help me with humidity pleasee

[dakotakleiner]

Ok I have two live plants in the tank a warm mist humidifier in the room and I mist three to five times a day and the humidity always drops to 35% or below some one please give us many suggestions.....its an all screen enclosure.... I'm thinking about buying a cool mist humidifier and pumping it directly in the cage for an hour three times a day....but then again it'll drp to 35% or below and I'm not finding this healthy or fun for my veiled cham.

 

[pssh]

Veileds can handle it that low, but it may be helpful to use a shower curtain on two-three sides of the cage.

What are you using to measure himidity?

 

[RPCV]

There are a number of variables that are going to influence whether or not you can sustain higher relative humidity including room size with respect to the ammount of moisture vapor being kicked out by the humidifier and ventilation rates if you have a forced air system in the room.

If you're in a northern climate and you are heating your place trying to increase the Rh in a whole room would be a challenge and could lead to other problems such as condensation.

Best bet is trying to reduce the air volume you are trying to humidify (pieces of shower curtains would be a great idea).

 

[Carlton]

I'm thinking about buying a cool mist humidifier and pumping it directly in the cage for an hour three times a day

Welcome to winter cham keeping in the USA!

Depending on the model and design of the cool mist humidifier you can attach a hose or pvc pipe to the spout and direct the fog into the cage through an opening in the screen (if you don't make an opening the fog will just condense on the screen and drip). Don't seal every connection permanently as you'll need to take it apart for cleaning periodically. Many of us do something like this. You'll probably find you won't need to run it for an hour each cycle. They are pretty effective. If you can, put the humidifier up above the cage. The mist will be heavier than air and will flow down rather than up. This, and adding some plastic sheeting or shower curtains will really help. You do want the cage to dry out somewhat for part of the day so mold won't develop. What you want is to create cycles of high and lower humidity (such as in mid morning and mid afternoon) rather than one constant level.

 

[jampen]

I cut contractor grade, black plastic trash bags on all sides of our screened enclosure and have a warm mist humidifier in front (see pics). With a MistKing mister setup with two nozzles spraying 6 times a day, for two minutes each cycle, my levels range between 30% and 50%

I think as long as the central heat is on in our house, the humidity will stay low.

We live in North central Texas.

 

[dakotakleiner]

I'm reading my humidity with an exo-terra combo digital read out. I'm thinking its starting to give me some b.s numbers but its also kind of bundled up in some fake leaves that dry up quick...I'm going to try and adjust it and seal some sides off tomorrow and start getting in the routine of the morning dew and before night dew and having some dry time in between thanks guys

 

[Brad Ramsey]

You are worrying too much about humidity.
The enclosure needs to dry out and stay that way most of the time. This will never happen if you keep pumping water saturated air into it.
2 or 3 mistings a day or once a day and a dripper is all you need.
I do not use a humidifier and I live in Colorado and have 5 species of montanes in addition to all the veileds.
Get water into the animal and you're golden, keep the cage wet and you're inviting any number of problems including respiratory infections and coccidia.

-Brad

 

[draetish]

I'm so glad somebody finally cleared this up. As mentioned in almost all threads concerning husbandry, humidity, humidity, humidity. So is 30% okay as long as you have a drip and mist?

 

[Brad Ramsey]

Absolutely.
Just make sure he has lots of opportunities to drink.
We definitely run lower than that here.

-Brad

 

[Brad Ramsey]

It occurs to me that I need to be really clear on this topic.
I am not suggesting that humidity is not important and with many species higher levels are crucial, although I have had good luck with some montanes at lower levels.
My cristatus and pygmys are in glass or 1/2 glass to keep humidity higher, but the Jackson's, deremensis and montium are all in screen cages with two mistings a day and access to a dripper.
Same with the veileds.
I prefer the humidity levels we have here because I don't battle mold, fungus, coccidia etc.
A warm wet environment is very inviting to many undesirables, allowing enclosures to completely dry out between any misting sessions and controlling a supply of clean drinking water (a dripper with a water catch vessel below or a good drainage set-up) is in my opinion the way to go .... certainly with a veiled.
Relative humidity created from having enclosures that are densely planted with live plants is preferable to spraying a bunch of water in the cage.

-Brad

 

[sandrachameleon]

I do somewhat agree with Brad that ensuring ample drinking water is key, especially if you're humdity is low. I dont agree that 30% on a regular basis is fine. Id be concerned about shedding.

Personally, I wouldnt want my panthers to experience humidity below 35% for very long or very often. I wouldnt want ME to experience humidity at 30% or lower very often either! Hurts my skin! I prefer 40% for me, and for the chameleons 40% as the low and 90% during mistings. Most of the time my cages are around 45%.

