank will help this a little bit? But contra that, we're in San Francisco where the atmosphere is foggy as all hell most of the year, keeping our relative humidity pretty high so for all I know that could make things worse.

So in short (haha) I'm wondering if I need to take action on this in the small tank. If I need to drop a lot more $ on the problem, I would want to ensure the solution could be used in the big tank/living room should I need it. I already spent a lot on equip that I'm not gonna need next month. Like for example I could maybe afford a room dehumidifier for my bedroom if it would help but we have a huge lofty living room that it wouldn't do jack in probably, so I'd prefer not to.

My roundabout way of asking...how'm I doin? :D

Thanks and best y'all
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Getting heat gradients in a 10 gallon tank are hard and you seem to be ok- the humidity can go as high as 70% that's when we get concerned-- take your humidity gauge and put it in the center of your tank--- see what readings you get- it's going to be lower on the basking side of course but overall it should read the tank--- I am hoping your Zen comes soon-
Karrie
 

zampano

Member
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Original Poster
Thank you Karrie, feel easier already )

The middle of the tank looks like it's closer to the temp on the cool side than the hot side (45 - 50, at ground level). But her time in that part of the tank is generally on her fake plant or on the middle of her branch which are both a lot closer to the lights and I'm guessing not as humid.

I wasn't aware the humidity was safe up to 70% which is a relief. I guess 30-40% is just the absolute optimal daytime desert % ?

We definitely hope the Zen tank arrives on time and I'm hoping the extra room will make it easier to control some of these things (not to mention the clean up!). No doubt I'll have a lot more questions then..

ty
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
My zens run 30% during the day little higher at nite and where I live right now it's horribly humid but I also have a house dehumidifier running in the kitchen that pulls humidity out of the upstairs - we also have one in the basement-
Karris
 
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