# Humidity Issues



## beachbabe18509 (Oct 29, 2007)

So my viv has been set up since October and has been maintaining a 90% or higher humidity, but for the past three days it's been dropping, right now it's at 84%. Im not sure why either, the only thing that has changed is that I added more water to the water feature. I started misting more when it first began to drop but this hasn't seemed to help.. any ideas what could be happening?


----------



## dom (Sep 23, 2007)

make sure there is no way for the air to get out like in a crack at the top maybe


----------



## beachbabe18509 (Oct 29, 2007)

the only crack is one thats been there the entire time... I was wondering if by adding more water to the feature it created less surface area in the pond area(gravel is full submersed now...) and therefore less evaporation into the viv??


----------



## MJ (Jun 16, 2005)

84% is fine so I wouldn't worry :wink:


----------



## sbreland (May 4, 2006)

Might be seasonal... I know when the heat kicks on humidity levels can drop eventhough the vivs are relatively sealed. I know you don't get to use the heat much down there, but its a thought.


----------



## atlfrog (Dec 31, 2006)

*hey!*

I agree with sbreland. Your house also contributes the humidity levels and tempatures with in the tank. If you seal the top of your tank with plexiglass or glass with a slight opening. You can maintain temps and humidity pretty well. Some of my tanks that I have problems with Humidity, not temps, I remedied it with adding an undertank heater (The stick on variety). This way when the bottom water levels in the bottom substrate is warmed or heated by the heat pad, the water evaporates through the soil adding my moisture into the tank. It is a slow process, but within the closed enviornment it can work. Just make sure, wherever you put the water feature, you put your pad at a different location. I hope this helps.


----------



## Ben E (Oct 1, 2004)

how are you testing your humidity? might want to check your checker....most humidity gauges are not made to be very accurate at the upper levels of saturation and can loose accuracy easily


----------



## beachbabe18509 (Oct 29, 2007)

I have one of the Accurite brand outdoor temp/humidity gauges you get at lowes for like $12. My main concern is that it seems to be dropping fairly steadily even if it is slowly(today it's only 82%). I have a glass top with a slight crack, but have had that since I set the viv up, and my temp hasn't changed much our ac is still on... I don't like that it is dropping and isn't even leveling out


----------



## skronkykong (Jan 1, 2007)

Your AC is still on?! Dang.


----------



## Colby02 (Jul 21, 2007)

What type of set up do you have? Do you have a false bottom or gravel layer that retains water? if so has the water in this area been depleted? Do you ad water to your tank or just mist. If you just mist maybe your tank just needs a good watering. These are some other things to look at but I would bet its seasonal everything tends to dry out to some degree in the winter. Like someone previously wrote your levels are still completely acceptable. Good Luck!

Craig


----------



## Rich Frye (Nov 25, 2007)

Ben E said:


> how are you testing your humidity? might want to check your checker....most humidity gauges are not made to be very accurate at the upper levels of saturation and can loose accuracy easily


I would lean toward this as an issue also. Those gages never get more accurate. 
Does the viv's glass fog up at all ?


Rich


----------



## bbrock (May 20, 2004)

IMO, we tend to keep many of our frogs too humid anyway. Anything above 75% is fine in my opinion and when we push for that 90%+ humidity level, we tend to create very closed and stagnant conditions which are not very natural and probably not the healthiest environment. I tossed a hygrometer into my pumilio viv last week and it was running about 82% humidity. This is a morph that hails from a very wet part of the planet and they are breeding like crazy. What I prefer to do is provide as much air movement as possible without letting the humidity drop too low. In general I would rather have 80% humidity and some air circulation, than 98% humidity and stagnant air.

I also agree that you can't trust most humidity gauges at the upper end of the scale. Even very accurate and expensive sensors used in meterological stations have an increased error rate as you approach 100%.


----------



## housevibe7 (Sep 24, 2006)

I am also going to go with your gauge... the fact that you mist, and it still doesnt go up should say something. Even in a fairly open viv the numbers will temporarily go up right after misting, especially if you are misting around where the gauge or probe is.


----------



## bbrock (May 20, 2004)

I will have to say that humidity can be deceptive. Many years ago my auruatus suddenly went shy and stayed hunkered in holes except to feed. This viv had about 25% of the bottom area as open water, had an ultrasonic humidifier hooked up to run for 2 minutes every hour, and I misted it twice a day. The only thing that had changed is that I had added a tiny computer fan to pull heat off of the lights. I didn't think the humidity could possibly be low but I tossed in a hygrometer anyway. What I saw shocked me. When the humidifier came on, the humidity blasted up into the saturation range near 100% RH. But within a minute of the humidifier shutting off, I watched the humidity start to drop. After 20 minutes, the humidity was approaching 50% (room ambient was around 30% RH). I watched this through 2 cycles of the humidifier to confirm. Then I shut off the computer fan and watched the gauge climb. Within 30 minutes the frogs were out hopping around like they use to. The lesson I learned was that if you are in a dry climate, it doesn't take much ventilation to drop the humidity inside of vivs even when they are swimming in moisture.


