Reptile & Amphibian Forums

well i got myself a thermometer and hydrometer today that has a probe and all that, my basking tempture is 85 i only had it their for a second could be slightly higher maybe it takes a little bit of time to regester, so id like to know if thats ok, but id like to know all the ideal temps, basking , night , cool side all that. other question is my humidty is only at 55% i dnt think thats high enough how do i raise the humidity the tank isa already completly water on the bottom (yes there is tons of room for him other thatn the water) my tank has screen tops so should those be covered up a bit, oh also what is the ideal humidity if someone would take the time just to list those details so i can adquetly provide for my dragon id appreciate it alot, thanks

warm side should be 80-85 degrees with a basking area of 90-95F cool side from 75-78 degrees, with a night temp of 70-80 degrees, preferably not going under 70F... I keep mine at 75 at night.
Humidity should be over 60%, if it is under 60%, it should drop no less than 50%, anywhere inbetween 50-60% they should have a large water space to soak in... ideal humidity is 70% this can be achieved by misting two or three times a day, using live plants, having moving water, using a humidifier, having a soil type substrate. Any of those should work quite well. Using warmer water for the pool is also a good thing too.

I dont know why the plus sign didnt show up there... but ideal humidity is 70% (70% or more)

thanks alot, i cheecked them memory of my humdity gauge and its max was somewhere in the high 60s put it normally reads 55%, and i have lotssss of water and two waterfall type things so do u have any other tips on rasing humidity, i think i have an old fish tank heater i could through in to heat the water but i dnt want my wd to burn on it if it gets to hot any ideas would be apprceiated

Hmm, dont know any other tips really. We dont use loose substrates in our tank, its tile on the bottom, but there is a laybox just incase one of our females lays... other than that we have a moving waterfall in our 4 foot pool for them, we just use warm water while filling it, we dont use heaters. The only screen we have in the enclosure is on the door and a portion on the other side of the cage, the top is made of glass as well as the front and the other sides are all wood. You could possibly cover a portion of the screen top of yours to help keep the humidity in. We also have live plants such as staghorn ferns and Dracaena trees, our hygrometer reads 80% usually, and we dont have to mist very often, we just mist when they look like they are in a shed process. In the winter we mist a little more because of the dry air, but it usually stays pretty humid and warm in that specific room, we have frogs and other reptiles in the room that have heat in there as well.

ok thanks, i geuss ill cover some and then next paycheck ill pick up a fern i tll try to find te one ur talking about other then that i geuss ill talk to my friend who is in school for landscapeing and has a book about every plant imaginable and everything about it, unless u know some other really common safe plants to put in, i have a i think like 2.5 gallon tank in my thank that holds my flilter some pebbles and fake plants so ill make that into a planter and hope it works, just trying to get this ironed out before the cold candian winter hits, thanks alot for the help, actually would a fogger help or a mist system i have a feeling the fooger would be cheaper i think i saw one for like 40$$

In most tank set-ups all of the lighting and heat sources should be on the hot/warm side and the pool should be on the cool side. Covering the top of the cool side with a sheet of acrylic or glass will help tremendously in raising the humidity. Adding a few small, live plants to the environment also helps to create more humidity. A submersible aquarium heater helps to take the chill off the water, but an undertank heater placed under the pool area works well also. As long as your dragon has at least intermittent periods of high humidity you shouldn't notice any adverse affects on his health. It is important to have dry periods as well as humid periods to help preclude the growth of mold and fungus. Diane

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dianedfisher@yahoo.com

My 3 CWD-Avanyu, Tripod and Drago
Valentino, Veiled Chameleon
Chyam, Nosy Be Panther Chameleon

well my humidity does very but never breaks 70 so ill try to cover it with some sort of glass if i can find it, i work at homedepot so ill get a plant from there, any suggestions on plants that are safe cant be to large though my tank isnt that big (more than enough for my lizard at this point but not for a large plant) and is normal pooting soil from a garden centre the kind in a bag ok? is it ok to have the whole bottom water if there is a lot of over head space and a few islands? srry for all the questions but thanks for all the answers i sppreciate it alot and this is what my WD looks like at teh moment

Potting soil is OK as long as it doesn't have the little white fertilizer stuff in it (dragons like to eat those). As far as safe plants are concerned there are too many to list here but go here: http://www.triciaswaterdragon.com/mischerp.htm#toxic and this list will lead you to places that list toxic plants. Also, that is probably the best WD keeping site on the net. I use Pothos, Ficus, and Dracena in my viv. They seem to love the taller plants but kill them quickly by climbing on them... Hope this helps!!!

awsome ill get something to put in there soon, my wd isnt that big so maybe he wnt kill them too quick lol thsnks for the suggestion

I am no expert by any means.. considering getting an AWD. But I do have a frilled dragon and have used snake plants in the cage and you can use them potted or just in a jar with water. Of course, to keep down bad smells, if you use the jar w/water, change it often so it doesn't go stagnate. Not sure.. but this may also help w/ adding humidity. The snake plants are very tough too. Just a thought. Btw.. nice baby.

thanks for the suggestion, Im sorry to put this on this forum but the frilled one is dead, suductive reptile could u let me know what the apporpraite humidity is for the frilled dragon thanks, and sorry again to all the wd people, and heres a pic for s. reptile heres my guy

basking temp- at least 94F
warm side-around 87F
cool side-around 76F
at night-not below 70F