can it be too humid?

TalonAWD

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 28, 2007
Messages
1,139
I have a dual tank setup. (Pictures in my profile/gallery) and So far I have the B. boehmei and the N. chromatus.
I know that the B. Boehmei is mostly desert low humidity but the N. Chromatus is like medium humidity. I have read and most people here on the forum state humidity is over rated and most do not even monitor it.

Well on the boehmei's side I drilled alot of holes on the plexi top. The N. cromatus side I did nothing to the top. Both have similar setup (one hide and one water dish with DRY peat never wet.) The Critter cage has a million holes all around the perimeter of the tank and part of the top. The temperature and the humidity reads the same in both sides. I bought a Flukers Digital duel guage and one is placed in each side.
Now my question is this. The temp is fine. I don't have any heating methods and its always at 70-80 degees (Usually the ideal temp for tarantulas) The humidity as read from both guages is between 70%-80%. Mind you one has holes on the top and the other side does not. So is the humidity (70-80%) ok for both without stressing or killing them. There is never fog in the enclosure.
The humidity is almost the same for the house. Just 10% lower. If its 75% in the enclosure its around 65% outside of the enclosure.
Thanks
 

mwh9

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 25, 2007
Messages
211
I keep both of my T's at 80%. That is what is recommended for them. The only problems that I have read that might occur is mold and breeding god knows what else. I figure that at the first sign of anything, I will change the substrate out completely. I would rather keep the T's happy. Don't base much on what I said as I don't know if this is practiced by every one.
 

Sharpy808

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 21, 2006
Messages
104
ok now thats just funny metallica :D

TalonAWD - Just my 2 cents.. no vent holes on the chromatus side is deffenitely going to be a problem. No vent holes = stagnent air and almost a 100% chance you are going to have mold issues very soon. Vent the top and just mist that side.

GL
 

Aragorn

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 21, 2003
Messages
361
I have kept my first T, an A. seemani in a very humid cage, which is reccomended for this species, and it died shortly after for some unknown reason. Today I keep my current A. seemani on a bone dried substrate and she is eating like a champ, and she last longer than the other one. I think the key for keeping them on dried substrate is to feed enough crickets which have been water very well and to provide them with a larger water dish. This way they get plenty of fluid from the crickets and water dish. The way I water my crickets is to give them a shalllow dish of water with gravel slope to one side so they don't drown if they fall into the dish; I find this way my crickets just oozes water from the mouth when I pick them up.
 

MindUtopia

Arachnoking
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 30, 2005
Messages
2,041
I personally keep both of these species on dry substrate and don't bother to monitor humidity (those gauges are generally pretty inaccurate so who knows what the real humidity could be). I would probably try to add some ventilation to the N. chromatus. 80% humidity is kinda high (assuming that's correct). I tried keeping my blondi at that and it was difficult to prevent mold. One thing to think about though is if you plan to build a divided tank, it would probably be best to select species that require very similar tank conditions.
 

kitty_b

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 28, 2006
Messages
1,110
i keep everyone at room humidity (NC is fairly humid, so it's not stiflingly dry). i think it's only too humid (for high humidity species) if there's a constant build up of condensation on the walls and swampy substrate.

honestly, i keep t. blondis, m. robustums, h. lividums, etc all on dry sphagnum peat moss and just do weekly "pours" to dampen the substrate. like most people seem to think, humidity monitoring is overrated for simple hubandry. obviously, breeding and egg laying are more sensitive to humidity.
 

Buckwheat

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 4, 2007
Messages
82
RH values are frequently over-rated. Both can be kept on dry substrate with good ventilation. Forget the holes in the side thing. Instead, I might recommend installing some hail screen [hardware cloth] to the top for maximum security and ventilation. This will also give you a good view into the enclosure. People worry too much about humidity. Fact is, most hobby species available can be kept dry other than T.blondi and perhaps H.gigas being the only two that may actually require higher RH values which can be accomplished by using the Tropic Aire humidifier in a closed system.
Remember one thing, these now live with you, not the other way around! They must, and can adapt over time to any temperature gradient you are comfortable with concerning temperatures. Simple as that.
It is neither possible nor desirable to try and "recreate" their natural environment. They live within a completely different set of circumstances in captivity and therefore require a different set of rules to some extent. Don't fret over RH values inside a captive environment. If they are doing ok then best not try and ad something to the mix that is unnecessary. Those gauges you purchase from you local pet store by the way are junk! there is no way to calibrate them to any level of real accuracy. Better off to purchase something a bit better if you are really serious about monitoring accurate RH values inside the enclosure.
You might consider something more like one of these units:

http://www.herpsupplies.com/product.cfm?id=DMT600

If you are buget minded then perhaps this would work too:

http://www.herpsupplies.com/product.cfm?id=SDMHT600

I personally prefer this model:

http://www.herpsupplies.com/product.cfm?id=SRZ100011577
Which I use to check inside data from time to time. It is mobile, accurate and useful. Just a suggestion. :)
Lastly, 70-76 seems very reasonable. 80 seems pretty warm to me but then that is just me. If yours are higher then humidity will always be down lower anyway. It is a fine line we walk between humidity and proper ventilation.
 

