Humidity control? More like increase

[Andee]

Ah its wonderful to be back in the invert keeping world. Sadly i fell out a while ago after a massive colony of ants decimated all my colonies. I wasnt sure i would ever come back and stayed away for a few years because it was heart breaking

Im having a hard time with the dry heat lately. Where i cant seem to mist enough to properly soak the enclosures for more than a day and if i mist too much it becomes a breeding ground for fruit flies no matter how good my ventilation is. Moss works for some of the colonies, i likely need to add more in those ones tbh which i will do tomorrow. But the majority just eat it like little brats (being roaches and not working with me of course). Does anyone have any advice?

 

[The Snark]

What is the mean temperature and averaged relative humidity in the room?

 

[Poonjab]

.

 

[Dry Desert]

Ah its wonderful to be back in the invert keeping world. Sadly i fell out a while ago after a massive colony of ants decimated all my colonies. I wasnt sure i would ever come back and stayed away for a few years because it was heart breaking

Im having a hard time with the dry heat lately. Where i cant seem to mist enough to properly soak the enclosures for more than a day and if i mist too much it becomes a breeding ground for fruit flies no matter how good my ventilation is. Moss works for some of the colonies, i likely need to add more in those ones tbh which i will do tomorrow. But the majority just eat it like little brats (being roaches and not working with me of course). Does anyone have any advice?

Well, when I kept roaches of different species, I found that moisture was a killer.
In my experience they thrive the hotter and drier the better.
I used an inch or so of Vermiculite as a substrate, they were fed good quality fish flake, with cucumber, orange, and carrot providing all their moisture requirements.
With roaches, moisture is a killer, and can cause all sorts of unnecessary problems with mould,etc.
Different inverts, different requirements, with roaches, no moisture other than that provided by the cucumber,etc.

 

[Andee]

Sorry for late reply

Temps stick around 72-80 room temp during the day, they drop to 68 at night but they all have individual UTH (on thermostats) if necessary. Humidity stays around 30% during the day, and during the night is around 45%

To answer the post about moisture. I have several species who arent molting correctly without additional moisture. And heavy burrowing species that need light substrate (like soil or cococoir). I have found with good ventilation moist substrate isnt a problem as long as it isnt overdone. I also would like to add isopods back into these colonies but currently its far too dry.

 

[The Snark]

Temps stick around 72-80 room temp during the day, they drop to 68 at night but they all have individual UTH (on thermostats) if necessary. Humidity stays around 30% during the day, and during the night is around 45%

With that temperature range in a room in a house you're stuck with that humidity. If you want it higher you have no choice but to use a humidifier or keep the environment constantly damp. It's a constant balancing act.

Humidity comedy.
A hospital I worked at. It was a copy of a hospital in southern California. Inspection and certification time the hospital got a big red flag. Humidifier system was trashed, parts and pieces corroded or missing. Power unit was seized up and the belt on the motor missing.
In southern Calif a humidifier system was mandatory. Up in the fog belt of northern California it was less useful than chrome hubcaps on a John Deere. The ambient temp and relative humidity always remained in acceptable range. But no. Hospital was designed and signed off with a humidifier system and had to have one. So I went to my bud, a motor winder and maintenance tech and we hit up a couple of recycling centers, a junk yard and the local hardware store and cobbed together a fake humidifier system. Motor cycled on and off, it hummed, it looked impressive and did absolutely nothing. JCAH was a happy camper and certified us.
The guys in maintenance got a lot of giggles whenever they saw the contraption which was, if someone went through and traced the wiring and plumbing, connected to the emergency generator, the hot water system and the vacuum system which provided the on-off cycling. Whatever was nearby and convenient for us to connect our contraption to. Nothing was connected to the actual HVAC system.

 

[Dry Desert]

With that temperature range in a room in a house you're stuck with that humidity. If you want it higher you have no choice but to use a humidifier or keep the environment constantly damp. It's a constant balancing act.

Humidity comedy.
A hospital I worked at. It was a copy of a hospital in southern California. Inspection and certification time the hospital got a big red flag. Humidifier system was trashed, parts and pieces corroded or missing. Power unit was seized up and the belt on the motor missing.
In southern Calif a humidifier system was mandatory. Up in the fog belt of northern California it was less useful that chrome hubcaps on a John Deere. The ambient temp and relative humidity always remained in acceptable range. But no. Hospital was designed and signed off with a humidifier system and had to have one. So I went to my bud, a motor winder and maintenance tech and we hit up a couple of recycling centers, a junk yard and the local hardware store and cobbed together a fake humidifier system. Motor cycled on and off, it hummed, it looked impressive and did absolutely nothing. JCAH was a happy camper and certified us.
The guys in maintenance got a lot of giggles whenever they saw the contraption which was, if someone went through and traced the wiring and plumbing, connected to the emergency generator, the hot water system and the vacuum system which provided the on-off cycling. Whatever was nearby and convenient for us to connect our contraption to. Nothing was connected to the actual HVAC system.

Who worries about what is actually correct - when we have stories like this.
Love the " chrome hub caps on a John Deere '

 

[The Snark]

when we have stories like this.

(I was really proud of that Rube Goldberg... mess. HVAC had to be on the emergency power system. We parked it against the wall of the room the emergency generator power panel was in so no prob there. Needed filtered water so we tapped the nearest supply - for the hot water system. The pump and motor we dug up out of the huge pile of dead things in my bud's back yard. A 1/4 horse heater blower motor powering a pump that needed 2 horse, but we gutted it's insides and just painted it up pretty. The pressure tank was a recycled propane tank from a motor home, and the vacuum system was designed to run three pumps but we only needed two so we had a spare relay which ran the motor and hour meter to show it was working. The plumbing, spiffy copper pipes, ran up the wall and vanished into an inaccesible area of the attic roughly above housekeeping and capped off - next door to the maintenance yard. Total cost, about $50 and a half day of entertainment)