How To Lower Humidity In Tank

When setting upwards a proper bearded dragon habitat, many factors probably come to mind: temperature, decorations, UVB bulbs, and more.

What many bearded dragon owners tend to overlook, though, is humidity.

Proper humidity is important to keeping your pet comfortable and preventing respiratory issues.

Ideally, humidity within your disguised dragon's enclosure should be within xxx% to 40% at all times. If tank humidity levels are also loftier, yous'll need to make one or more of these adjustments:

• Move/remove the water bowl
• Mist the tank less oft
• Use a dehumidifier
• Utilize a drier substrate
• Increase ventilation

To learn more nigh humidity, why it's and so important to your honey disguised dragon's health, and how to keep humidity within proper levels, read on.

Thankfully, most methods commonly used to accommodate humidity levels in reptile enclosures are fast, inexpensive, and elementary.

How Humid Should A Bearded Dragon Enclosure Be?

Maintaining proper humidity within your bearded dragon's habitat is extremely important to their health and happiness in your home.

Retrieve, bearded dragons are native to Australia's extremely barren, desert climate, so in captivity, their humidity levels will likely need to be adjusted and then carefully maintained once inside an adequate range.

Generally, the humidity within a bearded dragon's enclosure should exist inside thirty% to forty% at all times.

Whatever lower than 30% is too dry, while any higher than 40% is too humid.

Both are problematic for dissimilar reasons.

If your beardie's habitat is likewise dry, they run the hazard of becoming dehydrated and tired due to the dry out, unforgiving estrus inside the enclosure.

If the tank is besides boiling, though, your pet will get susceptible to respiratory infections brought on past the excess wet in the air.

While a too-dry out habitat is certainly but every bit problematic (albeit in dissimilar ways), you lot are far more likely to encounter an enclosure that is too humid, as most boilerplate homes tend to be a bit too humid for bearded dragons to begin with.

Fortunately, at that place are many ways to reduce the humidity and maintain correct humidity levels within your pet's enclosure.

Outset, even so, you'll need to accurately measure the humidity within the tank to determine if adjustments need to be made.

How To Measure Humidity In A Disguised Dragon Muzzle

Measuring humidity in your disguised dragon's tank is every bit simple every bit purchasing a hygrometer.

This will exist your first step in determining if your beardie's habitat needs adjusting.

A hygrometer is a device designed to measure humidity levels within an enclosed space.

While yous're welcome to purchase a hygrometer past itself, many reptile experts opt for a dual thermometer and hygrometer designed for reptile enclosures, every bit you'll need a thermometer anyway to monitor temperature levels likewise.

This mode, by using 1 small device mounted within of the enclosure, you'll be able to get authentic temperature and humidity readings at a glance at all times.

In that location are two principal types of hygrometers: digital and analog.

While both will produce highly authentic readings, digital devices are becoming more common as they are easier to speedily read and have a more than sleek, modern wait.

If you haven't found the one you like yet, we recommend something like Repti Zoo'due south Reptile Terrarium Thermometer Hygrometer.

It'due south small-scale and easy to mount within the enclosure with its attached suction cup, and it has big enough numbers to let you to read information technology from a distance.

Once you've gotten a proper humidity reading and have determined your beardie'south enclosure is too humid, your next step will be to lower the overall humidity level in the tank.

Merely you're probably asking: How?

How To Lower Humidity In A Disguised Dragon Tank

To lower humidity, y'all'll essentially need to make the conditions within your dragon'due south enclosure drier.

Remember, you lot need to be aiming for a humidity level of at least 30% and no higher than 40% at all times, which is quite dry!

There are several ways to speedily lower the humidity within your beardie's habitat, and all of them are fairly simple to implement and either gratuitous or inexpensive.

In curt, these methods are:

• Making adjustments to the water bowl
• Using a dehumidifier in the room housing your disguised dragon's enclosure
• Using a dissimilar substrate, preferably one which retains less wet
• Increasing ventilation to the room housing your bearded dragon'due south enclosure
• Misting the enclosure/your dragon less often

All these methods lower the humidity within your beardie'south habitat in a short amount of time.

Let'due south get into the details of each to hopefully pinpoint the cause of the increase in humidity, shall we?

Lowering Humidity: Motion/Remove/Apply A Smaller Water Dish

One of the commencement and most obvious ways many reptile owners opt to reduce humidity levels in their pet'south enclosures is by adjusting the h2o dish in the tank.

Ofttimes, the biggest source of humidity in damp enclosures is the beardie'southward water bowl!

It's of import to accept a big and shallow enough water dish in your beardie's tank for your pet to drink from freely, but many dishes are either too large or aren't set in an platonic location inside the enclosure.

