How To Add Humidity To Reptile Tank

1 of the virtually challenging aspects of keeping tropical reptiles similar green tree pythons, chameleons and fifty-fifty light-green iguanas, is maintaining the higher humidity levels that these types of reptiles require.

The picture higher up shows a green tree python going through a poor shed due to low humidity.

If yous look closely you can see broad pieces of peel that did not come off during shed.

Before delving into the various steps however, you need to understand what proper humidity levels look like.

All reptile care guides will suggest a humidity range for the specific species you are learning nearly. While that range is the goal yous are shooting for, it does non have to be maintained at all times.

What Good Reptile Humidity Looks Like

Skilful humidity for a reptile is a range.

You will find that when yous do things like misting the cage, in that location will exist a spike in humidity.

And so over the course of the solar day or nighttime, the humidity level will slowly lower dorsum downwardly to the relative humidity of the room where the reptile is kept.

In that location is nothing wrong with this. In fact this is how it works in nature too.

The humidity raises when it rains, and then lowers every bit the sun comes out and everything dries.

Yous don't demand to maintain a constant level at all times.

What yous really want to reach is a fasten that is around 10% – 20% higher than the recommended range. Yous then control the amount of time it takes for that level to lower dorsum downwards to lucifer the surrounding air.

What Bad Humidity Looks Like

Yous do not desire a wet environment. A soggy and soaked substrate for case, will not raise the humidity level of the enclosure any more than damp substrate volition.

Water droplets on the walls and decorations after misting is to exist expected, only those drops should have time to dry before the next misting.

Humidity is due to water VAPOR in the air, not concrete standing water in the enclosure.

The Keys To Skilful Reptile Humidity

With these things in listen, you lot're really only looking at controlling 3 things.

The temperature of the enclosure
The air flow in the enclosure
The water vapor in the enclosure

Here are 15 ways in which you tin achieve the perfect humidity level for your reptile.

1. Take The Correct Humidity Measurements

In order to create the optimum humidity level, y'all demand to know where your level is at whatever given time.

Of course this is basic, and nigh people know you should have a hygrometer (a tool used to measure humidity) inside of the enclosure.

What a lot of people don't know:

You should actually have three.

Yous want to measure the humidity level at the elevation, middle and bottom of the enclosure.

Knowing the humidity in all 3 of these areas will help you decide where y'all're lacking, and requite you lot a better idea of how to solve whatsoever issues. This is Troubleshooting 101.

Ideally, 1 of those hygrometers will be located near the area where your reptile spends well-nigh of its time.

2. Reptile Humidity Experimentation

At that place isn't some magical way to create the exact humidity level you're after. There are too many outside factors which upshot it. Where you live, the flavour, the temperature you set your habitation at, what the weather is like that twenty-four hour period…The list tin can go along and on.

Yous don't "become" the proper humidity level for your reptile. You find it.

What works for me might not work for you. What works for you lot may non piece of work for someone else.

Perhaps you accept time to mist your cage twice per solar day, or maybe you only accept time to mist once every other twenty-four hour period.

The key is to exam various methods until you lot find what works for you. Yous do this through experimenting, and measuring the results.

3. Use A Forepart View Enclosure For Better Reptile Humidity Control

Heat rises.

So does water vapor.

When you have a mesh or screen chapeau, you lose a lot of humidity very speedily. An enclosure that has a solid top, bottom and sides rather than a screen height will help hold in the wet.

You don't want the air to become stagnant though. With no air motility at all, leaner, fungus, mold and other harmful things tin hands grow.

4. Add A Fan To The Enclosure To Command Humidity

Right at present yous're probably saying, "What!?!? Won't a fan dry out the muzzle and lower humidity?"

Yeah it will, simply non very much if information technology is pointing outwards.

If yous're savvy enough to add it yourself, a small fan that is bravado air out of the muzzle rather than into it will prevent the air from becoming stagnant. This in turn allows you to meliorate seal the cage to contain more humidity. Of course you all the same want slits or air holes to allow in fresh air.

A small fan similar the ones they apply to cool computers is small, quiet, inexpensive and relatively easy to install and wire.

This is a corking fashion to maintain humidity for reptiles such as chameleons which require more air menstruation than many other reptiles, but nevertheless demand higher humidity.

5. Use A Large Water Bowl To Raise Humidity In A Reptile Enclosure

When I say large water bowl, I don't mean deep.

Depth actually doesn't thing. It'due south the area you lot're later on. A wide h2o bowl with a lot of expanse will allow more water to vaporize in the cage.

Side notation:

One thing many people don't realize about reptiles that require high humidity is that dehydration is caused from a lack of water intake rather than just water vapor in the air.

Brand certain your pet has easy access to the h2o.

For arboreal reptiles like dark-green tree pythons or emerald tree boas, this may mean securing the h2o bowl college up in the cage, just underneath their perches.

Yes, they will drink h2o droplets from their body, but these snakes also drink from bodies of water. They may not go to the floor of the muzzle to find the h2o though, and then make sure it is close to them.

Unlike many species of frogs that blot water through their skin, snakes and lizards need to actually have in moisture through their mouth to preclude dehydration.

If your snake is dehydrated, raising the humidity level may not be the answer.

vi. Add A Heating Pad To The Water Bowl

Adding rut to the bowl will cause the water to evaporate quicker, thus raising the humidity.

You can do this by placing a heating pad directly on the bottom of the bowl itself. If the bowl sits on the basis at the bottom of the cage, place the heat pad under the cage directly below where the bowl will sit.

