Need some advice on humidity

[Emily Deshar]

So I received my redfoot hatchling on March 22. She is fairly active, but she is not eating well.. she pops every other day in her soaks, but I have yet to see her drink any water.. the only thing I can get her to eat is mangos and strawberries.. I've tried turnip greens, mustard greens, mushrooms, romaine, dandelion flower and leaves, and mango. Strawberries only once to get her to eat something.. the Che bulb is on a thermostat and it stays around 85 degrees on one side and 75 on other. I have a layer of coconut coir and a layer of coconut bark and on one side I have tons of sphagnum moss with a hide with more moss in it facing away from the 18" tropical uvb strip light. She spends most of her time in the moss. So my temps seem to be good, but my humidity sucks. I was spraying it everyday and it wasn't holding the humidity.. so I got a humidifier. When it is turned on, it'll reach 90%+ humidity so I only turn it on for like 5 minutes then shut it off. But when it's off my humidity drops to 60%....
hopefully soon my husband will build her a new enclosure. It will be a 4'x6' enclosure. It will be wood with plexi glass. I am a little worried because he has never built anything before lol.. so I was wondering any advice on eating, humidity, and if I can see pictures of your big enclosures?

 

[lisa127]

I think I answered this on FB, but you need to cover the open areas around the bulb. That's how you're losing your humidity.

Use foil for now.

 

[Alexio]

I agree with lisa127. I am using maybe the same container but i have humidity much higher. Using foil around the gap between the bulb and container will help keep the humid warm air inside. I also really like to use relfectix instead of foil because its better at insulating heat.

 

[teresaf]

Just make sure you have an accurate way of measuring temps and humidity like Alexio. Covering will trap more humidity but also more heat. If interior gets too hot you would need less wattage heating source. You don't want to cook the little dude...

 

[Emily Deshar]

I think I answered this on FB, but you need to cover the open areas around the bulb. That's how you're losing your humidity.

Use foil for now.

Yes I've just put the foil around it, but it still isn't holding....

 

[Emily Deshar]

I agree with lisa127. I am using maybe the same container but i have humidity much higher. Using foil around the gap between the bulb and container will help keep the humid warm air inside. I also really like to use relfectix instead of foil because its better at insulating heat.

Oh is your foil under your lamp? Your not too worried it will get too hot or something? I put it around it, but I can't keep humidity in, but if I had it under the lamp too it would completely be covered. This may sound really dumb, but it's ok to let the foil touch the lamp all the time? It won't melt or be too dangerous?

 

[Emily Deshar]

Just make sure you have an accurate way of measuring temps and humidity like Alexio. Covering will trap more humidity but also more heat. If interior gets too hot you would need less wattage heating source. You don't want to cook the little dude...

Yes I have the same digital gauge. My Che bulb is on a thermostat set to keep it at no more than 85 under the bulb.

 

[Alexio]

Oh is your foil under your lamp? Your not too worried it will get too hot or something? I put it around it, but I can't keep humidity in, but if I had it under the lamp too it would completely be covered. This may sound really dumb, but it's ok to let the foil touch the lamp all the time? It won't melt or be too dangerous?

In that lamp i have a small 40 watt light set on a dimmer to reduce heat and light so the bulb never gets too hot. I have a hole cut that just smaller than the lamp so the edges of the lamp sit on the lid of the bin, the foil you see in the picture is actually foil tape i put all around the edges of the lamp just incase. The temps where the side of the lamp touches the foil is only about 100 degrees f so not really too hot.
Now if your running a ceramic heat emitter on full blast that could maybe get hot enough to melt the lid the way i have it set up. So you might have to be conscious of that.
The aluminum foil would be fine to put under the lamp, people use foil in ovens where temps can exceed 500 degrees so the foil would be fine. I would remove the screen you have and tape a sheet of foil or two to the top of the lid. Then cut a small lamp size hole in the foil, then place your screen over your foil on your lid. This way the only gap you would have would be the small hole for the heat from the che to come through. You could also use reflectix instead of foil because i feel like that's better and trapping heat and humidity.
My other idea is you could buy a lamp dimmer and reduce the amount of heat your che puts out once the overall temp of the heat emitter goes down you might be able to set in on the lid in a similar way to mine.





The second pic is of the che hooked to a dimmer hooked to an on/ off thermostat.

 

[lisa127]

Oh is your foil under your lamp? Your not too worried it will get too hot or something? I put it around it, but I can't keep humidity in, but if I had it under the lamp too it would completely be covered. This may sound really dumb, but it's ok to let the foil touch the lamp all the time? It won't melt or be too dangerous?

It's fine. You can cook, broil, and grill with it!

 

[christinaland128]

Yaaay Emily you joined Tortoise Forum! Great place!

 

[Emily Deshar]

In that lamp i have a small 40 watt light set on a dimmer to reduce heat and light so the bulb never gets too hot. I have a hole cut that just smaller than the lamp so the edges of the lamp sit on the lid of the bin, the foil you see in the picture is actually foil tape i put all around the edges of the lamp just incase. The temps where the side of the lamp touches the foil is only about 100 degrees f so not really too hot.
Now if your running a ceramic heat emitter on full blast that could maybe get hot enough to melt the lid the way i have it set up. So you might have to be conscious of that.
The aluminum foil would be fine to put under the lamp, people use foil in ovens where temps can exceed 500 degrees so the foil would be fine. I would remove the screen you have and tape a sheet of foil or two to the top of the lid. Then cut a small lamp size hole in the foil, then place your screen over your foil on your lid. This way the only gap you would have would be the small hole for the heat from the che to come through. You could also use reflectix instead of foil because i feel like that's better and trapping heat and humidity.
My other idea is you could buy a lamp dimmer and reduce the amount of heat your che puts out once the overall temp of the heat emitter goes down you might be able to set in on the lid in a similar way to mine.





The second pic is of the che hooked to a dimmer hooked to an on/ off thermostat.

Ooh that's smart!
Yes I have my Che on the thermostat but not on a dimmer.. wouldn't the thermostat do better than dimmer or is it better to have both?
I will do your idea of foil, screen, then lamp. Thanks!

 

[Emily Deshar]

It's fine. You can cook, broil, and grill with it!

Yes I knew that, but I didn't know if it would be bad sitting there non stop. You know when you use the oven, grill, etc. it's only for a certain amount of time, not non stop..

 

[Emily Deshar]

So update: these are my changes to my enclosure. The humidity is high because I just turned on the humidifier and didn't mean to make it go that high..
will let you know in a few hours or tomorrow if the humidity holds.

 

[Alexio]

Ooh that's smart!
Yes I have my Che on the thermostat but not on a dimmer.. wouldn't the thermostat do better than dimmer or is it better to have both?
I will do your idea of foil, screen, then lamp. Thanks!

That would depend entirely on the type of thermostat you have. If you have an on/off thermostat then your heat emitter turns on and off.
If you have a pulse proportional thermostat then it can actually regulate how much power goes through the heat emitter changing and lowering or raising the temperature. In
If you have an on/ off thermostat it may be better to use a dimmer. Depending on how hot it gets right under the hest emitter (or around) Do you have an infrared temperature gun? They can be purchased cheaply from lowes or home depot or on amazon. That helps know the temperature directly under the heat emitter. Once your system becomes enclosed the amount of heat required to heat the enclosure is less because its not escaping through the gaps.

 

[Emily Deshar]

Yes I have a heat gun. I have Scilla thermostat.