# Humidity for columbian tegu



## Nero (Apr 16, 2008)

I live in Las Vegas and humidity is a huge problem. I'm misting daily and using cypress mulch. I can only get it up to 70-80 percent for like an hour at most. Then awhile later it will stay at 40-45 % at best. Whats the best way to get your humidity high and stay at a constant percent?


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## tupinambis (Apr 17, 2008)

Restrict ventilation, mist frequently (best done with an automatic mister), large surface area shallow bodies of water, lots of live plants, vent a humidifier into the tegu's enclosure.


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## DaveDragon (Apr 17, 2008)

I've been dumping water into the substrate (6" of cypress mulch) to keep it moist but most of the water sinks to the bottom and makes a soup. I mix it once a week but that is hard work.

Has anyone tried to heat the substrate from below?? I would like to but some kind of UTH under the enclosure but it would have to heat through 3/8" plywood & vinyl flooring. The heat would evaporate the water under the substrate and more easily humidify the enclosure.


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## tupinambis (Apr 17, 2008)

Very bad idea, DaveDragon. Wood and substrate have a low thermal conductivity, meaning heat is more likely to get trapped and you risk a fire with that kind of set up. You could possibly try plant root heating cable burried in the substrate, but I wouldn't want to risk the tegu getting tangled up in it while digging, or worse yet, damaging the cable and again either starting a fire or electrocuting itself. 

Financially, it's cheap to get a humidifier and vent it into the enclosure, and much safer as well.


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## DaveDragon (Apr 17, 2008)

Damp substrate would conduct heat better but the conductivity would change as it dries out, still a hazard. Any kind of heater in the substrate would be bad news with a burrowing animal.

How do you keep the substrate damp with the heat of the basking lamp drying it out?? I guess if I was to use a humidifier vented into the enclosure the substrate wouldn't dry out due to the ambient humidity. Correct??

I assume an ultrasonic humidifier would be best? We bought this one for our bedroom. http://www.target.com/Vicks-Ultraso...ndex=target&rh=k:ultrasonic humidifier&page=1 Any other possible alternatives? Is there an ultrasonic humidifier that is made to be plumbed?? I will need (1) each for (3) Tegu enclosures. Two of them are stacked, I might be able to share one.


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## tupinambis (Apr 17, 2008)

Europe has a number of humidifier appliances built specifically for the application we are talking about (LuckyReptile is one product line that jumps to mind) but unfortunately, the North American herpetocultural market is not as advanced as what I've seen in the EU. That being said, there are a number of humidifiers on the market either currently or in the past that are not only relatively cheap, but their outlet surprisingly fits well to standard PVC sizes. The one I have used (although admittedly is currently hard to find) is the Sunbeam model 696. You just fit a PVC fitting into the outlet and then plumb it into your set up. Alternatively, a lot of people also go a somewhat cheaper way and just do something like fill a bottle half way with water, put an aquarium airstone, airline and pump to it, and vent that into their enclosure.


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## DaveDragon (Apr 17, 2008)

Thanks for the info!! It looks like that model is obsolete. 

Lucky Reptile Super Fog. http://www.everythingforpets.com/lu...midifier.pet/use.id.5.item_id.7793.dept.1522/ Looks good, too bad the voltage is probably wrong for the US. And $139!!!

This is available all over. http://www.reptilesupply.com/product.php?products_id=341 And it requires multiple units AND a separate air pump!!

ZooMed makes a Misty Mountain Volcano. http://www.reptilesupply.com/product.php?products_id=691 It has one bad review saying it doesn't last long.

Our Vicks ultrasonic humidifier has a 2 1/4" port. 2" PVC pipe is 2 3/8" outside diameter. I could have it turned down at work. Then I have to figure out how to plumb it. If I use it for 2 enclosures the mist will probably have to travel 4 feet before it gets to the lower enclosure. The enclosures are 3 ft high and the mist has to travel downhill.


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## Toby_H (Apr 17, 2008)

If you have a large encloseure consider adding a small (5 gal) aquarium with an airstone, small heater and a screen top. If your friendly with your local pet shop guys the tank should be about $15... the heater (get the cheap one as accuracy nor stability are critical) shuld be $10~15, the smallest air pump with an ainstone will be around $15~20...

Okay so that ended up being $40-50... more than I thought it would be... but this is what I plan to do with random fish stuff I have laying around...


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## Nero (Apr 17, 2008)

I went to the pet store last night and got some none toxic plants. So I filled up the substrate more and put 3 small plants on the cold side near his water dish and I got some beak moss and i put some logs over it and the a hide box. So i misted it down and I got the humidity to between 70-80 percent and it seemed to hold it for a long period. I'm gonna continue to do it this way until I can come up with some more ideas.


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## nermie (May 2, 2008)

*humidity*

i too have humidity issues here is what i do for my 125 gallon tank set up

1. ya shoudl get at least 8 to 10 inchs of dirt (backyard if clean works best otherwise plain topsoil (no additives or anything added) and mix it with masons sand or any other medium grade sand and then add some fine leaf liter or cypress mulch( i used this set up when i lived in the i.e of so cal (relitive humidity of like 15 percent of that in the summertime).

2.as previously mentioned seal off the tank as muchg as possable and have a pool of water under or near a overhead heat sorce (my water tub was next to the cooler side bask a 75w basking bulb)

those two should up the humidity alot in the tank (i actually had to occasionaly air mine out due to over humidity) 

this set up works well with a nile monitor or any other monitor and has worked for both my nile and my columbian gold


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