Thanks roo, I was hoping maybe for some special tips
Well in regards to misting/hydration, just pay really good attention to the enclosure and how often the chams drink. And as the article mentions, the home environment and outside weather play a huge role in how often I mist and for how long. NOTHING is set it and forget it – but I do have routines – just not rigid ones. You constantly need to pay attention to things.
If the chams are drinking every time you mist then you aren’t misting enough at each session – or temps are too warm.
If foliage is wet prior to the next misting then you are misting too much. Give the foliage/cage adornments time to dry off before next misting.
If the substrate is bone dry then you aren’t misting enough. Substrate should be somewhat damp at all times – but not necessarily throughout the enclosure. A few dry spots is ok.
If you start seeing shrooms pop up then you are either misting too much or the tank isn’t getting good air flow. I use 2 oscillating fans in my pygmy room. One is waist level to stir up the air in the lower tanks and other is elevated for tanks on the higher shelves of the racks. Air flow is SUPER important - especially since most of us use tanks and not screen cages for pygmy chams.
An enclosure too wet can also create blooms of bacteria which should be avoided. Pill bugs and springtails, to a certain extent, will help keep the enclosure cleaner then without them.
What helps is that misting pump I use that was mentioned in the article. It really allows me to control how much water I put into the tanks. You can get them at Big Apple Herp (google it). It’s a really fine mist which is well tolerated by the chams.
I’ve been working with pygmies for just over 2 years straight I still make mistakes with misting on the occasion. Maintaining the proper environment is the trickiest thing about them and comparing their setups to my true chams, they take much work and I need to pay closer attention to them. Since I have a drainage system, a simpler setup, and an all screen cages for my true chams, their enclosure can’t really get out of hand like a pygmy one can.
You can use gravel ($$$ / heavy) – or something else other then hydroton. I can see hydroton being difficult to find. If there are any nurseries that specialize in orchids, then they should have it. You could probably get it online too – it isn’t super heavy stuff but the box it gets shipped in may be on the large size.
-roo
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