Repti Fogger

[TonkaLuv]

Hello

I am planning on purchasing a Zoomed Reptifogger in the next week or so for my red foot. I am having issues keeping Tonka's humidity up high enough. All reviews I have read, and few threads on here have been very positive about this product. What do all you other red footy/ellow foot owners think? Has this worked/not worked for you? Would you recommend that I purchase a timer for it, or just set it on low fog all day? I think this would be a really great buy, but I thought I'd see what you guys thought.

 

[Madkins007]

Ultrasonic foggers and humidifiers make me nervous.

1. Cool mist foggers, like this, reduce the temp of the air by about 10 degrees
2. Fine mist foggers have been accused of being linked to respiratory issues in humans and animals both because of inhaling the water micro-droplets and because of molds that grow in the fogger's chambers.

I DO use these, but when I do, I rig them so the mist is directed in the hottest part of the habitat so it is converted to true humidity (the mist itself is water vapor, not humidity) and I try to rig it so the mist settles down into the habitat rather than blowing into it.

But that is just my nickel's worth!

 

[dmarcus]

I use it for my box turtle hatchlings tank and so far I am very happy with it. Leaving it on low all day is not an option because it will raise the humidity way to high. You can buy a temperature gauge to better control the humidity but it cost more than the fogger....

 

[LindaF]

all day would be too much. I have one on a timer for two 30 minute blocks. 30 minutes in morning, and 30 in the afternoon. My enclosure is covered so that is all I need to keep humidity up. You will have to experiment to find out what works for you. My only problem is that the bottle is so small. Evert other day I was having to refill it. It needs distilled water, so you can start distilling some now. My red foot really likes the fog. He will come out of his hide when fogger is on. He likes to also hang out under the outlet tube and have water drip on him. I always had a problem with temps getting to high, but the fogger fixed the issue. Kept me from always having to use the spray bottle, and kept things humid when I was away and couldn't spray all the time.

 

[TonkaLuv]

Thanks everyone for all the good tips! I will definitely be putting it in the hot end of the tank, and I'll be getting a timer for it. Are the timers hard to figure out? I am NOT mechanical/technical at all. Is that something I can just get at a hardware store like Lowes or should I get it at a Pet supply store? Also, how do i distill water?

Thanks again for all the help! I found the repti foggers for a good price on Amazon. MUCH cheaper than the pet stores.

--Rachael

 

[Kristina]

You buy distilled water. You could do it yourself if you really want to, but it would be very time consuming and you would have to buy a lot of equipment. To distill you have to boil the water, and then catch the steam and condense it.

The timers are just the regular timers that you use for Christmas lights or whatever. You can buy them just about everywhere, Walmart, Target, Home Depot... etc.

 

[TonkaLuv]

You buy distilled water. You could do it yourself if you really want to, but it would be very time consuming and you would have to buy a lot of equipment. To distill you have to boil the water, and then catch the steam and condense it.

The timers are just the regular timers that you use for Christmas lights or whatever. You can buy them just about everywhere, Walmart, Target, Home Depot... etc.

Thanks!!!

 

[Khameleon21]

I use a misting system myself it works quite well and setup was super easy. Mistking is the brand I got. What I would suggest is the Zoomed thermostat/hydrostat. It takes all the guessing out of timers. Just set the humidity you want and it will turn on whatever device you use, when needed.

 

[Geochelone_Carbonaria]

I used a fogger myself in my old terrarium, that was quite big, but it worked like crap and couldnt keep the humidity up... (and cold mist, brrrr)

So I bought two complete rainsystems attached to humidity control for my two new (even bigger) terrariums and this works like a charm !

The RF's just love it, and they enter the "showers" almost every time it starts to "rain".

It's a bit pricey, about €100 each, but it's well spent money !

The rain systems is produced in Netherlands, and I bought them from a Swedish company, so I don't know if you have anything similar in the US ?

It's all documented in my "how to build a RF terrarium" here :

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-Redfoot-Indoor-Enclosure-Swedish-Style#axzz1WOfAx0LF

 

[LindaF]

I just distill water by letting it set out.

