We built a new home for my yellow foot (carapace 9 1/2"). He went from a 2x3 "box" to a 6x 3 1/2 one. Now I'm having trouble keeping the heat and humidity up (no lid). I put a large rubbermaid tun in there with a door cut out and he goes in there often. A heat lamp is suspended just outside this rubbermaid box and he sits under it a lot. I filled the box with sphagmum moss and mist it 1 or 2 times a day. I also put a small humidifier in there and run it for a few hours a day for humidity. The problem is that the humidifier keeps the moss wet but it is pretty cold to the touch. I'm wondering if putting a heating pad under the rubbermaid box would warm the moss up a bit. He wouldn't be able to touch the heating pad. He seems to like it in there, but the colder it gets (Michigan) the less he is in there and is under his heat lamp all day instead. This is why I am trying to figure out how to heat up his little box.
Keeping hide/humid box warm
- Thread starter Meganolvt
- Start date
Turn off the humidifier until you get the heat firgured out. You don't want that cold. Cover your box, that'll make a difference. Post a picture of your enclosure so we can see what you're dealing with
Cut a hole in the top of the hide box just big enough for a Che done can sit on it with the Che being centered over the hole. Line the rim of the hole with tin foil and place the Che over it with done rim sitting on the tin foil.
Like already said above get the heat figured out. Cold and wet will make a sick or dead tort. Also you don't want it too wet, it will cause shell rot. Keep the area he is sitting on dry while moist underneath. Covering half or all of it will help hold in heat and humidity.
Like already said above get the heat figured out. Cold and wet will make a sick or dead tort. Also you don't want it too wet, it will cause shell rot. Keep the area he is sitting on dry while moist underneath. Covering half or all of it will help hold in heat and humidity.
You don't need a humidifier, you need a closed chamber.
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I was wondering too if I could put a che through a hole in the lid, thanks for the advice with the tin foil. Obviously I don't want to start a fire, and I wasn't sure exactly how to do it. I think that is what i'll do. I'm also going to run a hose from the humidifier into that hide box and put it on a timer, that way I know the moss is getting wet at least a little, and it won't be so cold. He hates soaking and getting wet in general, so humidity and "misting" him are difficult.
You can also use more than one light fixture. I have a Christmas Tree Storage bin, made by Iris, and it's 4' long. I have to have two black lights, one on either end (or you could use CHEs) and one Mercury Vapor Bulb situated in the middle.
I bought a seedling starter heat mat at the hardware store and I have that on the floor of the bin, then substrate on top of the mat, then the hiding place filled with sphagnum moss on top of that. To get more heat I scrape away a bit of the substrate, or less, you add some substrate. The box the mat comes in says it doesn't get hotter than 80F and I've found that to be true. The heat from the mat, coming up through the moist substrate provides warm, moist air inside the hiding place.
I bought a seedling starter heat mat at the hardware store and I have that on the floor of the bin, then substrate on top of the mat, then the hiding place filled with sphagnum moss on top of that. To get more heat I scrape away a bit of the substrate, or less, you add some substrate. The box the mat comes in says it doesn't get hotter than 80F and I've found that to be true. The heat from the mat, coming up through the moist substrate provides warm, moist air inside the hiding place.
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If your going
to use a humidifier, be sure it's a warm mist one, not a cold mist one.
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