humidity issues

[Cherryhead Noob]

We just can't get the humidity up in our enclosure as much as we try. We have a 2' wide X 3' long X 18" high terrarium lined with 2" of cypress mulch with a top layer of sphagnum moss in 2/3 of the tank, with a mister that runs for 5 mins in the morning, and 1 minute every hour during the day and off at night. We have a large 150 W UVA bulb, and 150 W ceramic heater and a 18W under pad heater (see pic). It took all those things to bring the temp up to 90F. However, our humidity only hovers around 48-55% at best. We have covered off the top of the tank as best as possible with plexiglass, but still trying to keep good airflow. Instead the water goes in and pools under the cypress mulch. We live in a cold basement dry basement.

We are at a loss, and don't know what to do get the humidity up...any ideas?

 

[jeffbens0n]

It sounds like you are doing just about everything right. My only suggestions would be to maybe get a few live potted plants and keep them wet, plants help keep up humidity. And also to stir the cypress mulch daily to keep it all moist since the water will naturally drain through the mulch and be wetter underneath. Good luck!

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Tom:

Get rid of that indoor/outdoor carpeting and put in some actual substrate. Cypress mulch or orchid bark are my choices. But even clean dirt or topsoil would be good.

 

[Cherryhead Noob]

Hi Tom:

Get rid of that indoor/outdoor carpeting and put in some actual substrate. Cypress mulch or orchid bark are my choices. But even clean dirt or topsoil would be good.

Will do! Does everything else look ok? Should we be misting more?

 

[Yvonne G]

Its a nice-looking habitat. Misting more would help with the humidity, but some plants like was suggested above go a long way towards keeping it humid too.

 

[Balboa]

Many of us know your pain. Sometimes 50% is all the better you can do in certain situations. More substrate and plants as previously mentioned will help, and maybe more hides. These will create more humid microclimates that the torts will hopefully exploit when they need them.

90 is a bit high for ambient, so hopefully you mean basking temp. In the pic your torts don't look like they're hiding out, so that's a good sign on temps.

Personally, I've never been able to hit decent humidity levels without a humidifier, other folks seem to pull it off. Good luck.

 

[Madkins007]

Heck, I can solve this problem for you in a rather simple way-

Get one of these: http://www.bigappleherp.com/Big-Apple-Flexible-Heat-Ropes or a good under tank heater, and a thermostatic control, like http://www.bigappleherp.com/REPTILE-SUPPLIES/Thermostats . Install as per instructions, and add a couple inches of cypress mulch over the entire enclosure. Water the cypress daily to get the bottom half or so nice and damp.

This way, the water puddling at the bottom of the tank gets heated up and rises as warm humidity.

The 'typical way'- with heat and humidity coming from above, makes a chimney effect and all the nice warm humid air rises right up and out any top openings. Water that does get to the bottom tends to stay there since the top heat does not penetrate the insulating wood chips to warm it up.

The bottom heating method works great for indoor habitats. My Tortarium is usually fogged over from the high humidity even though you can feel hot humid air rising up out of the top openings.

 

[Cherryhead Noob]

Heck, I can solve this problem for you in a rather simple way-

Get one of these: http://www.bigappleherp.com/Big-Apple-Flexible-Heat-Ropes or a good under tank heater, and a thermostatic control, like http://www.bigappleherp.com/REPTILE-SUPPLIES/Thermostats . Install as per instructions, and add a couple inches of cypress mulch over the entire enclosure. Water the cypress daily to get the bottom half or so nice and damp.

This way, the water puddling at the bottom of the tank gets heated up and rises as warm humidity.

The 'typical way'- with heat and humidity coming from above, makes a chimney effect and all the nice warm humid air rises right up and out any top openings. Water that does get to the bottom tends to stay there since the top heat does not penetrate the insulating wood chips to warm it up.

The bottom heating method works great for indoor habitats. My Tortarium is usually fogged over from the high humidity even though you can feel hot humid air rising up out of the top openings.

So we have the XL rainforest reptimat underneath our tank...which we bought new off the web, maybe its a dud? When we touch it, the glass in that area isn't really hot, just kind of warm. So to remedy this we got the ceramic heater, but that only heats up the top part, still causing the water to pool.

 

[DaveTheDadHaileeTheDaughter]

Have you checked the devise your measuring the humidity with for accuracy? I use 4 different temp/humidity gauges and they all read differently, I have one that cost 4 bucks and it reads pretty much right on with the other two, and one that cost 30 bucks and it reads almost 15% lower than the other three for humidity.

 

[Cherryhead Noob]

Thank you all for the advice, we have already put some into play and have seen an instant increase in humidity up to 56%, we just now need to find ways to maintain it. We found that tossing the mulch worked the fastest and the best so far.

Cheers!

 

[Madkins007]

Undertank pads loose a lot of there heat in the process, which is why I prefer the ropes. You also need to cover most of the bottom to get the right effect. A small 'warm' area is not really enough.

It works so well that I water my habitat in the morning and the humidity is still high enough when I go to bed to condense on all of the walls of the habitat. I am in Omaha, and the room they are in is a bit cool and dry, but the habitat is warm and wet.

Another benefit of the rope is relatively low energy use.