humidity and temp dangerously hight

[marsannam]

I know that the proper humidity level is supposed to be about 20 - 30 and the basking spot should be up to 110 degrees. As I've mentioned before, I live in Hamilton Ontario, very, very, very humid with the summer months. My home does not have air conditioning. My little Huggles lives in a 55 gallon terrarium. We have taken out living plants, water dish and put a de-humidifier right next to his home. During the night the de-humidifier fills up and the humidity in his tank goes up to about 60 -70. That's the humidity problem. The temperature problem is now that it's summer, the temps are soaring! The cool end of his tank is still like 95 degrees and I don't think that's very good. We've moved his lamp so it's not shining directly into his tank, but that hasn't made much of a difference. I'm thinking that there is no solution to this and I may have to think of giving him away...

 

[clownstrike]

I'm not a beardie expert, but I can tell you that normal household humidity for non-arid areas commonly fluctuates from 30-70% more or less. I doubt you have an unusual humidity problem if you've removed water sources. Your beardie probably would appreciate a little more relief from high temps on the cool side. Can you reduce the wattage of your basking bulb? You probably don't need the same bulb that you use in the cooler months.

You might also want to look into controlling your basking temp with a thermostat. There are number of systems available that would probably help if your household indoor temps vary a lot. You would probably still need to reduce your bulb wattage for the summer, but wouldn't have such dramatic fluctuations if you got a cold weather snap. Here is a thermometer example: http://www.bigappleherp.com/BAH-1000-Thermostat#.

 

[Epic]

I feel your pain. During our heatwaves my beardies cool end gets to 95-100. There's nothing really taht can be done to the tank. Lowering your basking light wattage won't help much. It is a start tho. Best thing for you to do is keep the beardie really hydrated, 2-3 baths a day. Mist him outside if his tank too. Good Luck.

 

[Embee]

I know that the proper humidity level is supposed to be about 20 - 30 and the basking spot should be up to 110 degrees. As I've mentioned before, I live in Hamilton Ontario, very, very, very humid with the summer months. My home does not have air conditioning. My little Huggles lives in a 55 gallon terrarium. We have taken out living plants, water dish and put a de-humidifier right next to his home. During the night the de-humidifier fills up and the humidity in his tank goes up to about 60 -70. That's the humidity problem. The temperature problem is now that it's summer, the temps are soaring! The cool end of his tank is still like 95 degrees and I don't think that's very good. We've moved his lamp so it's not shining directly into his tank, but that hasn't made much of a difference. I'm thinking that there is no solution to this and I may have to think of giving him away...

Hi, sorry you are struggling with humidity and temps. It's that time of year, yes? I did want to offer however that ideal humidity in the tank runs between 30-50% (below 30 is actuallly TOO dry, and not particularly healthy). And when the lights are off at night, it is fairly typical for it to run up some.

Also, what kind of lighting system are you using? A UVB tube PLUS a basking bulb? Or are you using a MVB? With the first scenario, you can try (as Epic suggested) using a smaller wattage basking bulb for the summer months. I imagine this would help at least some. The MVB is a bit trickier, but is still workable. We've had some success with having ours on an adjustable stand. We had a heat wave a few weeks ago, and I had to raise up the bulb quite a lot to keep temps in line, so not optimum UVB emission, but being that it was sunny, she spent quite a bit of time out of the viv, in the sunny window... I could then turn off the bulbs in the enclosure for a time and let it cool down.

Hope that helps a bit! Hang in there!

Em