Ok I have two live plants in the tank a warm mist humidifier in the room and I mist three to five times a day and the humidity always drops to 35% or below some one please give us many suggestions.....its an all screen enclosure.... I'm thinking about buying a cool mist humidifier and pumping it directly in the cage for an hour three times a day....but then again it'll drp to 35% or below and I'm not finding this healthy or fun for my veiled cham.

Here are some ways to increase humidity that might help the OP:

Buy a second, quality digital hygrometer humidity gauge. Maybe what yours is reading is off.

Keep your cham in a smaller room, so that the humidifier you already have is able to keep up with the demand.

Dont use a screen cage, or use solid surfaces on three sides, to help retain moisture from plants and misting longer.

More frequent misting, maybe with an automated system. You dont want damp and standing water all the time - branches should dry between mistings. Doesnt seem like thats a problem for the OP.

Put more live plants in the same room, near the cage.

Keep fish or hermit crabs or anything else that lives in a tank of dampness nearby.

Put a bowl of water, with a sponge sticking up in the middle (half in water, half in air), near the cage. Similar to having an aquarium, the water will evaporate into the air. This really only helps if the room is smallish.

There are humidity humidistat systems you can have added to your furance /ac system that can make the whole house a nicer humidity, keeping it around 40% (or 37 or 41, whatever you prefer). Note: You dont want your house 50% or higher on a regular basis, any more than you want it 20% or below. And the humidity of your house should be guided by the outside humidity and temp - too big a different between indoors and outdoors can lead to condensation, which you dont want.

 

[dakotakleiner]

Thanks for all that you helped a lot I'm cutting the humidifier off......and I do allow the cage to dry fully before misting again

 

[dakotakleiner]

Ok so about three hours ago I. Sealed off the back of the cage and the side with plastic wrap not completely sealed I sprayed the cage after and three hours later the cage would normally be dropping intp the low 30sso now its dropping into the low 50s I'm going to let the cage dry out a few more bhours and I'm going to spray it again.....and take some results brad I understand ur concern for unwanted things growingbut normally an hour after spraying my cage its usually completely dried out and the humidity is really low and he's having difficulty shedding? I've been running the humidifier in my room for the past two weeks and the average is 30% and below.....I'm discontiuning the use of the warm mist humidifier and planning on a misiting system I have the misting tees I just need a pump and after that I think I'll be fine with humidity

 

[RPCV]

This appears to be a topic with many opinions. I'm in the process of setting up my first enclosure and humidity control is what I'm working on today. The breeder who I'll be buying from and some on this site have indicated that I could get by with frequent mistings, a dripper and heavy planting in a screen enclosure (even though I'm in the Chicago area). Others have me inching towards the door to run out and buy a humidifier.

I suppose the best approach will be to monitor Rh levels with the set up I have then modify as needed. If it starts out too low (a week or so while adjustments are made) would this be a problem for a baby Panther?

 

[sandrachameleon]

...I suppose the best approach will be to monitor Rh levels with the set up I have then modify as needed.

Yes Set up the cage in advance of getting the chameleon, and then water and heat the cage just as you plan to when you have a chameleon. Monitor the temp and humidity, make your adjustments, and then by the time you get the chameleon you'll know what you need to do.

note: Babies dehydrate faster than adults.
How young is the baby you are getting? If its older than 6 months, it will handle short term inadequacies much better than one that is 3 months old.

 

[RPCV]

Getting a 3 month old. Just decided I'm going to set it up in a 29 gal. glass enclosure so humidity should not be a problem. By the time the little guy is old enough to move to his larger screen cage winter will be over and humidity will be next year's problem.

 

[dakotakleiner]

Becareful with a glass enclosure like me and brad where talking about if moisture and warmth builds up in there you'll grow mold and bacteria that can get your chameleon sick

 

[ISkylerI]

my humidity stays at 84-85 without misting why?

 

[DragonLady]

I keep all my chams in a small third bedroom. I mist heavily in the morning before I leave for work, and in the evening when I get home from work. I also leave a half full dripper over each cage when I leave. I shut the heat vent off, and run a warm mist humidifier. I also leave the ceiling fan running to distribute the warm mist better. My husband checks the humidity around noon, and if it is above 60% he will turn the humidifier off. And yes, it falls lower, but never drops below 40-45%. You might try running a fan with the humidifier to distribute the warm mist better. Good luck.

 

[draetish]

It is said that more plants more humidity. Call me dumb but is it the wet soil that gives off the humidity or the water evaporating off the leaves? I'm thinking in the summer when you have a morning shower and the sun comes out it gets really muggy. Is this the humidity coming from the plants or the hot concrete?