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 #2092279


Axolotlsx5
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 Humidity

still cant get humidity up. i made a 20x24 x 2 inches high inclosure made of plexiglass and glass bottom. can i put a heat pad under it in the cage? the bottom of me entire cage is wood
11/05/09  11:35am

 #2092334


87rx7chick
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   Message To: Axolotlsx5   In reference to Message Id: 2092279


 Humidity

wood and heat pads dont go together. you cant use under tank heaters alone to heat tank.


so your tank’s bottom is glass but the glass is resting on a wooden stand? what i do is wrap the heat pad in a towel and place THAT between the wood and glass. but you still may expect to damage the wood under the tank.


what is your substrate. how many lights do you have and what is the wattage of each light you have. what is the natural humidity inside your house, what is the humditiy outside your house. what is the humidity inside the enclosure. all this info plays a roll in how to get your humidity up.

you want to saturate the substrate. i have a 2nd substrate i use, but it must be changed out more often. i buy a bag of top soil from lowes for 1.75$ its normal soil WITH NO FERTILIZERS. it must be normal absolutely no chemical must be in there. you can use that 3-4 inches thick on the bottom of your enclosure and it holds moisture very well but you must water the dirt when you notice its drying out. treat it like a house plant. when the top half of the soil is dry . water it!!!

using this substrate keep in mind that if you leave any female crickets in the enclosure they will lay eggs and if they lay eggs you’ll have 100’s if not 1000’s of lil crickets jumping around in no time.


in a small enclosure like you described. make sure the temps dont get to hot. you need your dragon to be able to escape from the heat. basking of 95-100 and ambient of 80-85.

your humidity should be 65-75% on a daily average but no lower then 45% for to long. they have very delicate thin skin =X


btw, the only time i used under tank heaters was in an exotera front opening 18x18x24 inch glass enclosure and the bottom glass was coverd in a towel to protect frill dragon from burning itself on the bottom. i dont recomend under tank heaters at all for arboreal reptiles. its not nessasary unless you house really is that cold. and the area is small
11/05/09  04:02pm

 #2092356


Axolotlsx5
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   Message To: 87rx7chick   In reference to Message Id: 2092334


 Humidity

my cage is now covered with plexiglass except top where have zoomed lights. inside measurments are 4 foot hgh 4 foot long and 30 nche deep. the bottom s would and i made a plexiglass container 24x20x1/2 and fill it with zilla coconut husk. temps in cage range from 105 to mid 70s
11/05/09  04:59pm

 #2092449


87rx7chick
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   Message To: Axolotlsx5   In reference to Message Id: 2092356


 Humidity

ah you maid a container. hmmmm well that container holds enough husk for 50% of your enclosure correct? hmmmm...

well let me ask this. could you please tell me what your using to find the humidity in your enclosure. and i really do wanna know what the humidity in your house is and the natural humidity of where you live its very important!!!

mine is 43% in my house.


105 degrees, is that a basking spot temp or is that a temp from just the air on one side of the enclosure? 105 is a bit much unless its the hot area in a basking spot.. idk i havent seen a picture of your enclosure.

sometimes its hard to figure a real temp with out a temp gun
Pro Exotics PE-2 or PE-1 Infrared Temp Gun on ebay range from 20-35$ i love mine . so easy to know real temps and can even take temp of your reptile


with out pix or all info its hard to say what the issue is. its good that you closed the enclosure up a bit. thats a good start.


check this out. i had a screen enclosure that had TONS of grape vine in it. a huge mass of grape vine. i sprayed down the branches and achieved 85% humidity inside the SCREEN enclosure for almost all day long. the more in the enclosure the easier to keep humidity up, easier to retain moisture



11/05/09  08:56pm

 #2092489


Kidmuathai
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   Message To: 87rx7chick   In reference to Message Id: 2092449


 Humidity

i use a 4’ x4’ x 6’ enclosure. i made it from 3/4" cdx. its a good cheap wood. i madea door from plexiglass and drilled 3 3 inch holes in the top for ventilation. i soak then entire enclosure every moring to get humidity to 80%. the normal humididty here is less than 20. so by noon ist at about 40% again. so i mosten th substrate. i do this for 3 days then let the cvage dry for 2. rinse repeat. my dragon is shedding like crazy and getting huge.

to mak long story short. dry building a bigger cage. made from wood. use a good waterproof substrate on the bottom then try some woodchips or potting soil like suggested. that should do the trick.



