Reccomended Humidifier?

[REAPER591]

I'm looking to set up a humidifier in my T room and was wondering what types folks use, have used, or heard about that were good quality units that can be set to raise humidity levels to 80% or so.

Thanks!

 

[Stan Schultz]

I'm looking to set up a humidifier in my T room and was wondering what types folks use, have used, or heard about that were good quality units that can be set to raise humidity levels to 80% or so. ...

First, you must ask yourself "Why do you think you need to raise the humidity in the whole room to 80%?" (Are you keeping tarantulas or growing mushrooms?)

Remember - Tarantulas aren't chameleons, finches, or angelfish. They are very hardy and resilient. You care for them completely differently than any pet you've ever had before.

Perform a search (look for the "Search" link in the gray bar across the top of this page) using the following search parameters:

Keywords: humidity

Keywords: humidifier

You might also use the following set if you get too many hits for one session.

Keywords: Humidity
User Name: Pikaia

Under any circumstances you should put on another pot of coffee or pour yourself another glass/cup/stein of your favorite beverage. You have a lot of reading ahead of you.

Enjoy your little 8-legged buddies.

 

[codykrr]

Im with Stan on this one.Well sorta.

First off. You know how much a decent humidifier is going to cost to run 24/7 right? unless you have a reverse osmosis system in your home, running tap water will ruin a humidifier within 2 to 3 weeks(depending on how hard your water is) distilled water may only be .89 cents a gallon, but you can run a gallon in 10 hours with an ultrasonic humidifier. This can add up(ask a cigar shop owner) Simply put, it is not practical to humidify an entire room.

Secondly. In the course of this hobby you will acquire many different species of tarantula. All of which will not appreciate the added humidity. for instance, a T. blondi, M. robustum, L. parahybana will love the added humidity, species like P. murinus, B. smithi, GBB will hate it.

Solution. Only humidify what you need. There is literally thousands of threads on AB alone that will help you answer how to raise humidity in a tank. I would rather ALL my Ts be happy that have a few comfortable while the other suffer.

My room- It stays at a constant 78F and around 50 to 60% humidity. I do nothing for the relative humidity in the room, but rather flood or saturate the enclosures that need it.

Good luck.

Cody

 

[Offkillter]

Excellent advice,I'm new to the hobby and also worried about how to best provide my friends with humidity but ultimately just go with the substrate saturation method and have had no problems.Plus I hate the Idea of having to obligate an entire room to hummidifing my T's.

 

[codykrr]

I will also add. Humidifying a room to 80% could prove to be dangerous as well. mold can grow(and not in the tanks) a 70F room at 80% humidity is heaven for all sorts of mold. black mold in particular.

Also this can cause the "popcorn" type ceilings to start flaking.which is just a pain to patch in.

Im not saying it WILL happen, but It CAN.

 

[webbedone]

I've never had trouble keeping humidity up 60%-80% inside the tanks with just a water bowl and a lil help from food injector from walmart, dental syringe, and some clear wrap to cover excess ventilation

 

[blooms]

Or you could just get a large fishtank. I am from south florida, but NE China lacks the warmth and humidity. My apartment has lots of plants and a large fish tank with a black piranha. I also have underfloor heating. This keeps my home in cold, dry NE China subtropical, which makes both me and my spiders happy I guess. I also have a ceiling fan that keeps air circulating, so mold hasn't been a big problem. I also have good ventilation on all my spider containers so they get higher ambient humidity and good airflow at the same time.

 

[REAPER591]

I have a roughly 10x12 room in my home devoted to my collection. (63 and growing) Here in new england my relative humidity can easily drop to 30-40% once the heat starts kicking on during the colder months. In short I wanted to humidfy the entire room because I don't want to be concerned with how much misting/flooding of the substrate I need to do for all 60+ of my enclosures. Price is no object, making my day to day maintenance lower is.

With that being said I purchased a humidifier (since no one decided to help out with my actual question) and have decided on the 60-70% range for the room. With the only ones needing an extra oomph of humidty being my P. Regalis enclosures. So misting 9 tanks beats the hell out of 63.