----------



## housevibe7 (Sep 24, 2006)

That's why I am saying that it is a good chance his gauge is faulty, because even after misting, the numbers are not moving at all.... unless he has just got some killer ventilation


----------



## bbrock (May 20, 2004)

housevibe7 said:


> That's why I am saying that it is a good chance his gauge is faulty, because even after misting, the number are not moving at all.... unless he has just got some killer ventilation


Good point, I agree.


----------



## Greg (Dec 25, 2007)

*humidity*

It might be worth while to keep a chart that tracks the humidity in your vivarium, the humidity in your house and the outside humidity. If you keep track of all three humidity levels for a couple weeks it might help you track the reason why your vivarium humidity is changing, you could see whether it is directly related to the outdoor humidity or whether it is just because of your vivarium.


----------



## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

> IMO, we tend to keep many of our frogs too humid anyway. Anything above 75% is fine in my opinion and when we push for that 90%+ humidity level, we tend to create very closed and stagnant conditions which are not very natural and probably not the healthiest environment. I tossed a hygrometer into my pumilio viv last week and it was running about 82% humidity. This is a morph that hails from a very wet part of the planet and they are breeding like crazy. What I prefer to do is provide as much air movement as possible without letting the humidity drop too low. In general I would rather have 80% humidity and some air circulation, than 98% humidity and stagnant air.
> 
> I also agree that you can't trust most humidity gauges at the upper end of the scale. Even very accurate and expensive sensors used in meterological stations have an increased error rate as you approach 100%.


I strongly agree with this statement. I used to think my dart frogs were like my clawed frogs; needing a lot of moisture or they'll dry up easily.

Well, I accidently let my tinc froglet container dry up twice or so, many other times it was barely damp. I freaked out- the two week old froglets were hunkering for the last spot of moisture underneath a leaf on the paper towel. Most of the towel was bone dry. 

And, they survived unscathed, twice. They are very large froglets now. Even my adult tincs I rarely mist anymore. I think too much stagnant air is asking for bacterial and fungal problems.

In nature, there is a dry and wet season in the amazon. I'm sure the humidity fluctuates a lot naturally; that is why frogs of all species are triggered by increasing humidity and precipitation for breeding. Keep in mind too, frogs have like six inches of leaf litter to take shelter; not a lean carpet of moss not even native to their region.


----------



## bbrock (May 20, 2004)

Rain_Frog said:


> In nature, there is a dry and wet season in the amazon. I'm sure the humidity fluctuates a lot naturally; that is why frogs of all species are triggered by increasing humidity and precipitation for breeding. Keep in mind too, frogs have like six inches of leaf litter to take shelter; not a lean carpet of moss not even native to their region.


There's an interesting anecdote in Hesselhaus' book where they visited a wild location where they had seen many D. auratus on a previous trip only to find it dry and seemly devoid of frogs. After much searching they discovered the frogs were hunkering down in little hollows that had retained moisture during the dry season.


----------



## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

somebody once showed me pictures of E. tricolor's habitat and it wasn't all rainforest. It looked like scrubland with cacti.


----------



## bbrock (May 20, 2004)

Rain_Frog said:


> somebody once showed me pictures of E. tricolor's habitat and it wasn't all rainforest. It looked like scrubland with cacti.


Yeah, they are a grassland species. There are some good habitat shots in Lotters et al.


----------



## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

you know, i think it would be cool to try and grow grass in a tricolor vivarium, but the amount of light required could cook them quick.


----------



## jehitch (Jun 8, 2007)

beachbabe18509 said:


> I have one of the Accurite brand outdoor temp/humidity gauges you get at lowes for like $12. My main concern is that it seems to be dropping fairly steadily even if it is slowly(today it's only 82%). I have a glass top with a slight crack, but have had that since I set the viv up, and my temp hasn't changed much our ac is still on... I don't like that it is dropping and isn't even leveling out


Does the gauge have two probes, one for temp and one for humidity? I picked up a couple Accurites at Lowes, only to discover it only records the temp outdoors (at the probe), and reads humidity at the unit (probably figuring outdoor/indoor humidity won't be that different). That's OK if you put the entire unit in the viv, but I had planned to put mine on top.


----------



## bbrock (May 20, 2004)

The issue is that remote humidity sensors are relativel expensive. It isn't a measurement that lends itself as readily to being converted to a digital signal as temperature. So the humidity guages are usually analog.


----------



## harrywitmore (Feb 9, 2004)

I would also add to this discussion that the ambient humidity on the outside of the tank can have a great deal of affect on the inside of the tank unless totally enclosed. Normal winter humidity in a house is much lower than any other time. So, I think 84% is good in the winter.


----------



## *GREASER* (Apr 11, 2004)

bbrock said:


> Rain_Frog said:
> 
> 
> > In nature, there is a dry and wet season in the amazon. I'm sure the humidity fluctuates a lot naturally; that is why frogs of all species are triggered by increasing humidity and precipitation for breeding. Keep in mind too, frogs have like six inches of leaf litter to take shelter; not a lean carpet of moss not even native to their region.
> ...


they are saying that this hunkering down for a couple months a year in little moist humid spots is a big part of O(d). granuliferus natural history and I would think would play a big role in there needs in captivity for good breeding. These frogs may need to be cycled in a way other dendrobates are not.


----------



## melissa68 (Feb 16, 2004)

Have you had any temperature change occur?


----------

