I live in Florida and I’m battling to get my humidity down below 50% in my baby western hognose tank. It’s a 20 gallon tank with a heat lamp, Aspen bedding, and mesh top. The cold side runs about 75 degrees and the hot side is 80-90 degrees. I’ve even tried using a table top dehumidifier and I can’t seem to get the humidity below 50%. Anyone have any tips?
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Try tossing a sock in there with rice in it. You can also get more substrate and set it in the oven to dry it and then change out/mix it in to lower the substrate moisture level which will lower the humidity.
Also, do you have an entire underground tunnel system? I see what looks like an entrance at the top left of the enclosure. If so, what material did you make it out of as I think that would be an awesome idea.
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It looks like she is using it as a hide
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I recommend what @erie-herps recommended. Also people like @elementalherps cares for and brreds hogs so possibly she maybe able to give some input.
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Nothing fancy. Those are just tp rolls lol.
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Do you use a UTH?
I do not. The heat lamp was more than sufficient to heat the baking spot.
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Maybe try a large dehumidifier for the room and not just a small table top one?
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To add on to this make sure the door’s closed so the humidity doesn’t balance itself out and defeat the purpose of it.
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And make sure all the windows (if there are any) are properly sealed.
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Ok, I live in south Florida. My ambient humidity in my house is 70%. I still have to mist my enclosure for my boa that requires 70% humidity. It is because he is in a heated PVC enclosure. The fact that it is more controlled. When I was troubleshooting for his humidity when I got the tank the humidity was at 30% with substrate.
Additionally I also heat all of the bottom of my enclosure with two separate heating tapes.
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I believe the lack of humidity was due to the fact that there is a greater chance of evaporation and obviously it is more enclosed so humidity doesn’t rush in as fast. I believe your issue could be solved with controlling his enclosure more.
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I did try covering part of the mesh top, but that seemed to trap more humidity. Are the PVC enclosures easier to climate control?
But my solution might not work because my snake is kept in my bedroom which the fan is on a lot of the time. Honestly the whole issue of trying to lower humidity isn’t usually discussed because everyone trying to raise it.
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I noticed! I came up empty doing my own research… Lol.
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Sorry this is probably my environment with increased air movement drawing out humidity, but having my increased surface of heating allows me to maintain proper humidity and heat in a controlled PVC enclosure. Lol that complicated
Just curious… Why have the humidity down? These snakes do have ranges in places that do get high humid spikes. As long as the substrate is itself dry, Temps right, and access to water at all times I personally don’t see a reason why you’d have to worry.
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From my research, the western hognose does best with humidity between 30% and 50%. I’m not worried about scale rot. But, I don’t want her to get a respiratory infection. Do western hognoses fair well in humidities ranging 50 to 60%?
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That is a question for some hog breeders, and enthusiasts. @trnreptiles breeds them from what I can recall.
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As far as I know higher humidity isn’t ideal for hogs as it can cause health issues like scale rot and RIs. So the 30%-50% range would work best, yeah
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