Brian S

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
May 29, 2004
Messages
6,526
most hobby species available can be kept dry other than T.blondi and perhaps H.gigas being the only two that may actually require higher RH values which can be accomplished by using the Tropic Aire humidifier in a closed system.
What about Haplopelma, Megaphobema, Chilobrachys etc etc? If you want to keep humid spiders all you have to do is give deep moist substrate. While your humidifier may work miracles for all I know, there are much simpler ways to do it.
For instance, You can use gallon jars like in the pic below with holes drilled in the lid, a few around the sides near the top and a few drilled around the bottom. Why the bottom? When the substrate gets dryish you can put water in either bath tub or sink and place the whole jar in the water for about 1/2 hour. This will soak up the substrate. Yes it does flood the jar but you only have to do this about once or twice a year. I learned this little trick from Martin Huber at Arachnocon 2006 and believe me it works really good! :)



It is neither possible nor desirable to try and "recreate" their natural environment. They live within a completely different set of circumstances in captivity and therefore require a different set of rules to some extent..
Not 100% possible for sure but I think it is desirable especially if you plan to breed them.
 

Buckwheat

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 4, 2007
Messages
82
Brian I know you are a very experienced hobbyist. If fact, one of the small group of people that I have respect for concerning knowledge in the care and husbandry of arachnids. But if you communicate with Stan Schultz I'm sure he is going to tell you the exact same thing. Keep them Dry! All of them do just fine that way, PROVIDED they are acclimated slowly over a period of time. What is that? Just for conversational purposes, I'd say 3-5 molts. That is not set in stone but could be used as a guide. We both know there are allot of urban legends out there along with just plain mis-information if not down right myths!

As for the Tropic Aire Humidifiers I have been using these for sometime now and I can assure those wondering that these do work! They hold a consistent 70% humidity over time unless temperatures raise to rather high at which time they will go down a bit but they are better than misting as that just really annoys the spider and it simply evaporates away in short order. Quite useless really. My spiders seem to really enjoy these.
Another trick I learned from Schultz is to pour about a quarter cup of water right down the burrow of those supposed high humidity lovers that don't come to the surface very often to gain benefits of higher humidities anyway. This gives them humidity where they really need it most anyway and will NOT flood the burrow.

In the end, keeping tarantulas is not difficult at all. This is not rocket science and we try frequently to humanize them more than we should. They are spiders pure and simple. They don't like us, don't need our attention and are quite capable of living a healthy captive life with very little effort on our part. In fact, provide them some security, a food source and water and they are good to go! really very easy. As you stated, higher temps may be valid if you are planning to breed. I think it safe to say that higher temps along with more prey items [power feeding] effects Metabolism, which means elevated metabolism. Which means they live faster but also die faster too if the practice is kept up. I do not breed them myself so someone else will have to answer that. But it may have benefit. I also liked your idea of wicking with the holes in the bottom as well.
 
Last edited:

Brian S

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
May 29, 2004
Messages
6,526
Hi Buckwheat, How's Spanky doing :D....sorry just some of my twisted humor:D
Brian I know you are a very experienced hobbyist. If fact, one of the small group of people that I have respect for concerning knowledge in the care and husbandry of arachnids. But if you communicate with Stan Schultz I'm sure he is going to tell you the exact same thing. Keep them Dry! All of them do just fine that way, PROVIDED they are acclimated slowly over a period of time. What is that? Just for conversational purposes, I'd say 3-5 molts. That is not set in stone but could be used as a guide. We both know there are allot of urban legends out there along with just plain mis-information if not down right myths!
Yes I have read that in his book though I really cant agree with it. I have much respect for Stan but as you know nearly all of us in the hobby have different ways of doing things. I personally like to keep moist species moist and dry species...well you know dry :D. I probably got this way from keeping scorpions and breeding them. I can assure that if you try to get some of the moist bark scorpions to take up dry conditions you will have molt problems galore. I used to actually keep most of my Ts fairly dry but now that I figured out how to keep them moist I opt for doing so. I dont think I'm alone on this ;).

