Humidity for L. Parahybana

[Jane Mitchell]

I've been looking at some past threads about humidity and I'm not sure whether I need to be concerned about my L Para's setup. At the moment we're struggling to get the humidity to get anything over 60% and it's more usual to be around 50%. He's in a glass tank (12" cubed) and it's got a completely mesh roof. He's got a shallow water pot with stone's in, about 1/2" deep and about 3" dia. We spray the tank every couple of days - when he doesn't try to attack us. The temp is anything between 18 - 24oC

He's just come through a successful moult and and he's active and hungry - eating quite big crickets every other day - so we know there's no major problems but he does occasionally sit in or over the water pot.

I know that humidity is notoriously unreliable to measure but the substrate does always look dry until we spray it.

Any suggestions or am I worrying unnecessarily?

[Clinton Hogben]

I've been looking at some past threads about humidity and I'm not sure whether I need to be concerned about my L Para's setup. At the moment we're struggling to get the humidity to get anything over 60% and it's more usual to be around 50%. He's in a glass tank (12" cubed) and it's got a completely mesh roof. He's got a shallow water pot with stone's in, about 1/2" deep and about 3" dia. We spray the tank every couple of days - when he doesn't try to attack us. The temp is anything between 18 - 24oC

He's just come through a successful moult and and he's active and hungry - eating quite big crickets every other day - so we know there's no major problems but he does occasionally sit in or over the water pot.

I know that humidity is notoriously unreliable to measure but the substrate does always look dry until we spray it.

Any suggestions or am I worrying unnecessarily?

Hi Jane
Don't worry too much my L para has a temp of about 25-26 in the day and drops to about 21 at night, with the humidity at about 60% most of the time.
however I think 18 is a bit on the low side for your min temp as the climate in Brazil doesn't drop much below 22 even in winter perhaps a heatmat on the back of the tank would help in this department
I find she prefers the substrata bone dry on the top layers I just overfill the water bowl and the lower layers remain moist enough to keep up the humidity.
When I first got her I tried to get the humidity higher by sealing the ventilation holes but glass used to mist up and I started to get mould in the tank and the "T" was less happy with the stagnant air in the tank.
I think the older the "T" gets the less you need to worry about the humidity ie it's more important in slings that can dry out quickly
in general though if you have a happy spider that eats well your doing OK

Good luck with him/her?

PS mine sits over the water pot as well as soon as I clean it and put in fresh water she will web over it and sit on top of it ??? don't worry

[colin haris]

I've been looking at some past threads about humidity and I'm not sure whether I need to be concerned about my L Para's setup. At the moment we're struggling to get the humidity to get anything over 60% and it's more usual to be around 50%. He's in a glass tank (12" cubed) and it's got a completely mesh roof. He's got a shallow water pot with stone's in, about 1/2" deep and about 3" dia. We spray the tank every couple of days - when he doesn't try to attack us. The temp is anything between 18 - 24oC

He's just come through a successful moult and and he's active and hungry - eating quite big crickets every other day - so we know there's no major problems but he does occasionally sit in or over the water pot.

I know that humidity is notoriously unreliable to measure but the substrate does always look dry until we spray it.

Any suggestions or am I worrying unnecessarily?

Hi Jane

I'm no expert on L Para's and there humidity requirements, im sure a fellow member will deal will that, but the lack of humidity is down to the mesh roof. You will need to get a lid with very few holes in, that way you can trap the moisture in ther tank, otherwise it will keep escaping through the mesh. You will only have to mist ocassionally and save yourself a lot of time and have a happier T.

[colin haris]

LOL!
You beat me to it Clinton.

[Jane Mitchell]

Hi Jane
Don't worry too much my L para has a temp of about 25-26 in the day and drops to about 21 at night, with the humidity at about 60% most of the time.
however I think 18 is a bit on the low side for your min temp as the climate in Brazil doesn't drop much below 22 even in winter perhaps a heatmat on the back of the tank would help in this department
I find she prefers the substrata bone dry on the top layers I just overfill the water bowl and the lower layers remain moist enough to keep up the humidity.
When I first got her I tried to get the humidity higher by sealing the ventilation holes but glass used to mist up and I started to get mould in the tank and the "T" was less happy with the stagnant air in the tank.
I think the older the "T" gets the less you need to worry about the humidity ie it's more important in slings that can dry out quickly
in general though if you have a happy spider that eats well your doing OK

Good luck with him/her?

