Obtaining Humidity

[Dudley]

How do you go about getting the humidity where you need it? Mine is running at 40% and I don't really remember what it should be, but I know it's higher than what I've got.

[mar]

During the winters I use a hot mist humidifier -- one that heats the water and boils it off. Now I am spraying his hamocks and other fabric srufaces, as well as Bob, with water from a spray bottle.

In the winter I easily put a half gallon of water in the room per day. Now I am down to about 16 oz -- spraying the entire bottle worth twice daily.

Mark

[Dudley]

What about these ultrasonic misters from zoo med? Anyone use one?

The bottle thing is what I've been doing.

[Tesa]

I paid 80 bucks for one ....it got put back in the box.
I use a cool mist humidifier.
Some say it lowers the temp too much but I haven't had that problem.

[Yoda]

Hmmmmmm...The old humidity Question

I once thought I could keep up the Humidity no problem and enjoyed the time spraying Yoda with a spray bottle,however I soon realized ....I wasn't doing enough ..Iguanas thrive in extremely humid
conditions...like in the 85-95 % zone for 6-10 hours a day...this is almost impossible in a captive environment ...and there are health related concerns
(mold and mildew) which I wont get into right now
however this is what I have done....


Parts Required:
1 Standard Garden Misting Bottle
1 Melnor or comparable sprinkler timer
1 Misting head kit
Enough hose to reach to where you want your
misting head from the bottle
Brass fittings and hose adapters
(note: all parts are available at Home Depot or any hardware outlet)

Assembly:
(1) Remove the Wand from the Garden Misting
Bottle
(2) Using the proper hose adapters attach the
wand hose to the in-side Melnor sprinkler
timer
(3) Attach the extra hose to the out-side of the
Melnor sprinkler timer
(4) At the other end of the misting hose,
attach a fine misting head from the misting
kit
(5) Attach the end of the hose with the misting
head to the inside of the enclosure in a
place that best suits your needs
(note)Be sure to use small hose clamps at all junctions to avoid any leaks...

The Following are illustrations of a working system....












Althought you cant see the Misting system in the last pic, You can see I have three Glass sides on the enclosure... This allows me to avoid allot of problems you might get from soaking a wooden enclosure ...Infact the enclosure was designed from a shower stall ...so It gets along good with humidity... ;D

This system is awesome and can be built fairly inexpensive...

One thing is for sure If you can increase the humidity
your Iggy will just love you around shedding time...Yoda sheds entire body sheds every month like clock work and I have had no issues with stubborn shed ...


Hope this helps..


James and Yoda

[Kerrydaktyl]

Ooooh I was wondering that myself. My ig gets sprayed lots and has lots of baths for help with shedding. We have been looking round for a good humidifer/mister.fogger thing but everyone tells us Igs dont need one and a spray bottle is enough. We also have the problem with mold and the wood of the viv rotting.

James - is that a converted shower cubicle?! It looks very similar in shape to our new viv! Great idea if so, I bet its easy to clean.

[Kerrydaktyl]

Heres a site that has a misting system for really large vivs, also its alot less than others Ive seen:

www.bigappleherp.com/Reptile_Supplies/Product/Big_Apples_Misting_System_296200.html

[mar]

Spray bottles are enough depending on your life style. Mainly it depends on which is worth more to you: time or the cost of the electricity and humidifier?

If you are constantly needing to work on other things(homework, dinner, ig salad) go with the humidifier or automatic sprayer.

If you have the time to go in and spray the cage and ig down more than 6 times a day for a few minutes -- and want a strong wrist -- a spray bottle is enough. There are tricks that will help keep it more humid longer, like spray/soak hammocks and other cloth things in the cage so as they dry the ambient humidity stays up longer.

Personally I let it "dry" out a little when I am using the humidifier by running it on a timer -- I let it fall back from 80 or 90% to about 60 or 65% before it turns back on. My hot mist humidifier will easily put 6 liters of water into the air in 24 hours. I think that much water, with the heat and lack of air flow, is asking for problems (mold, mildew, infections, etc.). My logic -- please correct me if you see holes: while igs come from areas of 70% or higher constant humidity those areas also have constant air flow other organisms and factors that "clean" the area a lot better than we do, keeping the humidity constantly that high while lacking those things breeds problems (ie. having too much of a good thing).

Mark

[mar]

OK James I am thinking about building an automatic sprinkler system. I was just on Melnor's website and it looks like the timers -- reasonably priced at least -- will only turn on three times a day.

Is this the type that you have?
What schedule do you have it on -- how often and for how long?

I am at least going to move from the little spray bottle to a garden pump sprayer.

Mark