In case anyone reads this looking for the same answers I was. I found a Sunbeam warm mist humidifier at Wal-Mart. The heating element is sealed and even with using tap water looks to only need to be cleaned once or twice a week. (your mileage may vary depending on your wuality of tap water.) No filters to be replaced, no fans to make noise, no moving parts to go bad. Literally a metal piece that sits in water and create steam. Great for me since I need to heat my T room 2/3 of the year anyway so it helps my heater to not run as much as well.

 

[codykrr]

^ i did try and help. first off I would have went with an ultrasonic humidifier. second, either way you look at it. good luck keeping them running unless using distilled water. I could never do it with tap water.

Also why "mist" unless its for slings to drink, flooding the substrate with a good amount of water will suffice. I rarely have to flood. maybe once a month. if using peat moss it will hold for a long time vs coco coir.

I have over 100 Ts, and never have had a problem maintaining them. the winter here can make the humidity drop from 20% to 50% so i know how that feels. I just dont see a point in humidifying an entire room.

Good luck though.

 

[REAPER591]

first off I would have went with an ultrasonic humidifier. second, either way you look at it. good luck keeping them running unless using distilled water. I could never do it with tap water.

Every ultrasonic I looked into seemed to have less than favorable reviews, and that it was more of a "cool" humidity. The one that I found is of the "warm" variety. Literally a metal heating element (the size of two 3 litre bottle caps stacked) sits in the water and boils it, thus making steam and creating humidty. I confused as to why you think this will fail over time? There is nothing to fail....if mineral deposits start to build up on the metal it an easy trip to the sink and a scrub with a sponge. Not really that hard imo.


And for everyone else, the original point of this thread was not ask anyones opinion of if I should do it or not, all I wanted was some input on the humidifiers themselves. I understand the valid points and arguments as to why it is not "needed", I really do, but the fact is it is something that I "wanted" to do. It's amazing how a simple question can get derailed into a whole seperate conversation.

 

[codykrr]

Id say when Stan chimes in you ought to listen. Not saying he is "GOD" of tarantula keeping, but he did literally write the book

if you didnt want opinion dont ask.. thats what a forum is. opinions/facts. I gave you both.

If you where wonder which humidifier to use, start reading reviews(apparently you did).

I told you from my experience. I wouldnt use a humidifier. thats experience. meaning I tried it once. it failed, and I found better means of humidifying my tarantulas. IE- flood the enclosure.

 

[flyguycolorado]

It's funny how fast people in the hobby start to talk about a "room" when I first started never thought it would come to that. Now on the third book shelf and thinking maybe a "room" isn't that bad of an idea.

 

[BCscorp]

I have the exact opposite happen in the winter, the humidity goes up to 90%+.

 

[REAPER591]

Id say when Stan chimes in you ought to listen. Not saying he is "GOD" of tarantula keeping, but he did literally write the book

I took in everything that he said and appreciated the response, even though it was unnecessary. While I did ask about a humidifier that was able to reach 80% I never said I was planning on running at 80%. Most humidifiers have "auto" settings based on relative humidity. A lot of what I found maxxed out at 65%, which I felt could be too low ( based on room size one side with humidifier could potentially be 10% off from the side without, etc) So I wanted to be sure I was able to get one that could potentially go higher.

if you didnt want opinion dont ask.. thats what a forum is. opinions/facts. I gave you both.

Yes, I understand the concept of a forum and again appreciate the input, but was only asking for input on humidifiers themselves. ( which you did touch on a couple of posts later though )

I told you from my experience. I wouldnt use a humidifier. thats experience. meaning I tried it once. it failed, and I found better means of humidifying my tarantulas. IE- flood the enclosure.

And by your experience I was able to determine that I was in-fact correct in not purchasing an ultrasonic humidifier because they are temperamental at beast and high maintenance/cost units.


So lets just let this topic die where it sits, thank you all around.