Husbandry Questions

This one is for all you guys living in Florida/Texas/Arizona etc or any hot and humid part of this world for that matter.

During summer when temps are known to ease past the 100F mark what do you'll do?? Well offcourse, you have your chams indoors but then how do you handle stuff like humidity and temps. Temps can be controlled with an A/C but would'nt that alter humidity levels in the room?? These questions may only apply to those keeping montanes.

Here in the Middle East, it nudges at the 120 mark in direct sunlight while under shade it reaches 110. Yeah its hot.

I've read about you guys keeping ambient temps at 72-75 but does that mean you'll have the A/c on continuously?? I keep mine on most of the day except during early morning in order to give it a rest. Thats about 2 hours of rest. To maintain high humidity levels as I care for a rudis, I mist the enclosure regularly which is about 5-6 times a day depending on the hydrometer reading. It has worked out fine till now, but i want to know what you'll do to overcome these hurdles.

The lowest it reaches ambient is 75 and thats when the A/C is on and when off it is around 78-82 ambient.

Melea gets her basking light turned on only during miday for about 3-4 hours.
She seems to be thriving, and even when the temps reach 85 occasionally it does'nt seem to faze her. Probably acclimatized to the conditions.

I must also note that during winter i keep her outdoors where the temps range from around 70-80 daytime and below 55 during night. Perfect conditions imo. Ahh...the lovely outdoors. Not so lovely during summer though.

Well, I don't live in a southern state. However, the next several months here will be in the low 90's and night times will be mid 70's. That's no where close to your temps. but I keep most my collection inside. Also, yes most people run their A/C 24/7 and use a programable thermostat and it does zap away humidity. To keep humidity indoors you can add a humidifier to help.

In your part of the world you probably do not have basements. Here we are fortunate enough to have basements, and the floors and walls are concrete. My basement is always 60% humidity or higher, and even with A/C on and set at 76 deg. F, my basement stays at 60 degrees at night and 72 during the day.

I use a repti-fogger for my 6 foot tall enclosure. It is quite efficient and in-expensive. It also looks peaceful.

If you have a fully screened enclosure, I have heard of some people partially covering one - three sides of the cage with something like foam to keep humidity in. But of course you still want to have it well-ventilated, especially at the top where they hang out. At repticon, I was told that they have come out with the foam backgrounds in much larger sizes. Like this >http://www.reptilesupply.com/product.php?products_id=1565 but only larger. Hopefully those will be easy to find soon.

You may want to try a weaker basking bulb. You can also try a fan around the cage when the a/c is off.

Good Luck.

Well I'll try to describe what I do and how I do it for my quads...

First I try to keep temps below 75F during the day. 72 is about what it is normally.
At night I try to drop the temps to about 68F.

I use a 2 cool mist humidifiers to help with humidity.
The first one is used like normal to help with the room's humidity...it is on almost always.
The next one is used with PVC pipe to directly humidify the cages. This is on a timer and turns on 2 times during the day for about an hour each time.
It also runs about 10 mins twice at night.

Humidity will always be an issue as well as temps for you even in the winter.
So remember that you still need to mist 3-5 times a day as well.

I would think twice before getting a montane in such a low humidity, high temp area such as Dubai.
But if you can have a room just for them with the correct temps and humidity then go for it.

I hope this helped.

Harry

up in canada, humidity is a big issue in the winter with the heat blasing dry air throughout the house. i use a shower curtain on 2/3 of the enclosure to trap some humidity. i also use large pots for my plants & always keep the top of the soil moist. my mister goes off 5 times a day for about 5 minutes at a time. all of these factors help to achive the desired humidity.

warpdrive said:

Well I'll try to describe what I do and how I do it for my quads...

First I try to keep temps below 75F during the day. 72 is about what it is normally.
At night I try to drop the temps to about 68F.

I use a 2 cool mist humidifiers to help with humidity.
The first one is used like normal to help with the room's humidity...it is on almost always.
The next one is used with PVC pipe to directly humidify the cages. This is on a timer and turns on 2 times during the day for about an hour each time.
It also runs about 10 mins twice at night.

Humidity will always be an issue as well as temps for you even in the winter.
So remember that you still need to mist 3-5 times a day as well.

I would think twice before getting a montane in such a low humidity, high temp area such as Dubai.
But if you can have a room just for them with the correct temps and humidity then go for it.

I hope this helped.

Harry

Click to expand...

I agree its hot as hell, but the humidity here during summer is in the upper 70's and only drops to the 40's during winter. Humidity remains high as I live close to the coast. If i try to get some of this humidity into my room by opening the window, I'm greeted with a hot blast of air during summer...

Off to get a humidifier/fogger. Used to have one but it spoilt and I though that it produced smoke, so i did'nt bother to buy another. It'll be helpful when i start uni and when I'm busy.

And yeah, we dont have basements on this side...

Thanks for the suggestions.

Oh, I also cover the sides and the back of my screen cages with TOWELS...not plastic like most people recommend.
Towels will help soak up the extra water while you mist and keep the moisture right where it gets wet to help with humidity as it gets dry.

Plastic sheets can't do that as the water drips to the bottom.

Harry

weezyboi94 said:

I agree its hot as hell, but the humidity here during summer is in the upper 70's and only drops to the 40's during winter. Humidity remains high as I live close to the coast. If i try to get some of this humidity into my room by opening the window, I'm greeted with a hot blast of air during summer...

Off to get a humidifier/fogger. Used to have one but it spoilt and I though that it produced smoke, so i did'nt bother to buy another. It'll be helpful when i start uni and when I'm busy.

And yeah, we dont have basements on this side...

Thanks for the suggestions.

Click to expand...

In the summer I have about 70% - 90% humidity.
With the AC running, that drops my humidity down to about 50%...not enough for my quads.
I could see you opening a window in the winter, but not the summer months.

Again, be prepared to buy two humidifiers.
One for the room, and one for the cage(s).

Harry