DIY Reptibreeze XL Service Door Upgrade

[naterowley]

Hi everyone,

Since @DeremensisBlue shared in a video that they sometimes block off part of the service door on enclosures to help with night time humidity. I decided to do a trial ru before trying out my idea for a permanent solution. I did a test run using corrugated plastic leaving an inch or so opening for airflow, I tested this for 2 days and the results have been wonderful for my daytime humidity staying near 65% instead of 50% and my night time reaching 90-95% instead of 70-75 I was getting! I did not change anything for my hydration schedule.

Here is a photo of my test setup

Here is the results comparing a day without and with

So now that I’m happy with the results I wanted to make it pretty and match my reptibreeze XL hybrid conversion. I have 3 sides covered in white corrugated plastic sheets doubled sided taped to the enclosure with the screen cut out of the door and replaced with acrylic that was attached with clear doubled sided tape and now the service door bottom blocked with acrylic leaving an 1.5” gap on the top of the service door to allow airflow

I used outdoor rated doubled sided tape and also threshold tape to help with drafts on openings to outline the top and bottom to make it look nice and pretty

I am SO HAPPY with how nice it looks!! I have a spare cage with another service door I could always swap out if needed.

Bonus shot of Dax tolerating me before his evening mist cycle which I let him know it’s coming with fogging 15 min before the misting starts

edit: The daytime humidity is higher than listed on care sheets, the gap is now larger than when I tested and I have a fan on standby as well in case it doesn’t settle. The enclosure did dry out both days completely so with the larger gap and the drying out, the numbers should be closer to in range. I will update the thread with my findings.

 

[Beman]

But your daytime humidity is now too high. Panthers should be in a 40-50% range for daytime. Gonna wanna tweak your misting schedule in the am so it is not adding moisture that keeps the humidity higher than recommended. Also make sure the cage is drying out during the day with the reduced air flow.

 

[naterowley]

But your daytime humidity is now too high. Panthers should be in a 40-50% range for daytime. Gonna wanna tweak your misting schedule in the am so it is not adding moisture that keeps the humidity higher than recommended. Also make sure the cage is drying out during the day with the reduced air flow.

The gap is now larger than when I tested and I have a fan on standby as well in case it doesn’t settle. The enclosure did dry out both days completely too. Thanks for the heads up, I did consider this and will be monitoring regularly

 

[Lindasjackson]

That picture with the fogging, is that during the day or at night? You shouldn’t be fogging during the day when temps are high, it can cause an RI.

 

[naterowley]

That picture with the fogging, is that during the day or at night? You shouldn’t be fogging during the day when temps are high, it can cause an RI.

The heat is off, this is the pre lights off mist that’s 30 mins before bedtime the fogging starts 5 min before the misting session to give a warning to him that mist is coming

Thanks for looking out

 

[Lindasjackson]

Temps should be 67F or below before fogging.

 

[Beman]

Temps should be 67F or below before fogging.

He knows... It is a short warning that the mist is coming. By trigging the fog first for a short period of time. You do this in a certain way but basking has been kicked off to reduce temps in the cage leaving only T5 running for light. It is a method Bill teaches.

 

[naterowley]

I’ve been and still have been experimenting with different lengths of time for the fans running and so far the timing of running the fans from 11a-6p (left side of graph) it gets me the whole range which was the goal. I get now much higher night time humidity and get the day time dry out with that 40-50 range sweet spot.

Towards the end of the graph you can my results of running 3 hours. Different amounts of humidity. The cage dried out completely on the 3 hour and 7 hour run time.

I’m still looking for a good blend of dry out while not getting too low. I did want to update the thread with my results so far!

To note this is with 2x 80mm fans blowing upwards pulling air from the enclosure this is on the high setting.

Amazon Link to Fans

 

[Lindasjackson]

He knows... It is a short warning that the mist is coming. By trigging the fog first for a short period of time. You do this in a certain way but basking has been kicked off to reduce temps in the cage leaving only T5 running for light. It is a method Bill teaches.

Oh, ok. I’ve never heard of this method. Guess I need to start watching more of Bills videos again.