humidity

[grimble]

hi guys ,i have a 6ftx2ftx2ft viv which i house my water dragons, they have a sunken 30l fish tank with filter , i am in the process of introducing live plants ,the temp is 32 hot end 28 cool end an 24 night ,my ?is should i introduce a mister ,or is spraying them once a day sufficent ? i would spray more often but my job has me out of the house at 6am .cheers

[kez30]

First of all have you a hygrometer? If so it needs to be around 60-80 i usually mist in the morning and thats usually enough for the day

[grimble]

yeah i have a hygrometer and its reading 62 which i feel is a bit low considering i only misted bout 2 hrs ago ,do u feel the humidity will improve once the live plants r introduced ?

[Juzza12]

It should go up with live plants. 80% is ideal. What substrate do you use?

[grimble]

wood chippings ,which i soak

[kez30]

Are they large chips? I personally use sterilised soil which is good for humidity

[grimble]

soz bout the lat reply bin busy ! yeah its quite chunky bark , to be honest i think the basking light is the prob cos at night the humidity is high ,its only when the light comes on in the mornig i loose the humidity ,so im gonna try a lower wattagebulb , wot u think ?

[DeanThorpe]

if the temps are right then no need to change the bulb.
Coconut husk holds humidity better than large bark chippings i think, worth a try .
Spraying once a day isnt enough, so spray twice a day then you have no problems with humidity.

your temps seem quite unlikely given the size of the vivarium.
do you have pics of the vivarium?

[Juzza12]

If the temps are ok i wouldn't change the bulb. I have seen a misting system on e bay that has a probe you put in the viv, you set what percentage humidity you want and if it drops below that, it will mist until it goes back up

[kez30]

Using a large water container helps with humidity also, since iv started using a large cat litter tray for them to bathe the humiditys been much better