Humidity issue

[EasternGirl]

I need a way to increase the humidity in Hermes' enclosure. Right now it is only registering at 40%. I have two water dishes in his tank...one on the cool side and one on the warm side...and I have been misting. I want to keep the humidity levels up in case he is going to shed...since it is hard to tell with albinos. Any suggestions for increasing humidity?

[Stefan-A]

What kind of enclosure did you have, again?

[angrygamer]

Get some sphagnum moss. I though 30-50% was the ideal humidity?

[EasternGirl]

I thought it was 50-60%...was I wrong? Maybe I was thinking too high...but I did want to try to get it on the high side for right now since he is albino and they have shedding issues and he has been here for a few weeks and hasn't shed yet and it's difficult to tell when an albino is going to shed. But since I am confused about ideal humidity...can someone post humidity ranges again for me? I have sphagnum moss...should I just put some in his enclosure or are you talking about making a shed box? I have a 20 gallon tank.

[chris-uk]

I think 40% as an ambient level in the viv is fine. In the UK our atmospheric humidity doesn't tend to vary much, and tends to be around 50%. Our house has pretty dry air, and with the central heating on more at the moment our air is dry. The humidity in the two vivs with hygrometers is around 30%... I'm misting a couple of times a day, but for me the most important thing is to keep some damp moss in the cold hide, this means that there is an area of higher humidity that they can seek out if they need it.

[Stefan-A]

Cover the lid partially, eg. with glass or acrylic to reduce the evaporation rate.

[EasternGirl]

Okay...I can try that. I have a towel over half of the top of the tank but I can try using glass or acrylic. As far as moss goes, I can try it with Hermes, but for some reason whenever I try to use moss in Cee Cee and Seeley's enclosures, they won't go near it. Thanks for the help!

[snakehill]

I've been having a very hard time controling the humidity in my tanks because we have a pellet stove going 24/7! It's going down to desert conditions constantly no matter how many times I spray etc.! I am really getting worried about this if anyone can help!

[EasternGirl]

Putting a bowl of wet sphagnum moss and covering 1/2 to 3/4 of the tank lid and constantly misting is getting my humidity levels up some...changing from carefresh over to ecofresh and reptibark helped a bit too although I'm not convinced my snakes like the change in substrate.

[chris-uk]

Apparently different substrates can make a huge difference, I read on another forum about using an orchid bark substrate in vivs for Amazon Tree Boas which need humidity in the 80s.
I don't know if anyone has experience of using it with garters.