Humidity

Ephesians

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Sep 12, 2002
Messages
353
Glory to God, man...there are a lot of new people since I've been here last. Man, I gotta get rid of dial-up. Anyhoo, just a quick question. I was just wandering as to why it is such a difficult pain to keep the humidity high in my h. lividum's cage while the substrate is almost soaked on one side, whereas my P. murinus has the DRYEST cage and his humidity is at 80%. (my lividum's I can't keep past 60 if the heat is on). This I don't understand. Is there some theory I am missing? Does the lividum's body contract most of the moisture, decreasing the humidity...hence the need for high humidity? Or is something just out of whack? Any ideas as to how I can keep an entire closet humid? I have the whole thing heated with a 150w heat light (night light), and it takes a large chunk out of the humidity. Sucks. I'm lost on ideas, anyone else have any?

Also I went on a binge this weekend, went to Austin, and came home with an A. geniculata spiderling, a juvinile A. bicoloratum, and a juvi blue ring centipede (my first 'pede). I'll post some pics later. Anyway, here's my problem, thanks in advance for any thoughts or ideas.

In Him,
E
 

D-Man

Arachnochicano
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 27, 2003
Messages
356
Placement of your hygrometers in the cages could skew your comparisons. Does the lividum have more ventilation? Also, the types of materials for your cages could contribute to loss or retention of humidity - are they both in the same type of cage? If not, swap 'em. A humidifier would do the trick in your closet, but I don't know how that would manage your cage requirements if you keep varying T types in there - I've never used one.

Peace, Dario
 

Botar

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 27, 2002
Messages
1,441
I use a rather healthy humidifier in my invert room to keep the room between 50 and 60%, which seems quite humid while I'm in there. With the humidity this high in the room, it is much easier to maintain a higher humidity in individual enclosures.

My heat is maintained between 75 and 80 degrees with an oil filled radiant heater. The system seems to work quite well, but requires adjustment during extreme temperature fluctuations.

I would think that maintaining a higher humidity in a small room like a closet would be easy with a small humidifier. If you didn't want to go that route, I've seen people place the heating element under a shelf holding a large shallow pan of water. The element heats the water and you get heat and humidity in one. Obviously, caution needs to be taken when combining containers of water and electrical heating elements, but I think you could make small adjustments until you reached a level that worked for you. Another concern would be overheating/drying out your stock if the water dried up. Just be careful and keep a watch on it.

Botar
 
Last edited:

Professor T

Arachnodemon
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 11, 2003
Messages
722
I think the problem is you live in Texas, its too dry. Move to Florida and your humidity problems are over, at least in the summer time. I hope this helps!
Originally posted by Ephesians
Glory to God, man...there are a lot of new people since I've been here last. Man, I gotta get rid of dial-up. Anyhoo, just a quick question. I was just wandering as to why it is such a difficult pain to keep the humidity high in my h. lividum's cage while the substrate is almost soaked on one side, whereas my P. murinus has the DRYEST cage and his humidity is at 80%. (my lividum's I can't keep past 60 if the heat is on). This I don't understand. Is there some theory I am missing? Does the lividum's body contract most of the moisture, decreasing the humidity...hence the need for high humidity? Or is something just out of whack? Any ideas as to how I can keep an entire closet humid? I have the whole thing heated with a 150w heat light (night light), and it takes a large chunk out of the humidity. Sucks. I'm lost on ideas, anyone else have any?

Also I went on a binge this weekend, went to Austin, and came home with an A. geniculata spiderling, a juvinile A. bicoloratum, and a juvi blue ring centipede (my first 'pede). I'll post some pics later. Anyway, here's my problem, thanks in advance for any thoughts or ideas.

In Him,
E
 

Ephesians

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Sep 12, 2002
Messages
353
I think the problem is you live in Texas, its too dry. Move to Florida and your humidity problems are over, at least in the summer time. I hope this helps!
ROFL. thanks

Thanks guys, I;ll try a few of the things and see how it all works out. I'll keep ya updated
 
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