Reptile & Amphibian Forums

now that i have a more accurate digital hydrometer I find that my humidty fluctuates from basicaly 0 to 45-50%. It is extremely dry here in boston at this time of year. The tank is a 47 gal) see my previous post for complete setup details. The top is screen - like i see n the tanks in most of the photos posted here. But at 80 degrees with the lamps (one 100W bulb on a 12 hr timer and 1 60W infrared heat lamp which stays on all the time) the humidty just drops. I tried putting a piece of glass (12*12" between the bulb and the top and that seemed to help until the glass shattered in to several pieces (thermal stress). So the question is, how to keep that humidity in while still being able to heat and light the tank? Would tempered glass be less prone to crack?

where are the heat bulbs located over the top of your enclosure??they should be only on one side to produce a thermal gradient within the enclosure. if this is the case, you can put a sheet of glass along the top on the otherside, where there are no heat lamps. you can also add lots of live plants, this will increase the humidity. another VERY good way of increasing humidty is to have a large water area, and if you still need more humidity, add a water elemnt heater in the water, and heat the water to 25c, this will cause the water to slowly evaporate. the humidty should range from 50-70%. naturally in the wild, the humidity will increase at night.

you can check my site for more info.

luke z
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http://luke_zecevic.tripod.com/frogsofaustralia

thanks luke - your site was one of the ones i visited during my research phase. Here is the situation: the tank has a top that is 12" wide by 30" long. There is a 12 x 12" water area. I have 2 incandescent reflector light fixtures - 1 has a 100W bulb on a timer and the other a 100W infrared bulb that is on all the time. These reflectgors have a footprint of about 10" in diameter. The idea is that in the winter I need heating at night too (indoor temps drop during the night in the cold new england winters). The other bulb provides lighting, along with a 24" daylight flourescent bulb on the same timer. So there realy is no space on the top to cover! There are a variety of plants and a thermal gradient. My issue really is how best to provide 24 hour heating without taking up space above the tank.

Any advice on this?

so for day heat and photoperiod you use and incandescent light, and for night heat you use a red incandescent light. i think you should ditch the incandescent light which provides photoperiod, and instead purchase a full-spectrum fluro light for photoperiod, these produce barely no heat, so they can be placed on top of glass. so your new heat/light system would be, fluro for photoperiod, and the red bulb can be on 24 hours a day, instead of just being on at night. test it out, and see how it works. make sure the red bulb stays on one side, to provide a thermal gradient.

luke z
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http://luke_zecevic.tripod.com/frogsofaustralia

Luke, thanks for the reply. It turns out I was already running a full spectrum flourescent and running the herat lamp 24hrs. So I simply removed the incandescent, covered 2.3 of the top with glass and put the heat lamp to one side 1/2 over the water area. I also added a submersable heater to the water pool. Now, my temp is good at 80 degrees and even drops 5-8 degrees at night and the humidity is stable at 68%. I think this is good.

We replaced our casualty with a new WTF from a different shop. It is about the same size as the other we have - pleasingly plump and nice looking complesion (ha!). Anyway, I suspect that the casualty was not healthy from the start. It was significantly skinnier than the 2 we have now and never climbed or moved around. I snuck in and watched the 2 last night and they were climbing and moving to the substrate and back up. One took a short soak. I did not see them eat but I think they did. Much different and healthier behavior i think.

thanks again. I will try to post some photos of the setup this week. It looks really great.

michael