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my digital hygrometer sits at the bottom of my panther's cage, just outside the screen. im wondering, is it safe to assume that the humidity inside of his enclosure, deep inside the foliage, is slightly higher than what the hygrometer reads? i have a humidifier aimed at his cage that runs for 30 minutes out of every 2 hours, all day and night. usually the hygrometer reads from 55% to "HI," but sometimes when the a/c is running in my house and the humidifier is just about to come on, the hygrometer reads as low as 47%. my panther doesnt show any signs of dehydration, but i just want to be safe.

Why don't you just put the hydrometer in different places throughout the enclosure to test? or even buy a cheap dail hydrometer.
If your hydrometer is at the bottom of the enclosure, and is outside the screen - it will likely that it will be more humid inside the cage and around the foliage.
Again I reccomend you buy a few more hydrometers - Guess work can be can lead to dier consequenses..
Good luck

Cheers,

>>my digital hygrometer sits at the bottom of my panther's cage, just outside the screen. im wondering, is it safe to assume that the humidity inside of his enclosure, deep inside the foliage, is slightly higher than what the hygrometer reads? i have a humidifier aimed at his cage that runs for 30 minutes out of every 2 hours, all day and night. usually the hygrometer reads from 55% to "HI," but sometimes when the a/c is running in my house and the humidifier is just about to come on, the hygrometer reads as low as 47%. my panther doesnt show any signs of dehydration, but i just want to be safe.
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-Jamie Whitehouse
-corn_snake_123@msn.com
-formally known as corn_snake_123

good point. i dont trust dial hygrometers, but moving my digital around wouldnt be a bad idea

You can test this fairly easily. When you plan to be home for a day put the hygrometer in the cage at different spots (I'd suggest the driest area near the cage top and basking light as well as the dense foliage part) and check it at the same times during your fogging cycles that you would check it when it is outside. You can get an idea how much difference there is between the "inside" and "outside" levels. I bet you won't see as wide a fluctuation.

thanks carlton you always have good advice to offer. in the day time i mist him lightly on a regular basis and this coupled with the humidifier cycle keeps humidity at or above 60 percent pretty much all day. what im wondering is, are you supposed to allow the enclosure to dry out a bit overnight, therefore allowing the humidity to drop, or should i go ahead and have the humidifier run more often at night since i cant mist? one thing worth noting is i live in las vegas where its pretty tough to keep humidity up during these dry summers.

If you have that much trouble keeping the humidity up I would let the humidifier cycle during the night as well. BUT, set it so it does not run as much (maybe one cycle after midnight), as there aren't lights or heat spots drying the cage then. It is tricky to keep the cage really humid at night, but in that dry a climate (been there done that) you may need to. You just don't want the cage to be sopping wet for hours at a time. As long as there is some air exchange and the surfaces of perches and foliage get a chance to dry you should be OK. You might want to buy one of those hygrometers that records the min/max of humidity so you can see what level it actually gets to at night and adjust your cycles if needed.

Oh, one other idea. Sometimes light misting can cause more evaporation and dry things out more than a less frequent but heavier spray. It's kind of like giving a snake or monitor a short soak to rehydrate them or ease a shed...too short a time will actually make the problem worse. Does that make sense?