just got my T. Blondi

Shox

Arachnosquire
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so, last night i was preping my tank (90 gallon as discussed b4)...and i got the humidity up to 85%, and there were plenty of dry areas (i.e. dirt that wasn't even moistened with a spray bottle etc) for it.


this morning the humidity droped to 60%, and so wet down sum more substrate (8 inches of pure topsoil, 4 inches of sphagnum moss and topsoil, at a 70 : 30 mixture)

now here is the strange part: the humidity continues to drop...it's at 40% now =( ....what's going on lol?


I left the T on it's packaging paper towel for 5 min to see if it would move off by itself. it did not lol. so i carefully helped it along with a paintbrush.

it sat on the part of soil that it landed on after walking off the paper towel for about 2 min, then headed over to one of the hides i made for it.
 

L_mactans

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now here is the strange part: the humidity continues to drop...it's at 40% now =( ....what's going on lol?


Evaporation is going on :).

With a 90 gal aquarium there is a lot of ventilation, and when you spray down a tank you are just wetting the top layer of soil, which evaporates rather quickly.
If you are very concerned about maintaing a high humidity level you can try wrapping some of the exposed top with seran wrap or wetting the substrate all the way down. Just be careful about mold and mites and all the fun stuff that love high humidity.
Good luck

Kelly (L_mac)
 

Deliverme314

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I agree... saran wrap at least 3/4 of the hood to retard the ventilation. And/or let the water overflow ALOT when adding water to the dish...
 

Shox

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"Evaporation is going on ."

you misunderstood me. i said after i wet it down, the humidity dropped...if the water was evaporating the humidity would then be raised....


it is starting to go up...but only to 50%...


i had wrapped 4/5ths of the top in saran wrap. we'll c how this pans out.
 

Deliverme314

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add a heat source... other wise its just water in soil... wet it down then keep a light or heat pad on it... I do this with my high humidity T's
 

Shox

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yea i was thinking about that too. i just need to find a lamp/stand that can hold a heating bulb.
 

Deliverme314

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Originally posted by Shox
yea i was thinking about that too. i just need to find a lamp/stand that can hold a heating bulb.
That should dampen your air right up. Good luck to ya.
 

Deliverme314

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oh... but still reatard the ventilation too... I dont do this... but I dont own a T blondi which to my understanding would greatly benefit... someone correct me if I am wrong..
 

Palespider

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What temperature is the room he's in? I don't think another heat source is necessary if he's at atleast 75f. And I would use L Mactans recommendation and limit about 75-80% of the ventilation. That should be enough to get your humidity high and keep it constant. If that's not enough use a larger water dish, two if you don't have one. And if that's not enough gradually start over filling the water dish more and more until you get it high enough. The idea is to keep the substrate as dry as possible and increase the humidity from the evaporating water in the water dish. I would not jump in and do everything at once, you'll just end up with nasties crawling all over the place.

And how are you measuring your humidity? With a hygrometer? These are often very inaccurate and I would not solely base the humidity conditions on one not knowing if it's accurate or how to adjust for it being a little off. I would suggest checking your gauge. Mark has a thread on how to do this:

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4525&highlight=hygrometer

I limit 75% of the aquarium screen with saran wrap and use a large water dish and get a steady 80-85% humidity. The substrate is kept bone dry.

Jim B.
 
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Shox

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"And how are you measuring your humidity? With a hygrometer? "


yea i bought 2. one was 8 bucks, and the other was 25.

the one that is 8 bucks reads nothing, and i'm guessing it is just broke or sumthing...it's the kind u stick to the tank, it's like a piece of paper with heat/water sensitive strips on it.


the other is a dial type thingie. it is suctioned onto the back wall. i probably can't remove it...i've tried and if i pull too hard the suction thingies just rip off and stick to the tank...and they are a B**** to get back on...


that one has read up to 85% (after i wet down the sum of the soil), and now it is at 60%....

it also reads the temp as 60 degree F. i think this is wrong, cuz i have 2 other temperature gauges on my tank, and they both read 72-74 F. The house temp is set at 72.


and yes, only 20% of the top is not covered with saran wrap. that is initially how i got the 85% humidity in there. before that it was hovering at 40%.
 

