Proper humidity with/out a misting system.

Crashbandit05

Avid Member
Good afternoon everyone at CF. I received an "Acu-rite" indoor/outdoor digital temperature/humidity reader for Xmas. It appears to very accurate to within a degree when I checked my local weather conditions. I have a digital temp gun coming in the mail..

According to the display, my bedroom (where the cham will be living) stays at about 70% humidity. I just took a nice shower and it jumped up to 83% and has slowly started to decrease. I have an analog temp/agrometer that is pretty unreliable up to a certain temp/humidity that will go in the enclosure just for shits and giggles.

My question is, will a dripper, live plant, and my daily/morning showers be enough to not have to run a mistking? I will obviously buy one if needed but that 130$ could go towards other cham expensives. I would hand mist first thing in morning and again in the evening. Thanks for any feedback!
 
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Here is the digital reader just for visuals.
 

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I would think as long as your consistent with your misting's it would merely be a question of convenience. I personally love the convenience of a fully automated system. Makes life so much easer, and I think it was more than worth the money. Buts that's me. You might consider a Climist Cyclone haven't owned one but they look identical to the MistKing for about $40.00 cheaper.http://www.ebay.com/itm/CliMist-Cyc...674798?hash=item3aa012922e:g:3KwAAOSw1vlUt49-
 
What species are we talking about? Montane species need more humidity and water. Calyptratus will tolerate less humidity and water. Panthers are in between.
 
I would think as long as your consistent with your misting's it would merely be a question of convenience. I personally love the convenience of a fully automated system. Makes life so much easer, and I think it was more than worth the money. Buts that's me. You might consider a Climist Cyclone haven't owned one but they look identical to the MistKing for about $40.00 cheaper.http://www.ebay.com/itm/CliMist-Cyc...674798?hash=item3aa012922e:g:3KwAAOSw1vlUt49-
Ok thanks, I have seen the climist system grow in popularity.. I still have several months before I get the cham so who knows what else I'll buy.
 
What species are we talking about? Montane species need more humidity and water. Calyptratus will tolerate less humidity and water. Panthers are in between.
I haven't gotten a cham yet, but am highly leaning towards panthers. Unless another species would do better for my particular environment
 
You will still need to mist or shower your cham regularly even if you don't have an automatic mister. This helps to encourage them to rinse and clean out their eye turrets. Some chams may not use a dripper at all, and some need the misting to trigger them to drink. It's good to make a plan, but sometimes the chams don't listen! I'd still handmist at least once a day (preferably twice), and shower the cham weekly if you aren't going to run an automatic mister.
 
Will they be okay if the humidity never drops below 70%?

I found that this basically stopped the cage drying out in between mistings
 
Will they be okay if the humidity never drops below 70%?

I found that this basically stopped the cage drying out in between mistings
You should let the enclosure dry out in between misting's, or you could have mold issues. Most plants wont do to well in that moist of an environment. And most importantly your cham could get an upper respiratory infection.
 
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Here are the sections of the Panther care sheet that are relevant to your initial questions.

Humidity:
Humidity is an important aspect of chameleon husbandry. Panther chameleons require levels around 50-70%, which can be achieved by several misting sessions a day over all areas of the cage. Live plants help increase and maintain humidity. Sometimes a cool mist humidifier or timer-controlled misting system is needed. See Water & Humidity for more information.

Hydration & Misting
The cage should be misted at least twice a day, drying out completely between misting sessions. This raises relative humidity as well as stimulates your chameleon to want to drink. Water can be provided by means of a dripper (not a waterfall or water bowl). The dripper should be placed on top of the cage so that the water droplets drip down and accumulate on plant leaves. Other watering options include manual and automated misting sytems. Chameleons do not recognize standing water as a drinking source. See Water & Humidityfor more information.

Best of luck!
 
Here are the sections of the Panther care sheet that are relevant to your initial questions.

Humidity:
Humidity is an important aspect of chameleon husbandry. Panther chameleons require levels around 50-70%, which can be achieved by several misting sessions a day over all areas of the cage. Live plants help increase and maintain humidity. Sometimes a cool mist humidifier or timer-controlled misting system is needed. See Water & Humidity for more information.

Hydration & Misting
The cage should be misted at least twice a day, drying out completely between misting sessions. This raises relative humidity as well as stimulates your chameleon to want to drink. Water can be provided by means of a dripper (not a waterfall or water bowl). The dripper should be placed on top of the cage so that the water droplets drip down and accumulate on plant leaves. Other watering options include manual and automated misting sytems. Chameleons do not recognize standing water as a drinking source. See Water & Humidityfor more information.

Best of luck!
I understand all of that, thanks... I guess my question is;

Because of the constant 70% humidity, will I have to find a way to lower it so the cham doesn't get a uri or other possible health issues. I imagine that higher humidity is better than lower..? I also have taken into consideration that we (western NC) have not had a legit winter yet.. So the current outside temp/humidity is more like fall/autumn weather.

This is why I'm waiting til spring to get my cham so I can make sure all aspects of husbandry is correct. I would hate to spend $300 on a cham only to have it get sick because of too much humidity (for example).
Sorry for the long posts. I like to be as detailed as possible and try to consider all angles of potential issues..
 
My enclosure hardly ever drops below 65% and mine dries out between misting's. Where you live I don't think you'll have much of an issue of too much humidity especially in the winter months with the dry heat. As long as things can dry out between misting's you should be fine. But by some slim chance you do you could always use a small computer fan to draw the humidity up, and out. Hope this helped.:)
 
My enclosure hardly ever drops below 65% and mine dries out between misting's. Where you live I don't think you'll have much of an issue of too much humidity especially in the winter months with the dry heat. As long as things can dry out between misting's you should be fine. But by some slim chance you do you could always use a small computer fan to draw the humidity up, and out. Hope this helped.:)
Thank you! We are supposed to get snow beginning of January, so I'll monitor temp/humidity and play around with how I can maintain good temps and such.
 
In the summer where I live the ambient humidity can get up to 90% or more. I use a small room fan to move the air around; The air circulation will help the cage dry out. Another option is using a small dehumidifier in the room (not in the cage!). I've got one from Walmart for $60- probably the least amount of money I've spent on my cham lol- and it drops the humidity by about 10%.

Based on advice I got on this forum, high humidity is fine as long as you have proper air circulation. Madagascar can get pretty humid! Constant 90% is an issue for pneumonia, for sure, but an occasional week - ten days or so of high humidity isn't going to send your cham into a tailspin unless they were already on their way down.

Also, make sure your hygrometer is accurate and calibrated! You can calibrate it by placing a teaspoon of salt in a bottlecap or small cup and dampening it with a few small drops of water (don't dissolve it!). Place the damp salt and the hygrometer inside a small clear, air-tight container (I use freezer bags; just make sure they seal well). Make sure you leave air inside. Let it sit for at least 6-8 hours and record the reading on your hygrometer without opening the container. The hygrometer should read 75%. If it doesn't, take note of the difference. For example, if your hygrometer reads 82%, then you know you will have to subtract 7% off any reading it makes to get an accurate number.
 
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