PS mine sits over the water pot as well as soon as I clean it and put in fresh water she will web over it and sit on top of it ??? don't worry

Thanks Clinton, I shall keep spraying the tank and see how it goes with the humidity.

We have a heat mat on the back of the tank (on the outside) so I'm not too sure what more we can do to raise the temp. I'm a touch concerned because we're going on holiday for a week soon and worried if we have another cold snap. The T is in the living room which we keep shut and we have central heating and underfloor heating as well. We were planning to keep the underfloor heating on all the time and have the central heating coming on occasionally to keep the cats happy! Is there anything else I can do?

[Yvonne Woolley]

Insulation

Hello, I have found that using polystyrene as an insulater over the heat mat really makes a difference as all the heat is pushed forwards.I also use mat stats so there is no risk of over heating, you can also use acitate from hobby shops( plastic for making windows in dolls houses) to cover some of your mesh top.
PLEASE!!! also note make sure that your temperature is as it seems only the other day i thought that one of my enclosures temperature had droped to 63 degees f as the Ts that i keep in the lounge are heated with heat mats, after the initial panic i put in another thermometer a digital one and low and behold it was actualy 77 derees f after checkin again soon came to the conclusion that the original thermometer had failed. I now keep a good quality digital one to keep an eye on things, but my spider roon never drops below 72 on the coldest night.and around 78 to 80 during the day. Hope this helps alittle.As so far all my Ts and other Critters are fine and well.

[Clinton Hogben]

Thanks Clinton, I shall keep spraying the tank and see how it goes with the humidity.

We have a heat mat on the back of the tank (on the outside) so I'm not too sure what more we can do to raise the temp. I'm a touch concerned because we're going on holiday for a week soon and worried if we have another cold snap. The T is in the living room which we keep shut and we have central heating and underfloor heating as well. We were planning to keep the underfloor heating on all the time and have the central heating coming on occasionally to keep the cats happy! Is there anything else I can do?

Hi Jane
As Yvonne has mentioned insulation is a good idea sandwich the heatmat between the rear glass and a sheet of polystyrene to keep the heat inside the tank you could also place a sheet of the stuff over your mesh screen top at night to keep the heat in the tank as the room cools or as Colin suggests go for a replacement lid to increase humidity / cat security

PS keep the cats away from the L para during your hols they dont want to become lunch if they get bored and investigate the tank <grin>

All the best and let us know how you get on

[Jane Mitchell]

Thanks Clinton & Yvonne,

I shall sort out some polystyrene and get that sorted before we go away.

As for the cats, they really couldn't give a monkeys about the T, occasionally they'll notice he's in the tank and have a look but they are far more interested in the live crickets because at least they move and make scratching noises (so we've had to hide them) In fact, on several occasions, I've threatened to get rid of the cats and buy more T's - much less trouble!

[Yvonne Woolley]

Hello again Jane, Glad we have helped a little, i hope you enjoy your hols, Will you be able to get to Newark in December?

[James Box]

just to relieve any worries, i've never worried much about the humidity of my para's...i got two last year that were on decent sized slings, and watered them then, but it's been quite dry for ages, and they're fine and fat.
even with my slings, my room tends to dry things out quickly, so i spray them weakly at least on one side and no problems yet.
i think they're rather a tough species!

[Jane Mitchell]

Success!!!

Last night we put a 1/2" piece of polystyrene on to the back of the tank, against the heat mat and 2 pieces in each half of the top of the tank. This morning, the temp was a toasty 24oC and the humidity was about 65% - the highest it's been for ages. The advantage now is that if it gets too hot & steamy, we can just remove one half of the roof tile. Mikey was also more active than he usually is in the morning.

I guess my next question is how hot is too hot???

[Mrs Linda Street]

Hi Jane, with our L. Parahybanas we aim to keep them in the 22c - 25c. Our bigger ones don't seem too fussed on the humidity, as long as they have a good sized water dish, a couple of our sit on their dishes sometimes.