Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all

Recently I realized that my hygrometer in my pythons cage was a little off. So I bought another. I also have a digital one but its too big for the enclosure.

I tested to see which one is not working properly by placing them beside each other next to where the house thermostat is, watching the difference in humidity readings and comparing them to the house hygrometer. Whichever was not in line with the others is the faulty one right?

I was stunned to find that all of my hygrometers ( 4 in total) are giving me widly different readings. The house thermostat (also digital) says 40%, the digital one says 30%, one dial hygrometer says 20% and 2 other dial hygrometers say 55-60%!

The dial hygrometers are from exoterra and I'm not sure if they can be trusted.

How can all my hygrometers and my house thermostat be giving me seperate readings? Is there something about humidity physics I'm not aware of here or are all my meters busted?

(before you ask, my house thermostat's probe is where I tested all the equipment to make sure the playing field was even)

thanks all!

They don't work and never did. I worked at a place that sold seed, they had to be accurate, it takes an expensive hygrometer. An a/c technician showed me a sling hygrometer he uses. If a small cheap unit would give accurate readings, he wouldn't need a sling hygrometer.

What would be the best way (device) to read the humidity?
Exoterra has a small digital one that runs for $30... and I haven't heard great things about it either.
Any ideas?

What are you planning on using it for? If it is just to be used in you ball rack/cage - you really don't need one at all. Generally, I've found that (like Mike said) not only are they fairly inaccurate but having the additional probe in the tubs is just a pain. Unlike a thermostat probe that you can place outside of the tub, the hygrometer probe has to be in the area you are testing and it usually just gets in the way.

If you are planning on using it for incubation purposes, again, some would say that they are unnecessary. Despite being inaccurate I feel that they will give me at least some sense of where the humidity is in the incubation tub. I'm not sure how accurate the one I use in my incubation tubs is, (I have a digital hygrometer/thermometer combo with two probes - I still monitor the temperatures with both my thermostat and my temp gun and the temperature probe from this unit is accurate to within 0.2 degrees).

I use the no-substrate method in method so I really don't have to worry about humidity too much. Using that method allows me to over water without fear of drowning the eggs - this way I always know that my humidity levels will be high enough. I still use the hygrometer, and after the humidity is above 90% (I believe?) it simply reads "High". The biggest problem I have with my hygrometer is the probe - it is fairly small and it does come with a suction cup for positioning, but with the humidity levels that I'm dealing with in the incubator I've always worried a little bit that water will drip down onto it and give me a grossly inaccurate result. How likely that is to happen, I don't know.

Like Mike said... they aren't very accurate, but if you are simply using them for an general estimation you'll be fine. I would suggest that you stay away from the ultra-cheap dial ones and instead go with one of the digital ones. Something tells me that anything costing $2 to buy probably only cost about 50 cents to manufacture - (maybe more, I don't know) how accurate could the manufacturing process be at that price point?
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"...I say 'apparently' because despite all our progress she is not at all a tame or handle-able snake and gettting her from that cage would re-start a war.. and we've had a good armistice for several months now."-Gus Rentfro - I love this quote!

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Randy and Michelle
Art In Scales
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