As for the Tropic Aire Humidifiers I have been using these for sometime now and I can assure those wondering that these do work! They hold a consistent 70% humidity over time unless temperatures raise to rather high at which time they will go down a bit but they are better than misting as that just really annoys the spider and it simply evaporates away in short order.
I'm intrigued. I doubt that I will actually set something like that up but I would like to see a pic of your set up. Being the curious chap I am, I am always willing to learn something new. ;)


Another trick I learned from Schultz is to pour about a quarter cup of water right down the burrow of those supposed high humidity lovers that don't come to the surface very often to gain benefits of higher humidities anyway. This gives them humidity where they really need it most anyway and will NOT flood the burrow.
Thats what I do with my more dry species about once a month. Yes it is quite effective indeed
 

TalonAWD

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 28, 2007
Messages
1,139
The information in this thread is excellent.
Buckwheat thanks for the links. they are excellent and I may buy one of these units. I especially like the "remote" option that way I don't have to put a big ol unit inside the enclosure.
All of the thread replies are excellent. I guess I just want the best for my tarantulas and sometimes wanting the best might not be the best thing for them when it comes to overdoing it.
I keep them on bone dry substrate and a water dish now. I also increased the amount of holes on the top and added the same amount of holes on the other side as well. I'm sure they will be fine.
Thank you!
 

ballpython2

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 28, 2007
Messages
1,670
Believe it or not I have a walk in closet with 2x H gigas, a b vagans, P regalis, OBT, Curly hair, P cambrigei, Haitian brown, a thia zebra And a bird eater I used to use a humidifier to keep it humid in there. I no longer use one at all and they all still are living very healthy and molt without issue. Actually my bird eater just recently molted within the last 2 -3 days. In my opinion All you really need for these is a good size water dish cause that will keep it humid enough for them to shed. Well it works for me anyway.

In a second closet I have a GBB, P fasciata, a P lugardi, a bird eater, 2x Singapore blues, a versicolor these guys seem to also molt without issue even though I don't have it a humidifier in there. and come to think about about in the second closet none of them even have water dishes. I mist then ever few days or less and the crickets I feed them are completely hydrated and well fed. I'm not saying in any way that you should do things the way I do them, I'm just saying that I don't bother trying to have my Ts at a certain humidity and they still do really well.
 

M.F.Bagaturov

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Jun 20, 2004
Messages
1,003
Talking about all of this everybody just forget that one lives in other conditions than maybe some another who discuss this also.
The factors of successful keeping is not depends on 10-20% changes of humidity, but we all know that tarantula can adopt to some rather different conditoins from molt to molt...
Many people keep tarantulas safe and healthy in such or such conditions but never manage to bred them.
As for humidity - there's no worry if You have a very good ventilation if You some overmoist the terrarium, but if the air is stagnant this kill Your tarantula much quicker than dehidration in fact.
One says: "I can keep any species of tarantula successfully on dry substratum with only water dish provided nomatter it is arid like Aphono or Chromo or from humid tropical forest like Theraphosa spp or asian burrower..." - I'm sure it is possible if the spider is big adult and You keep it not above the average temperatures (24-26 Celsi-grades). but if it's sling You risking much. But one day keeping them such You would post here the following topic: my blondy problem or T.blondi bad molt or whatever You got finally the problem with tarantulas like theraphosas, pamphos, xeno's etc...
Believe me, I'm not Cassandra but if You look for such reports for looong years on this and other boards You'll manage to find it Yourself.
 

Martin H.

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Sep 1, 2002
Messages
864
Hello Buckwheat,

Brian I know you are a very experienced hobbyist. If fact, one of the small group of people that I have respect for concerning knowledge in the care and husbandry of arachnids. But if you communicate with Stan Schultz I'm sure he is going to tell you the exact same thing. Keep them Dry! All of them do just fine that way, PROVIDED they are acclimated slowly over a period of time.
wondering how many species (and which ones) you or Mr. Schulz have bred under these simple and dry conditions you so eagerly recommend!

all the best,
Martin
 

Buckwheat

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 4, 2007
Messages
82
Standard day to day husbandry issues and breeding are apples and oranges. The fact is each person decides to approach husbandry differently. Thats fine. But for long term, healthy captive tarantulas What I do works for me. What someone else does seems to work for them. Sometimes some people get to carried away with specifics. Remember KISS is the key phrase of the day. Otherwise, keeping arachnids falls under the daily phrase SNAFU. :)
 
Top