Can't keep the humidity in the right range

[iradog85]

I have a baby beardie in a 20 gal tank with a screen top. I put a food/water dish in there, but the humidity remains under 10% all the time. I just got some moss and moistened a little chunk of it and put it under his hiding rock. I also spray him once or twice a day.

What can I do to raise the overall humidity in the tank?

 

[NegativeCreep]

Cover the screen top. Foil works fine, just use lots of masking tape.
There are also commercially available humidifiers and such, but I wouldn't be willing to invest in something like that until you get him into a larger enclosure.

We use one of these..
http://www.opentip.com/Home-Garden/Tropic-Aire-Humidifier-p-743650.html
It's not the best in the world, but we got it on the cheap and already had the air pump it needs...
It took a few days to convince us it worked, but it actually works perfectly for what we need it for.

 

[iradog85]

Cover the screen top. Foil works fine, just use lots of masking tape.
There are also commercially available humidifiers and such, but I wouldn't be willing to invest in something like that until you get him into a larger enclosure.

We use one of these..
http://www.opentip.com/Home-Garden/Tropic-Aire-Humidifier-p-743650.html
It's not the best in the world, but we got it on the cheap and already had the air pump it needs...
It took a few days to convince us it worked, but it actually works perfectly for what we need it for.

I thought the point of the screen top was to have some airflow. Won't covering it defeat the purpose? Maybe I'll start by covering half of it and see if that works.

Thanks for the tip!

 

[NegativeCreep]

Yeah, you won't necessarily need to cover the whole thing. My fiance was very tedious when he covered our 55 gal. screen cover and there are vents and an opening in the foil for the strip light. When he puts his mind to something..

 

[iradog85]

Foil isn't working. The humidity is dropping as I'm typing this. There is a water bowl in there... What else besides buying a humidifier could I do?

 

[NegativeCreep]

Hmm.. You can try damp spanish moss, maybe a deeper/bigger water dish..
How are you heating your enclosure? When we were using the CHE it sucked the humidity right out of the tank.
It is also much harder to regulate temps/humidity in smaller tanks.

 

[iradog85]

Hmm.. You can try damp spanish moss, maybe a deeper/bigger water dish..
How are you heating your enclosure? When we were using the CHE it sucked the humidity right out of the tank.
It is also much harder to regulate temps/humidity in smaller tanks.

I'm using a 100watt CHE and I have it connected to a thermostat on the lowest setting. It's a 20 gal tank so it's tiny, and I feel like it's already so crowded in there with the water/food dish, his hiding rock and the bamboo branch. The humidity usually sits at 10% or below. I thought low humidity is ok for desert dwellers. Should I be worried about this? I thought a CHE was the best way to go. I also spray or bathe him at least once a day. Is that enough?

 

[NegativeCreep]

I would see what you can do about a larger enclosure. I think that would help a lot, but I'm not an expert. I wish someone else would offer you some advice, I don't think I can think of anything else..
I'm sorry.

 

[FATBOYDADRAGON]

100 wt chea in a 20 gallon is way to much.
You need to get a 50 for that size tank.
As for as 10 % humidity i would't worry about it.
Oklahoma is kinda dry and i bet lots of people would
love to have that low humidity problem.
As long as you keep misting and bathing you're little one
i think you will be fine.
If you dont want to spend big bucks on a chea just got to wal-mart and
buy you a 50 or 75 watt halogen tight beam spot light.
as far as night time temps as long as the room doesn't drop
below 60 degrees F you should be ok without any supplemental heating
at night
Hope this helps

 

[diamc]

Hi, it's very possible that the CHE is causing the low humidity in the tank. Because of that problem & the fact that beardies do better with bright white lights, you might want to consider putting a 50 or 60 watt household bulb in & see what the temps and humidity is then. What are the basking & cool side temps and what type of thermometer are you using? Also, could you fill us in on the UVB you're using?

 

[iradog85]

Hi, it's very possible that the CHE is causing the low humidity in the tank. Because of that problem & the fact that beardies do better with bright white lights, you might want to consider putting a 50 or 60 watt household bulb in & see what the temps and humidity is then. What are the basking & cool side temps and what type of thermometer are you using? Also, could you fill us in on the UVB you're using?

Over the past few days I've rearranged my setup and I've been able to maintain the right humidity and temp ranges. I have a 60w house bulb and a Reptisun 10.0 tube. The basking temp wasn't getting hot enough so I added the CHE (I can't afford to buy a 50w che and then another when I move him to a bigger enclosure, so I just moved the che to a higher spot above the tank). I'm using a probe therm, which reads between 95F and 105F on basking side. 15 or so degrees cooler on other side. I put some moss in there, too, and that's helped with the humidity.

Everyone's advice is greatly appreciated!