New enclosure, How’s it looking

[Smotzer]

Also you can ditch that thermometer/hygrometer. a) it’s likely wildly inaccurate and b) most importantly you don’t really need to be measuring either for tarantula keeping!

 

[Rasp]

Also you can ditch that thermometer/hygrometer. a) it’s likely wildly inaccurate and b) most importantly you don’t really need to be measuring either for tarantula keeping!

Hmmmm I’ll try a few out to gauge accuracy, but with people saying high humidity kills Avics, I’d like to know how this tank is doing

 

[Smotzer]

Hmmmm I’ll try a few out to gauge accuracy, but with people saying high humidity kills Avics, I’d like to know how this tank is doing

That’s not really what I was suggesting I meant you don’t need to be concerned about humidity. Keep them dry/mostly dry with a water dish at all times, maybe occasionally give droplets(not mist) to webbing directly, and call it a day. No need to even think about humidity for Aviculariinae at all if you follow the above!

 

[Dorifto]

Hmmmm I’ll try a few out to gauge accuracy, but with people saying high humidity kills Avics, I’d like to know how this tank is doing

Low ventilation it's what kills them, not the high humidity. They thrive in humid/very humid environments, but they have a lot of ventilation, unlike our enclosures.

Everybody knows that I'm against the statement that humidity is irrelevant, when if fact it's quite relevant, simply none of should focus the husbandry on a simple number. Easy.

It's quite simple, it's your environment (room, house...) humid enough? Keep it mainly on the drier side, with a water dish and a occasional mist on the web for drinking. It's on the dry side? Well, simply dampen the substrate and let it dry, repeat, simple. It will provide enough humidity to prevent issues.

Your enclosure looks well ventilated (I'd personally add some more on the lid), so choose adjust your husbandry to your house's conditions. If you need to damp the substrate, simply pour some water and let it dry, nothing else.

Neither extremes are good, too dry and the chances of having dehydration and molting issues will rise. Too humid+not enough ventilation, and you will end up suffocating your T. So keep it in between.

If you want to check the enclosure's conditions it's completely fine, get a cheap digital hygrometer/ thermometer, (if yours isn't accurate enought) and simply use it to have an aproximate idea about the conditions inside, not to constantly adjust your husbandry to chase a specific RH number.

 

[slocoj91]

Hmmmm I’ll try a few out to gauge accuracy, but with people saying high humidity kills Avics, I’d like to know how this tank is doing

Very little point in trying out several for accuracy don't spend time on that when you can do other things, like watch your T web up the new enclosure.

Others explained the humidity and tarantula aspect, so I'll stick to the hygrometer part.

If you're lucky enough to get two or even three that agree with one another it's still very likely that they're wrong - or will be in short order. If it can't be calibrated then it's essentially useless, as they can go out of whack easily enough as it is. Devices that can be calibrated tend to be costly, or at least far more so than the hobby ones most get. I keep one cheap device, or did, in my Giant african land snail tank. Just until I got a sense of what was right and what wasn't for them. I quickly realised I was spending more time wondering what on earth those devices were doing with their readings than the snails even needed in husbandry.

Then, well one time readings don't tell you much as humidity changes - and can do so seemingly dramatically - very easily due to the fact that it is based on various other factors. Well, relative humidity anyway. Max and min is *better* assuming accuracy (which can't be done with the typically affordable devices, so moot really), but plenty of species of different animals may be fine if humidity drops below a certain level in the area its measured because it might be high enough somewhere else - say beneath some moss, or for tarantulas in their burrow. The most useful devices in many instances will log data, or at least log the times/length of time that min/max is registered. Again though this is at the point where the user is actively investigating what works for different species, and likely has monitors in several places.

Even with reptiles/amphibians etc I get the impression that hygrometers have the limited use like I found with my snails - finding one that seems remotely sensible, and then using it to get a feel for more general 'high, mid, low' levels at different temperatures. Beyond that I otherwise see keepers questioning the readings - because they eventually don't match up with how the keeper has experienced the enclosure previously under those conditions. And once the environments for those species are properly set up they should help maintain the correct conditions for the animal in question anyway. Happy to be corrected by actual keepers here, this is just my casual observation - readings get mentioned when there's something off with a specimen, but even others helping will seem to focus on how the keeper is maintaining the enclosure and moisture, temps etc.

So yeah. I'd suggest that at most you could use a reliable thermometer in the general area your enclosures are - as much for getting a sense of the general temps, as we tend to feel them in ways that don't always reflect the current conditions - such as how we 'feel' temperature differences with surfaces, so if its much colder outside we may feel colder despite the indoor temp being normal. Or psychological suggestion where hearing wind outside means we're more likely to feel colder. Just a reference point.

Beyond that, enjoy seeing the T settle in.