Warm or Cool Humidifier?

I just purchased Mulberry (4 month male veiled) a new 36 18 18 cage, a big upgrade from his glass tank (with a screen lid). I am in college in New Hampshire and live in an apartment, which is quite dry (especially now that the heat is always on).

I have been planning on getting a humidifier for my own personal use but also to keep Mulb's cage humid enough for him. I just read a thread where it mentioned using a "cool mist" humidifier. Is this better than using a warm mist one?


I will post pics of his new set up once I get it next week, but it is from LLL Reptiles and I also purchased the small Ficus plant so that he will have a live plant to hang out in!

Thanks for the help!

I use a cool mist humidifier. I used to have a warm mist one and it seemed to put out really hot steam and was messy with water/moisture getting everywhere. This was before I had chameleons - I got the cool mist one specifically for them. I'm very happy with it.

Depending the humidity I use one or two of those animal looking cool mist humidifiers in the cham room....they work well and are inexpensive you can usually pick them up at Target.

The "warm" mist ones seem to blow out lava quality steam. I couldn't hold my hand in front of it for more than a few seconds so I didn't want that anywhere near my chams. Mine blows directly into the cages so I was worried they could be burned by it. Elsewhere in the room it might be okay, although it will raise the temperature, but it might make the room intolerable for you...

Cool mist is best!

Thanks for the advice so far! I live in a fairly small bedroom and I want to keep my whole room a bit more humid because I am suffering with the dry air as well.

So is it best to get a cool air one and have it pointed at him? Or a warm air one if it's kept farther away? Or just a cool air one, because cool air ones are better?

Again, thanks so much for the helpful advice!

I would suggest a cool one. It doesn't blow out cold air, it's just not hot air. A warm one is going to make your room muggy and warm, which is not very comfortable.

I have a sharper image warm / cool mist humidifier, and the temperature it puts out steam isn't hot, it's luke warm

I feel as if after a long tropic shower when the mist is created from the sun the temperature isn't cool, it's luke warm... i try to keep things as natural as possible, if you are looking for one i'd reccomend that one since it does it perfectly and puts out a poop load of mist.

I love having the fog creep over the plants creates a cool jungle vibe

mullberrysdream said:

Thanks for the advice so far! I live in a fairly small bedroom and I want to keep my whole room a bit more humid because I am suffering with the dry air as well.

So is it best to get a cool air one and have it pointed at him? Or a warm air one if it's kept farther away? Or just a cool air one, because cool air ones are better?

Again, thanks so much for the helpful advice!

Click to expand...

IMHO, part of the confusion is in the names the manufacturers use to describe the humidifiers. The key is more HOW they humidify the air. A "warm" mist unit heats the water to create steam...that's the mist it produces, and as the steam cools it condenses and raises the humidity. It is also known as a vaporiser. Avoid that one!!!

A "cool" mist unit uses high frequency vibration to create water vapor fine enough to float (nebulizing)...the resulting mist humidifies the air as it evaporates. The temperature of the mist is lukewarm, cool, etc. The water does get a little warm just from being nebulized, but it won't be too warm for a cham.

I prefer "cool" mist types for several reasons...they are safer for the plants and the chams because they won't scald, they are not boiling water over and over and probably last longer because they operate at lower temps. They don't boil dry, overheat, and risk burning anything.

If you're in a relatively small room and there is no forced air ventilation that recirculates air throughout the apartment then a "warm mist" humidifier might be best. The main concern with this type is the discharge temp of the moisture vapor. If placed away from the enclosure it should be sufficient to raise relative humidity in the entire room without risk of scalding.

The concern with "cool mist" humidifiers is bacteria can grow on internal components and then become aerosolized. If you go this route then be sure to be very diligent with cleaning the unit (weekly). This type is probably best when the room size is too large to increase humidity throughout the space and the discharge is directed into or near the enclosure.

Really - both types would work fine but neither is perfect. Understand the concerns then decide which risk is easiest for you to control.

You can get really cute ones! I have one that looks like a dragon and the steam comes out of the nostrils...

Just a quick question,

would it be better for me to have a warm-air humidifier as opposed to a cool-mist one? I have a fairly small room which I can keep fairly warm with a heater for my lil guy, but I don't know if I should be running both at once.

If I have the heater running, the humidity stays at around 30 + (still winter up here in Canada). But with the cool-mist humidifier, it bumped up the humidity to around 40 - 45+. Only problem is the temp goes down to 75 without the heater on! Any suggestions on what I should do?

I use the warm mist. I keep it in the room away from all animals to be humidified. The room stays warmer, too. I ditched my cool mist. The gunk that collects on the filter/wick is disgusting and quess what's being put into the air? All the nasties in the filter. Mold spores, bacteria, and God knows what else. The warm mist i have also includes a UV light that is supposed to remove like 100% of the nasties. Here;s a link to the one I got. http://www.iallergy.com/product169/product_info.html
I like it a lot. The added heat from the steam is great for my mantid I keep as well.

chameleonlady89 said:

Just a quick question,

would it be better for me to have a warm-air humidifier as opposed to a cool-mist one? I have a fairly small room which I can keep fairly warm with a heater for my lil guy, but I don't know if I should be running both at once.

If I have the heater running, the humidity stays at around 30 + (still winter up here in Canada). But with the cool-mist humidifier, it bumped up the humidity to around 40 - 45+. Only problem is the temp goes down to 75 without the heater on! Any suggestions on what I should do?

Click to expand...

What are the temps with the heater on? The difference you are seeing might be due to temperature not the actual quantity of moisture in the air. Relative humidity is "relative" to the air temperature. It is expressed as a % based on the ammount of moisture air can hold at a given temperature.

A way to look at it: consider the higher temps as a 12 ounce cup and the cooler temps as an 8 ounce cup. Fill each cup with 4 ounces of water and the 12 ounce cup (warm air) is 33% full and the 8 ounce cup (cool air) is 50%full. Same ammount of water but different percent based on capacity.

Anytime you increase the temps you will decrease relative humidity and if you decrease temps you will increase relative humidity. Consider first setting the temperature where you want it then play with the humidifiers to get the humidity level you want. The warm air one might help in both ways by providing heat and moisture.

Be careful in the northern climate; if you get relative humidity too high it could cause condensation on exterior surfaces in the room. That's not good.