Shox

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well I wet down a good part of the right most part of the tank to rais the humidity to 85% again...and the top is covered (80%) with seran wrap. by morning it's back down to 60% and will probably fall to 50% by afternoon or nightfall.

however, my T. blondi moved from her "middle-of-the-tank" hide to the hide that i placed in the left hand corner during the night. I'm guessing this could be due to the raised humidity in the right hand side of the tank. SO perhaps this blondi (which was cb) doesn't like high humidity....but is 50-60% humidity good enough for it to molt in? i guess i'll continue to make the right side as the humid side and the left as the dry side, so that if it is approaching molt it could find its way to a wetter part of the tank.
 

Palespider

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Are you using a large water dish? If the large water dish isn't enough you may need a larger one or like I said 2 of them.

If that still isn't enough then wet the substrate a little. How did you wet down the substrate? If you're misting the substrate it is going to dry up rapidly. Overfill the water dish until it soaks down towards the bottom. This will provide humidity much longer.

This is how I have my more moist T. blondi cage set-up. Notice how the water dish is on opposite sides of the ventilation. Other wise the water would just evaporate straight up. Also notice the size of the dish. This set-up (with moist substrate) is good for 90-95% humidity. No T really needs this much humidity, but this guy seems to like it more than my other T. blondi. I am in the process of drying it out since adding the larger water dish. As you can see from the pic it is just starting to.
 

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Shox

Arachnosquire
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well i have two water dishes, one is a 1.5 inch bottle cap, and the other is a 2.5 inch jar lid, maybe 3 inches...


but i poured water onto the area all around the larger dish covering probably 1 square foot of soil with water that then soaked down into the soil.


should i have a larger dish? the T. is only 4" long, and i thought they drown or sumthing.
 

Palespider

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I wouldn't go any larger than the leg span of the T. If you don't have a larger water dish they have 4 inch flower pot saucers at Home Depot or any other gardening center. Your 1.5" cap is utterly useless in such a large cage, almost any cage for that matter.

It sounds strange to me that your humidity would fluctuate like it has been. I'm starting to question your gauge.

Here's a good way to check:
Put your nose to the screen and take a deep breath of the moisture inside. Does it remind you of a steamy bathroom or a green house? (don't laugh, once you get experienced at this you won't need any gauges ;)) If it does it's most likely over 80% not 60%.

I would suggest you check your gauge to know for sure, or by a new one.

Jim B.
 
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Shox

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i figured the 1.5 would be enough for the T to drink from...and incase it wasn't i put in the 3"


the humidity is up at 80% now, i covered the cage in the manner that you showed in your pic. it seems good.
 

Shox

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i bought two new hygrometers, and i calibrated them both, they were between 10 and 14% off.

i placed them in the tank....my old one is at the right hand side of the tank one new one in the middle, and another at the left side. (hehe)

it turns out that my original hygrometer was perfectly calibrated right out of the box.


another interesting thing is that my T blondi has come out of her hide that is in the dry part of the tank (of course it is night time now) and she is hanging out in the humid part of the tank now...perhaps waiting for food...

the humidity seems to be constant now at 88%
 

deifiler

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I don't want to appear cheeky, but you really should've checked up on all of this prior to buying the spider, especially as it's your first one.

Humidity to put it bluntly is the amount of gaseous water particles in the air. Such water is going to cool down for a while and seep to the bottom, and the gas will be escaping from the lid. Using warm water should help a little, yet it will still condense and sink down again. Retard the ventillation though.

Get a water dish that's wide, yet no deeper than .75cm or so, and you'll be fine. Due to the large tank size, I doubt you'll be moving it, so as long as the shallow water dishes are level they should be fine. Larger surface areas also evaporate a lot faster, relative to lower SA's anyway. This will boost your humidityt oo.

You could put an underlaying layer of gravel in the tank to contain the water too. Or buy one of the decoartive fountains to keep up the water content, I've heard of others doing it.

Besides, my blondi -it's around 3", I'll upload pics tongiht when I upload my camera- has been doing grand at humidities around 70% for a long time. I got sick of fungal growths, and call me old fashioned but I won't use pure vermiculite as a substrate to avoid it.

Apologies if my post seemed offensive/patronising
 

Shox

Arachnosquire
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deifiler, I appreciate your advice, as I know you are an experienced keeper, and I appreciate your preface...but really, I actually do know what humidity is, and if you noticed, I actually have over 50 posts just at this site alone regarding T care. And i've read a crappy book about it =)

I must say that even though your post was meant to help, i took it perhaps the wrong way and found you to be (and i'm trying to be diplomatic here) rather supercilious. Yes i love that word. WERD! and NO i am NOT on drugzzzzzzzzzzz. LOL =)
 
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