Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I heard that the humidity has to be high or something, isn't the humidy the temperature and moisture within the vivaruim or just in the humid hide itself? Thanks

-Allie

It means in the whole enclosure. I usually keep all mine between 45-50%.

do you spray your enclosure then? sorry for being so ingnorant, I'm just curious
-Allie

No you're not being ignorant at all. I'm sure I speak for everyone when we would rather have you ask, then assume. I only mist the hides. That's the main reason for having the hide, to aid them in shedding. So there is no reason to spray the rest of the enclosure.

"It means in the whole enclosure. I usually keep all mine between 45-50%."

So the whole enclosure is not too dry? I know that the humid hides have to be moist for skin shedding.I thought humidity was heat and moisture? Thankyou

-Allie

The whole enclosure should not be humid. The only humid place should be one hide on the warm side of the tank. Use a rubbermaid or other plastic container(butter bowl works great) with paper towels, moss, compressed coconut fibers, or other moisture holding substrate of your choice and mist them daily. Only one of my geckos will use a humid hide. The other 13 avoid them completely and have never had a problem shedding, so it isn't necessary, but it is a good idea to use one. The rest of the cage needs to be dry, leos are, after all, from an arid, rocky desert environment.

Ok Thanks! I didn't want to get anything wrong and your advise has helped a lot, thanks again

-Allie

Easy way to do it. Get a humidity gauge and just make sure it's between 40-50.

ok , I'm gonna try to buy a thermostat that measures the temperature and humidity (it has a probe btw)

That's a good start.

One thing about meters with probes though is that the humidity sensor is often inside the main unit so you won't be measuring the humidity in the tank unless you keep the main unit in the tank too. There are some thermometer/hygrometer combination units that are pretty small and can be velcro'd to the inside wall of the tank if you like. There's also the old fashioned analog hygrometers that will give you a rough figure but they can be off by as much as 10% or more (based on my own experience).

The difference between the inside and outside of the tank may not be as great for leopard geckos as it is for species that are deliberately kept in very humid environments but if you want an accurate reading an in-tank hygrometer is best.

Humidity is a measurement indicating how much moisture is in the air relative to how much moisture the air can hold at the current pressure and temperature. 100% humidity means the air is holding as much water vapor as is normally possible (there are exceptions since very clean air with no dust can delay the onset of condensation).

Cold air holds less moisture than warm air so it reaches 100% sooner for a given amount of water vapor. Dew forms when air is cooled to the point where it can no longer hold the moisture. It then becomes 100% humid and the excess condenses out.

Since the insides of your tank are semi-enclosed and probably a few degrees warmer on average than the surrounding air from the room, it's more accurate to measure humidity within the tank.

N.F.