 

[TonkaLuv]

I use a misting system myself it works quite well and setup was super easy. Mistking is the brand I got. What I would suggest is the Zoomed thermostat/hydrostat. It takes all the guessing out of timers. Just set the humidity you want and it will turn on whatever device you use, when needed.

oooh, that sounds pretty great. I will definitely look into it!

---

I used a fogger myself in my old terrarium, that was quite big, but it worked like crap and couldnt keep the humidity up... (and cold mist, brrrr)

So I bought two complete rainsystems attached to humidity control for my two new (even bigger) terrariums and this works like a charm !

The RF's just love it, and they enter the "showers" almost every time it starts to "rain".

It's a bit pricey, about €100 each, but it's well spent money !

The rain systems is produced in Netherlands, and I bought them from a Swedish company, so I don't know if you have anything similar in the US ?

It's all documented in my "how to build a RF terrarium" here :

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-Redfoot-Indoor-Enclosure-Swedish-Style#axzz1WOfAx0LF

There is something like that here. It's called a Monsoon system. Thanks for the tips!

 

[Kristina]

I just distill water by letting it set out.

That is "dechlorinating," not distilling. The distillation process reduces the water to steam, then transports it through tubing to a collection container where it condenses, resulting in pure water. Any heavy metals, calcium, lime, salts, or other impurities are left in the original container. Just leaving water set out will allow it to out-gas any chlorine (chloramine generally has to be chemically neutralized) but will do absolutely nothing to remove metals or impurities. Saying that you are "distilling" it by leaving it out is not correct.

 

[dmarcus]

It is just easier to buy a gallon of distilled water from the grocery store....

 

[Kristina]

Exactly my point, lol. I think they cost around fifty cents.

 

[Tom]

I use this product on my Leopard enclosure right now. Its a 4x8' closed chamber. My fogger is on a timer and it comes on for 15 minutes 6 times a day. Its very dry where I am, but this amount works for me. I've also run it on sulcatas in a more open topped tank. Worked great there too.

Mark is right about the temps. Watch them. My leopard enclosure is on a thermostat with two 100 watt CHE's. Between that and the 100 watt basking bulb, my temps don't drop. In my other enclosure temps would dip a bit, but the whole room stays 80, so it wasn't an issue.

 

[TonkaLuv]

Well, I ordered my Repti Fogger from Amazon today. ($14 cheaper than the stores) and also ordered a timer. I currently have Tonka in a 55 gallon tank, and his warm end has 160 watts of heat bulbs. Hopefully this will be enough, but, if not, I will just buy additional heating. This little guy has already cost me umpteen dollars in the less-than-one-month that I've had him.....what's another $30 right? Yes....he/she is an expensive little dude.....but how can you say no to something that cute!? Once I get the fogger in (hopefully w/in a week) and get it set up, I will let you guys know how it is working. I'm really having a hard time keeping his humidity up, so, hopefully this will help a lot. Thank you for all the wonderful tips! I feel very equipped to set this up in the proper way now.

 

[flkustom]

not meaning to thread jack here but I had a question about all the fogging systems,

if you have say a mercury uv bulb thats on during the time the fog is on, what keeps the "mist" or "fog" from getting the bulb wet and causing it to fail? I know some bulbs explode if water gets on them while they are hot, does the fog just go to the bottom and stay or what keeps it from getting the bulbs wet?

 

[TonkaLuv]

That's a good question....I really don't know. The fogger is an extremely fine mist, though.....so I would that that it would likely evaporate as soon as it got close enough to the heat bulb..... I haven't heard any complaints about any light damage or breakage.

 

[Kristina]

I have never had a problem with one of the bulbs breaking.

 

[flkustom]

oh okay, I wasn't sure.

we use to grow tomatos indoors with mercury vapor lights, they had to be housed in an enclosure because if the misting systems got any water on the bulbs the bulbs would explode. Then again they were 800 watt bulbs


I think I will order a fogger now!