Hygrometer shows 99%

Bill S

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 2, 2006
Messages
1,418
I'm surprised this discussion is still going, and hesitate to push it further, but here goes.

I've spoken to one of the top breeders in the country. It was back in June I think at a reptile show. I was asking him about all of the humidity issues and he put it very simply. He said you can use them if you want, but it's really a waste of time and money.

He wasn't meaning to not keep the humidity up for species that require it. He was merely saying that you don't have to be OCD accurate about it either.
This will depend on the species being kept, and the general climate where the keeper lives. I think at one end of the spectrum we have animals like Rosies that will do well in a wide array of conditions. For these guys, Fran's approach may well be superfluous. At the other end - I've got an undescribed species of cave scorpion that has a very narrow range of acceptable conditions. In its native habitat it has a constant temperature of75 degrees F and a permanently humid environment. In captivity if temperature varies more than a very few degrees from the optimum, the scorpion dies. If the humidity drops, immature scorpions fail to thrive and eventually die. But if we keep them too moist we have problems too. In a situation like this, Fran's approach would be not only helpful, but necessary.

As I've indicated before - I encourage him to keep tracking the details of his care and make notes on his observations. For most of my animals I don't feel the need to closely monitor all the details - but for some I do. Basically, as long as the animals seem to be doing well fo me, I don't sweat it. But when I have difficulties with some species, I find it useful to pay attention to the parameters they live in. If someone like Fran is willing to do all this tracking and report on what he observes - the rest of us can only benefit.
 

Fran

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 8, 2007
Messages
1,531
Not only because you support my point of view Bill S, but honestly I find your point of view very reasonable and based on a valid argument,so I respect it :). (rather than just say "thats silly".)
 

moose35

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
May 14, 2005
Messages
1,351
"no thats my soil ph test kit"

sorry to give you the wrong idea



moose
 

JimM

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 6, 2003
Messages
879
Not only because you support my point of view Bill S, but honestly I find your point of view very reasonable and based on a valid argument,so I respect it :). (rather than just say "thats silly".)

Uhhh...he said a hygrometer might be useful for a particularly sensitive species of cave scorpion.

Perhaps Fran, you can post the wild humidity readings for the various species you keep, at various barometric pressures, at various depths of those wild burrows, at various times of the year.

Since you're doing such a good job of replicating those exact conditions and all, and the rest of us apparently have spiders that are suffering in silence due to our crappy conditions.

Edit...Oh yeah, don't forget the above readings for 25' up in a tree in India, both in a valley and up on a hillside. I won't even specify an exact locale...pick one. Sri Lanka will do in a pinch. We'll need the readings for a deep tree hollow at given location as well...since you replicate it so well and all...
 
Last edited:

Exo

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Jun 19, 2009
Messages
1,219
Hey baby, you make me all hot and moist.......my hygrometer says so. ;)
 

Fran

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 8, 2007
Messages
1,531
Uhhh...he said a hygrometer might be useful for a particularly sensitive species of cave scorpion.

Perhaps Fran, you can post the wild humidity readings for the various species you keep, at various barometric pressures, at various depths of those wild burrows, at various times of the year.

Since you're doing such a good job of replicating those exact conditions and all, and the rest of us apparently have spiders that are suffering in silence due to our crappy conditions.

Edit...Oh yeah, don't forget the above readings for 25' up in a tree in India, both in a valley and up on a hillside. I won't even specify an exact locale...pick one. Sri Lanka will do in a pinch. We'll need the readings for a deep tree hollow at given location as well...since you replicate it so well and all...

I dont keep Arboreal T's, I kept some in the pass, but they dont interest me as much, so be my guest to do those readings,it would be really helpull.

By the way, im currently working in those readings, for your own info.
As I said before, I have family currently doing some field work in the jungle of de Amazonas, in Venezuela.(Including Temistocles R., main head of the Geography departament of the UCV, Universidad Central de Venezuela)

They have collegues that work in deep on Theraphosids of the area so I have access to those readings as they come along.
(Not a really fast communication process though)

I can provide scientific supported data, but all you provide is a rather negative opinion.
 

JimM

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 6, 2003
Messages
879
I dont keep Arboreal T's, I kept some in the pass, but they dont interest me as much, so be my guest to do those readings,it would be really helpull.

