Hi there! New to beardies & need opinion about enclosure??!

[Anamasha1]

hi! So I just got two beardies, and they are both very young. I would say 2-3 months old. They are in the same tank in the moment and they are getting along but Im separating then once I set up their other tank.
My issue is that I have two humidity/temp thermometer things in the cage, one on the cool side and one on the hot one. The cool side usually shows a temp of 80-90 and the humidity is 35-40. The other side however shows 100-115 with the humidity being 60+. It goes down once I turn my heat lamp on after the night but how come just one side gets so humid? Is there any way to fix that?
Thank you!!

 

[NicoleR]

What kind of temp/humidity gauges are they? The dial ones are pretty useless, so if you have those you may want to upgrade and you will get much more accurate readings. Is your house humid? I had to buy a dehumidifier for my little one because the humidity in my house was just too much. It is strange though that only the hot side seems to have a high humidity reading. Do you have an open bowl of water in the tank at all? If you do, you should take it out. But really, I think it might just be a problem with the gauges. Try switching them first.

Also, could you give us more info on the enclosure? Size? Lighting set up?

 

[Anamasha1]

Yeah! Uhh well I live in Florida so there's that lol.
The tank at the moment is 20 gallons, and the lighting is the Zilla kit. There is one UVM light, and one basking light. There are no water bowls in the tank since they only drink when I mist them or bathe them. I had another dial thermometer from Zilla and it showed a lower humidity. That's why I posted here, because it is weird isn't it? Right now the humidity on both sides is at around 40, and the basking light and uvb light is on. Over night somehow on one side humidity reaches 60-65, but stays around 40 on the other side.
Are those laser thermometers better?
They have that "litter" thing on the ground, it all came in a zilla kit. I'm moving my slightly bigger beardie into a bigger tank very soon once I receive all the stuff for it. The house itself shouldnt be that humid but I really can't say. The zilla dial thermometer I have is saying it is around 45 in the house right now. I have fans on too. I guess I should invest in a dehumidifier? I know 40 isn't awful but it sucks to get it to 60 for the night. What is a good thermometer to use?

 

[onceblue]

If you mist your beardie in the tank, that will drive up the humidity. You don't need to mist your beardie at all — just stick to bathing him a few times a week if he's drinking from his bath.

You'll want a digital hydrometer/thermometer with a probe. You could use a temperature gun for instant temp readings, but it won't tell you your humidity. It sounds to me like you may be getting inaccurate readings. I live in a very humid area, but the humidity in my tank stays around 40 - 45 with the lights drying everything out. The verrrry end of the cool side can get up around 50 tops, but the further under the light you go, the less humidity there is. Definitely invest in a new hydrometer and you'll get better readings.

At night my humidity does increase but fluctuations at night time are not so bad as long as they aren't getting very high. Mine stays around 55 at night and I personally don't try to lower it beyond that. If it got higher than 60, I would.

I'm not sure what the litter on the ground is but if it's a loose substrate I would recommend changing it to something else, like paper towel or tile. Some loose substrates can hold humidity or water if you are misting inside the tank.

Unfortunately, the zilla kit (or any of those kits) aren't great. My beardie was given to me with one of those and I had to replace everything. Most important is the lighting. You'll want a very good UVB tube light like the Reptisun 10.0 (I currently use a T8 reptisun 10.0) and a bright white basking light. Don't use any lights at night, the kit my beardie came with had a red night time bulb and getting rid of it was the first thing I did. Light at night interrupts their sleep.

There's a ton of info in this forum about lighting so take a look, and if you have any questions, let us know. Sometimes all the info can be confusing, I know I'm still learning stuff about lighting I didn't know before.

 

[Anamasha1]

Yeah I used to mist them in the cage, had a water bowl in there, etc. I took the water bowl out since they don't even drink from it and a friend of mine says one of his beardies drowned itself one time so I took that right out. I bathe them every day, for a few mins, and very other day for 15-20 min. They don't really like baths since they always try to run up my arms when I do it but we get through it and they drink the water there too.
And yeah this morning I got up to check their stuff and the cool side was at around 72-74 degrees, and the humidity was like 40-45, and the "hot" side was the same temperature but the humidity was like 65! I literally don't understand why but I am ordering one of the other thermometers and I'm gonna get a few humidity gauge things to see what the issue is.
Oh and the stuff on their floor, it came with zilla. It kind of looks like cat litter, but not the clay or anything. They can't ingest it in any way but I got them the cage liners or mats or whatever so once I move them apart I'll just line the tanks with those. I also ordered a 10.0 UVB light and I got the Terrarium Hood to put it into so I'll see how that works out. I heard zilla stuff gives the beardies issues so I'll change it as soon as I can! Thank you for your answers