# Optimal humidity



## Magnus Boden (Aug 5, 2016)

Hello,

I have bought a humidifier for my enclosure and I have an home automation system that measures the temperature and humidity in two spots inside the enclosure so together with the controllable on off switch and some scripting I can totally control the humidity in the enclosure.

So now I am wondering what the optimal humidity levels in the enclosure is.

I found this on the web so perhaps I should follow this to mimic their natural environment?







Also I was wondering about during the day, should the humidity fall during the night or perhaps rise since the temperature lowers?

Up until now I have misted the enclosure by hand once a day and the humidity would go away within a few hours down to perhaps 40-45%. He has shedded ok anyway so he doesn't seem to need very high humidity but still I would like him to have the best possible conditions.

Regards
Magnus


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## dpjm (Aug 5, 2016)

That chart will give the the ambient humidity of the area, what a wild tegu will experience when it is out and about. They also spend a good amount of time in burrows, presumably the humidity is closer to 100% in those, Roadkill might know.

So you could program your humidifer to keep the humidity in line with that annual cycle, but also provide a humid hide that is probably 90+%. That would give more or less give them the conditions a wild tegu would experience. I think that is an good and interesting way to do humidity, by the way.


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## Walter1 (Aug 5, 2016)

Word of caution with humidity- make certain that the air moves.


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## Magnus Boden (Aug 6, 2016)

Walter1 said:


> Word of caution with humidity- make certain that the air moves.



So keeping a high humidity in the hiding place would probably be a bad ide then?
Do you think it will help if you let it dry out during the day?

I read that that the humidity is between 60-80% at night and down to almost 40% at daytime. But at the same time the hiding place high humidity is mostly for the daytime so keeping high humidity at night and low at the day is equal to the rest of the enclosure so then perhaps I should just skip humidifying the hiding place.

I confess I am very nerdy in most things I do so I guess this is a little overkill and I will just humidify the whole enclosure more at night and less in the daytime.

Perhaps it is best to keep about 45 in the daytime and then at night make it about 70-80 and every three days or something to keep it at 45 at night so it dries out.

How do you keep your humidity?

Regards
Magnus


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## dpjm (Aug 6, 2016)

Keeping the air moving, in other words, exchanging air inside the enclosure with air outside the enclosure at some rate, has both positive and negative effects, so you have to weigh out the good and bad to see what rate you want the air to exchange at.

The good is that is keeps the air fresher inside the enclosure.

Th bad is that it will have an effect on the humidity, usually lowering it. If you have the enclosure in a room that is 40% humidity and you want to maintain 70% in the enclosure, then having a high rate of air exchange won't work that well. You would have to add more moisture to the air by misting or whatever method you choose (humidifier in your case) or reduce the rate of air exchange by decreasing the ventilation. if you find that your humidifier can't keep up with what you need it to do then decreasing ventilation is going to be your fix. How much will greatly depend on the humidity level in the room that the enclosure is in.



> So keeping a high humidity in the hiding place would probably be a bad ide then?
> Do you think it will help if you let it dry out during the day?



No, I think an extra humid hide is a good idea, like I said they have it in the wild so it is probably beneficial. I would not make an attempt to dry it out during the day, no reason to do that. You just have to be a bit more careful with extra humid areas to keep them extra clean and check for mold. Extra clean involves removing any biological material that could promote pathogenic bacteria growth. I like the idea of keeping isopods or small millipedes in this section of the enclosure as they will help keep it clean for you. They would be drawn to that area of the enclosure anyway as it should be dark and humid, so that works pretty nicely. Also, keeping that hide humid doesn't usual mean keeping it wet, just humid. You would use a substrate like peat moss that is spongy and holds moisture well and the only ventilation is the entrance.



> I confess I am very nerdy in most things I do so I guess this is a little overkill


Not a bad thing.


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## Ariel (Jul 18, 2021)

Magnus Boden said:


> So keeping a high humidity in the hiding place would probably be a bad ide then?
> Do you think it will help if you let it dry out during the day?
> 
> I read that that the humidity is between 60-80% at night and down to almost 40% at daytime. But at the same time the hiding place high humidity is mostly for the daytime so keeping high humidity at night and low at the day is equal to the rest of the enclosure so then perhaps I should just skip humidifying the hiding place.
> ...


If its a baby in a in example 20 gallon starter fish tank with mesh top / or whatever size with mesh top humidity should be in the 60's to 70's ..I am trying to actually control humidity by using foil tape on left where i have a double deep dome light fixture which I trace out the foil tape to go around the dome opening and clear heavy duty tape on the inside traced out also providing air lock to keep basking light from dryimg out the humidity for both the basking side and cool side , I also line around cool side
(Clear Heavy duty tape about 3 inches around area top and bottom of mesh so sticky side face each other essentially sandwiching gluey sides so its not exposed . on cool side I have a repti light on back and (18") and a 15" long double deep dome from zoo med that has double UVB lights in the front . I essentially also trace and cut tape so light is not directly on tape and between the two light fixtures is sufficient space for air to pass . Seems to be doing the trick . Lights basking and uvb will be on for about 10-12 hours , I will do 10 and night time Humidity will rise on its own , just mist fake plants or substrates at least 2 times well a day . I am getting my baby Chacoan giant whitehead male in a few days , so this past week I have just been researching and experimenting and find this will be the ultimate solution . Also a nice size water dish possibly on both side will help . Hope this helped ya out . You can email me at kenny,[email protected] to share results -Peace ..Lack of humidity will make them not shed well and possibly lose fingers if a baby in a few months.. and if its a small enclosure I would never use a humidifier cause it can cause a lot of breathing problems as someone mentioned make sure the air moves( imagine being in a sauna all day or half a day , its hard to breath so you dont want it to be smokey looking even tho it may look cool the animal will die


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