By the way, im currently working in those readings, for your own info.
As I said before, I have family currently doing some field work in the jungle of de Amazonas, in Venezuela.(Including Temistocles R., main head of the Geography departament of the UCV, Universidad Central de Venezuela)

They have collegues that work in deep on Theraphosids of the area so I have access to those readings as they come along.
(Not a really fast communication process though)

I can provide scientific supported data, but all you provide is a rather negative opinion.
Holding your feet to the fire with regard to your assertions is not "negative" - I haven't responded to a single post of yours with inane smilies. You haven't provided a single bit of credible data Fran, only implications that anyone not using a hygrometer has tarantulas that are living, but not thriving. Including I might add very successful breeders such as K. Swift.

Yet you yourself admittedly don't have all info, yet somehow you're replicating "wild" conditions.
Further, you don't seem to assimilate or concede any valid points made here by myself or others. Even a statement by K. Swift is dismissed by you as just another random opinion. You seem more concerned with being the guy keeping tarantulas the "correct" way, then having a useful debate.

I think this horse had died a few times over...I'm out.
 

Fran

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 8, 2007
Messages
1,531
Holding your feet to the fire with regard to your assertions is not "negative" - I haven't responded to a single post of yours with inane smilies. You haven't provided a single bit of credible data Fran, only implications that anyone not using a hygrometer has tarantulas that are living, but not thriving. Including I might add very successful breeders such as K. Swift.

Yet you yourself admittedly don't have all info, yet somehow you're replicating "wild" conditions.
Further, you don't seem to assimilate or concede any valid points made here by myself or others. Even a statement by K. Swift is dismissed by you as just another random opinion. You seem more concerned with being the guy keeping tarantulas the "correct" way, then having a useful debate.

I think this horse had died a few times over...I'm out.
It has. Either you dont read the posts or you just plain dont make sense. :?


1: I have never EVER said I replicate wild life conditions, but I said that I try to do so as much as possible.

2: No offense but I dont think whatever K.Swift says about tarantulas has to be a set on stone fact. If Stephen W. Hawking says that he doesn't think Mathematics are
useful, I will still say he is wrong, and I will ask for a valid argument to support such idea.(Not to comparing things, please...By any means, just as an example.)
Not because someone says something means thats absolutly right.You need arguments. And I gave you mine.

3: I have never ever said that the not use of a hygrometer directly and absolutely means that you are not taking proper care of your t's.

and 4: Please, read again the posts. You dont seem to make much sense. Honestly.
 
Last edited:

Exo

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Jun 19, 2009
Messages
1,219
Hey Fran, I though you mentioned the temp/humidity that you kept your Ts at before and you said that it was the same as the temps in the Amazon. Wasn't it like 87F and 85% humidity or something? If so, the readings inside your Ts burrow should be similar to the wild, right?
 

Fran

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 8, 2007
Messages
1,531
In the Venezuelan jungle temps all year round are between 80F and 90F,normally closer to 90 than to 80. My Blondis and LP's tanks suffer some variation during the day, but normally they stay around 85-88F during the day
and 85F at night

The problem with the burrows in captivity is that, either you have an extremely large tank, or they are not gonna be quite like in the wild.

In the burrows temps might change a bit,(despiting the geothermal gradient )

Any way, is known that they use to take up small rodent burrows (Theraphosas ),so you dont want to provide the typical pet store half log.
I made them as deep as possible ending on a larger chamber.
 
Last edited:

Exo

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Jun 19, 2009
Messages
1,219
The problem with the burrows in captivity is that, either you have an extremely large tank, or they are not gonna be quite like in the wild.

In the burrows temps might change a bit,(despiting the geothermal gradient )
True, ground temperature buffering would have more of an effect in the wild because there is more dirt and therefor more mass to act as insulation. That slipped my mind for a moment. :eek:
 

ArachnoYak

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 12, 2007
Messages
223
I think we can sum this whole thread up by accepting the fact that we can never reproduce the exact conditions that tarantulas will experience in the wild. Even the greatest of zoos cannot duplicate nature. Most responsible T keepers know this and accept it.

Fran, you are very lucky to live in Venezuela and observe these animals in the wild, and, as such, I imagine it is easier to get closer to natural heat and humidity requirements when you live in similar heat and humidity. But the push to use hygrometres is simply a marketing ploy by the makers of such devices as they are completely unneccessary.
 

Xian

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 20, 2009
Messages
340
I think we can sum this whole thread up by accepting the fact that we can never reproduce the exact conditions that tarantulas will experience in the wild. Even the greatest of zoos cannot duplicate nature. Most responsible T keepers know this and accept it.

Fran, you are very lucky to live in Venezuela and observe these animals in the wild, and, as such, I imagine it is easier to get closer to natural heat and humidity requirements when you live in similar heat and humidity. But the push to use hygrometres is simply a marketing ploy by the makers of such devices as they are completely unneccessary.
Fran lives in New England by the way.......
 
Top