Pro Tip!

There are also water bowls which are heated. These are intended for outdoor utilise in the winter in social club to keep the water from freezing. In that location's nix stopping y'all from using it in the enclosure though!

Just be sure to follow all manufacturer safety guidelines for heating pad and electric h2o bowls.

7. Movement The H2o Basin Closer To The Oestrus

This might audio like the above footstep, but it's not.

This is a way to dial in the humidity a little more than precisely when you already have it close to the goal you're aiming for.

Your reptile's enclosure will ideally accept a gradient range of temperature. In that location will exist a warmer part of the cage, and a cooler portion. If you are needing to raise or lower the humidity level past a pocket-size amount, move the h2o closer to or further from the warmth.

The closer the bowl is to the warm side of the cage, the higher the humidity will be. The further away, the lower it will be.

8. Mist The Cage

I know this may be a simple one for many people. That's why I buried it a trivial deeper downward, so you could become some of the good stuff early.

I would be remiss nonetheless, if I didn't discuss misting as it is the number one way to control humidity in your pet'southward enclosure.

The amount of water you lot spray into the cage, and how often you practice and then are going to have some of the near dramatic impacts on humidity levels.

I can't tell y'all how much as well mist, or how often. That is going to vary based on all of the other factors we have discussed.

Just know that the goal is to dampen the substrate, and to spread wet to every bit many surface areas as possible. Information technology is the combination of all these surfaces drying together that creates more water vapor in the air.

9. Add A Humidifier To The Room

The base relative humidity of your reptiles enclosure before yous do anything to heighten it, will be equal to the humidity level of the room that it is kept in.

Depending on where you live, the air may exist dry.

This is especially true in the wintertime months. Adding a humidifier to the room will raise the level of the enclosure with no extra effort on your part, and volition aid maintain higher levels for a longer catamenia of fourth dimension.

Be aware!

High humidity in a home tin destroy walls and furniture. I only recommend doing this if you take a room dedicated to reptiles, and use outdoor paint that is able to withstand the college moisture in the air.

If you decide to become this route, I advise setting the humidity level around 60%. The vast majority of lizards, pythons and boas require humidity levels effectually that marker.

10. Proper Substrate Choices For Reptile Humidity

Using newspaper as your substrate isn't going to cut it here. In guild to maintain college humidity levels you need soil or wood.

There are a wide variety of diverse substrates on the marketplace specifically for reptiles. Most of them list on the packaging the humidity levels they are best suited for.

Some recommendations would be cypress chips, repti-bark, coco cobweb, orchid bark, and other like materials.

Keep in mind, the fabric y'all use isn't going to practise the chore past itself. The idea is for you to add moisture through misting, which is then absorbed by the substrate and released out slowly into the air.

11. Keep The Substrate Level Deep

Having a substrate that is three-four inches deep will allow it to hold more moisture without making information technology overly wet or soggy.

As I stated before, you don't demand to soak the fabric all the way through to the lesser of the cage, simply dampen it.

12. Usae Soil And Live Plants

An alternative to woods substrate is to utilize soil and live plants.

Too beingness more aesthetically appealing, live plants have the added benefit of releasing moisture into the air. They will also suck upward excess wet from the soil to forbid saturation.

Be sure to use the proper lights to provide your plants with the sun rays that they need.

Exercise Non utilize any fertilizer equally this could be harmful to your pet.

Examples of skilful plants for your pet enclosure would be African violets, orchids, spider plants, ficus and various palms.

If you are housing an herbivore or omnivore which might try to swallow the plants, do more than research to ensure that the plants are non toxic to your pet.

thirteen. Create A Water Tabular array To Control Humidity

But like there is a water tabular array under the very footing yous walk on, you tin can create a water table inside your enclosure.

Hydroballs are clay balls placed under the substrate level.

These balls absorb water and release it slowly through the substrate.

Place a layer of these balls in the very bottom of your enclosure, embrace with mesh, and so add together your substrate on top. Get out yourself some spots where you can pour water directly to the bottom of your cage without soaking the substrate.

I similar to use pieces of 3/4" PVC that are somewhere around six inches long. You lot tin can and so pour a few ounces of water in each one in social club to wet down the hydroballs.

xiv. Use A Baste System To Control Humidity

Creating a drip system for your reptile enclosure is a smashing way to continuously add moisture and humidity all solar day long, even when yous are non home to mist.

There are several drip systems available online.

When setting up an automatic drip, it is best to have the drops of water falling onto plant leaves.

If you lot want to get real creative, you can even set it upwardly to where the water drop falls on a establish leaf, and then have another exit beneath that where any excess water from the first leaf can fall to.

This volition forbid a soggy spot in the muzzle. And if your enclosure is made of wood, it will also help terminate the forest from rotting out.

xv. Use A Fogger

The final style to raise or maintain high humidity is through the use of a fogger. These work basically like a humidifier for the enclosure itself.

Using a fogger will leave a mist in your cage that some people don't care for aesthetically.

For enclosures that are more open, similar the mesh sides oft used for chameleons, they are a great fashion to add a lot of humidity that would otherwise evaporate too quickly.

Summary

As you can see, there are tons of ways you can either increase humidity for your reptile enclosure, or maintain a fairly high humidity.

As I stated earlier, the key is to experiment and see what works for you. There is no one correct way to accomplish this. No i size fits all approach.

Spend the time experimenting, reading your reptiles torso language and physical signs, and develop a method that fits your needs.