11/05/09  11:31pm

 #2092490


Kidmuathai
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   Message To: Kidmuathai   In reference to Message Id: 2092489


 Humidity

also get a good digital thermostat with probe. i bought one from wal-mart for 15.00.
it alos measure humidity. that way u can watch the basking temp and relative temp. and humidity all at once.
11/05/09  11:33pm

 #2092524


87rx7chick
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   Message To: Kidmuathai   In reference to Message Id: 2092490


 Humidity

ya those are ok. mine is about 4 degrees off. mines lasted so far 8 months with no change in batteries. the humidity effects the digital display, if you see yours go blank dont worry it will dry out and start working again :)

those type arnt good for measuring basking. mainly good for measuring ambient temp through out tank.

the probe is OK but it will not get accurate reading under the bright basking lamp. i have found the probe to be up to 10 degrees off. while the unit itself has an internal thermometer that mesures what temp the unit is....

um hope that made sense... temp gun is always going to be more accurate if used properly. next best is probe. worst is the analog type you get at petco that is a spring style thermostate anything is better then those!

still waiting on the home humidity

(ps, im not trying to be rude i really love helping and answers could be simple, im just not there to check stuff to figure out what issue is, i may come across as short or mean but i just have so much info to spill out just waiting on answers!)
11/06/09  01:37am

 #2092811


Rocker18
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   Message To: 87rx7chick   In reference to Message Id: 2092524


 Humidity

humidity is always the biggest problems with forest lizards... it is really annoying.



11/06/09  09:23pm

 #2093648


Axolotlsx5
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   Message To: Rocker18   In reference to Message Id: 2092811


 Humidity

i use battery operated probe foe heat and humidity. my guess is i have to buy grape vines at a nurseay? humidity in my house never goes below 40
11/09/09  10:45am

 #2093678


87rx7chick
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   Message To: Axolotlsx5   In reference to Message Id: 2093648


 Humidity

well that 40% thing is good so i can base yours off mine.


reduce ventilation to almost nothing. 20% or less of enclosure , i think u already did this. any luck?



in my 100 gallon tank i have 2 inches of lowes bag top soil, a 18x12 container with water and 5 pieces of wood/grape vine cork bark. i have made 2 screen tops but placed plexi glass on top 1/4 on one side only leaving room for basking and uvb light on one side. then on the other side (100 galon tanks have a center saport on top) i have a large exotera 3 socket hood that i have plexi covering the other side so theres even less ventilation. i keep my nose on the look out for any off smells , off smells mean u need a day or 2 of dry time and maybe a substrate change.

less ventilation. more decorative wood pieces and thicker substrate on bottom, hint. go to the pest controle section and pick up a small pump style sprayer that is CLEAN never used and use it for water.


there are also misting systems avalable typically used for chameleons :)

hope we’re getting closer to solving the issue.


btw hobby stores have 12x12 squares of thick cork bark for 12$ for a pack of 3 or you can get a roll style that isnt AS good but helps and its really thin and you can attach it to the glass by using magnets on either side of the glass.

tip: super worms eat cork bark like it was cheeze
11/09/09  12:33pm

 #2093739


Axolotlsx5
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   Message To: 87rx7chick   In reference to Message Id: 2093678


 Humidity

already use coconut husk. cage is 85% sealed have computer fan on its way
11/09/09  04:30pm

 #2093741


Axolotlsx5
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   Message To: Axolotlsx5   In reference to Message Id: 2093739


 Humidity

she was doing great till i put her in a bigger cage
11/09/09  04:31pm

 #2093757


87rx7chick
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   Message To: Axolotlsx5   In reference to Message Id: 2093741


 Humidity

takes time to get usto new cages. especially if they are big. they might not feel safe. may take 2-4 weeks or so to adjust.
11/09/09  05:06pm

 #2093813


Rocker18
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   Message To: 87rx7chick   In reference to Message Id: 2093757


 Humidity

yea my water dragons took a while to get used to their giant home made enclosure eddy was hiding for the first week behind a plant. i had to get him out. and it also better that the cage has little ventalation but enough to give fresh air and not just air to breathe.



11/09/09  07:36pm


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