Humidity Question????

[zm378205]

I know that humidity is debated on the boards on how much one should really worry about it. I just had a quick question on where the best place in the tank to measure the humidity?

I have a B. Smithi right not and know they are supposed to be dry but was wondering should I put my hygrometer near the lid of the enclosure or down own the substrate????

Also, I am receiving an avic next week and was wondering if it mattered where to place the hygrometer in that tank as well???

Thanks for all your help

[Roland Slinger]

It doesn't matter, unless your tank is really huge. And unless you get a very expensive one, it will always be off a little. Putting it in one place or another in a tank really won't make a difference.

[scottyk]

Is the Smithi a sling or a juvenile/adult.

Sling- Wet down one corner of the enclosure weekly...

Juvenile/adult- keep dry with a clean, filled water dish.

Either way, the hygrometer is not going to be of any help since there is no need to pin the enclosure at a certain specific humidity. Also, as Roland mentioned, the stick on cheap ones don't read accurately anyway. Save your money for some more T's

[JimM]

Lose the hygrometer. Utilizing one, especially for a smithi is a bit over the top, if not just flat out silly, and not nearly as useful as equal parts observation and common sense.

[satanslilhelper]

Lose the hygrometer. Utilizing one, especially for a smithi is a bit over the top, if not just flat out silly, and not nearly as useful as equal parts observation and common sense.

My whole rant boiled down. I guess I just like to type to read myself type?!

[JimM]

My whole rant boiled down. I guess I just like to type to read myself type?!

I don't keep much sugar coating in stock.

I have to say, aside from tarantulas I've kept all sorts of humidity sensitive critters including frogs, gecko's, certain monitor lizards, tree boas, green tree pythons, etc, etc and I couldn't tell you what a hygrometer even looks like.

[curiousme]

Lose the hygrometer, they only measure relative humidity which is entirely temperature based. (different temp, different RH percentage, same air) There is no need for one and its only accomplishment is to making T owners worry/ makes them feel like they are taking care of their T better, when they should use that time to take more pictures!

Most species are okay humidity-wise with a large full water dish and if that isn't enough, then you just need to restrict some of the ventilation.

Like others have said, slings need it more humid and that can be accomplished by wetting half the substrate once a week.

i can't offer advice on T. blondis as we do not have one, but i do know the above advice would not suffice.

[satanslilhelper]

The only species that I've paid any attention to their humidity are Avicularias and T. blondi's. The others will be fine IME with the normal humidity in your house. I do live in the south so most of the time we do have higher humidity anyways. I'm basing this off of my experience and a conversation I had with Kelly Swift when I met him in June at the Dixie Reptile Show. I was still relatively new to species "requiring" specific humidity so I spoke to him about this and many other issues. Seeing as he is one of the top breeders and online dealers in the U.S. with at least 14 years experience I give his advice to be very accurate and valuable. I don't want to misconstrue what he told me. His words were," As long as your T's seem healthy then don't worry about it." I was asking him because I had just recently acquired a P. regalis and was about to purchase some Avics.. My avics. I definitely mist about 1-2 times a week. I allow the substrate to almost dry out and then mist. No real schedule. Make sure your avics. have good cross ventilation too. I guess what I'm trying to say here is don't stress yourself out over having things exactly right. So far I have only had 2 T deaths. One due to dehydration. I had a versi. in a very large enclosure and I didn't see it eat for months. I learned a hard lesson on that one. I also didn't know about the ICU or other methods to deal with dehydration. The other one was a WC A. avic. which got stuck in a molt two weeks after I received it. My other 30 T's are very healthy and all seem very content in their enclosures. Good luck to you and your T's.