For example, you lot want to avert placing the water dish directly under your dragon'south basking bulb, as the direct, concentrated heat will crusade the water to evaporate more quickly.

As a result, the evaporated water will raise the overall humidity within the enclosure significantly.

Additionally, the larger the h2o dish, the more evaporated h2o will get released into the air.

It's normal for a small amount of h2o to evaporate over fourth dimension.

Still, if the water dish is as well large, the excess evaporation will, as mentioned higher up, increase the tank'south overall humidity.

This method will take a fleck of experimentation, depending on your enclosure's size and exact setup.

However, start by moving the water dish you already have to the cool end of the tank if you haven't already.

This solitary should reduce humidity levels slightly.

If you don't see any noticeable results later on an 60 minutes, swap out the water dish for a smaller one.

Disguised dragons don't actively drink much water in their natural habitat anyway, and you'll always be able to add more when they drink from the dish.

In this situation, less is more!

If humidity levels still aren't quite where you lot desire them to be after making adjustments to your pet'southward water dish, don't panic, as many options are nonetheless bachelor.

Lowering Humidity: Use A Dehumidifier

Another common method many disguised dragon owners use to lower and maintain proper humidity levels within their lizard's enclosure is purchasing a dehumidifier to set up in the room which houses the tank.

While this method is a bit more costly than some of the other quick fixes on this list, information technology'south 1 of the well-nigh impactful.

In that location are many fairly inexpensive dehumidifiers on the market designed for small spaces, such as LONONE'south 34 oz. Mini Electrical Dehumidifier.

Dehumidifiers are excellent for lowering the humidity in an enclosed infinite; essentially, they pull warm, humid air currents into its coils by using a fan.

The warm air gets fed into the dehumidifier's refrigerated coils, leaving any condensation trapped within the device.

While the verbal instructions for employ will vary depending on the brand and model of dehumidifier you end upward purchasing, all you'll need to exercise is turn it on and allow it to slowly dry out out the room you've set up your beardie's enclosure.

Place it adequately close to the tank at roughly the same height for all-time results.

If you aren't quite ready or financially able to go out and buy a dehumidifier just even so, don't worry!

There are still a few other options available to you to lower the humidity levels in your beloved beardie'southward habitat.

Lowering Humidity: Use A Different Substrate

This choice and its efficacy volition depend heavily on the type of substrate y'all're currently using in your bearded dragon'south enclosure.

You've probably heard many reptile experts recommend against using loose substrates as a whole, primarily to prevent adventitious ingestion and eventual impaction; however, some loose substrates present boosted hazards.

Flat, solid substrates like tile, linoleum, and reptile carpet don't impact overall humidity inside the enclosure.

However, certain loose substrates similar kokosnoot cobweb, soil, and bawl tend to collect and retain large amounts of moisture, raising the humidity of the tank as a whole.

Many of these substrates will even feel damp to the touch if they've retained a substantial amount of moisture, which is a clear sign they're releasing at to the lowest degree some of this extra humidity into the air.

If yous're using a loose substrate, consider switching it out for a apartment, not-loose floor material that won't collect and so much moisture.

Some fantabulous examples of substrates platonic for disguised dragon enclosures include:

• Reptile carpet
• Linoleum stick-down "tiles"
• Ceramic tiles
• Newspaper

Some reptile owners opt to use newspaper towels, though these are sometimes problems like loose substrates when information technology comes to humidity, as they tend to absorb and retain moisture present in the air.

If the humidity levels are within a reasonable level, it is fine to utilize paper towels.

But if you're actively attempting to lower moisture levels, it's best to use one of the other options mentioned in a higher place.

Lowering Humidity: Increment Ventilation

Another bang-up way to lower the humidity in your beardie's enclosure and the room it's housed in full general is to simply increase the overall ventilation to the room.

Increasing ventilation ensures more than air circulation, which will, in plow, reduce the level of moisture hanging around in the air.

In that location are many quick and easy means to increase ventilation to an enclosed space, including:

• Installing a window air conditioner unit for the room
• Keeping doors and windows open if/whenever possible
• Use ceiling or floor fans
• Moving the tank location to a more ventilated area
• Utilise fans in combination with open windows/doors

Essentially, you're looking for whatever manner to go more air, particularly dry air, flowing into the room where y'all've set upward your disguised dragon'south habitat.

These methods are especially useful when combined or with using a dehumidifier, as mentioned earlier.

Using a small window air conditioning unit is a great, fast way to increment ventilation.

However, many units are somewhat expensive, particularly if you only intend to use it for one room.

Opt for a small fan and open up doors/windows at commencement; then, if the humidity levels in your beardie'southward tank are nevertheless as well high, look into purchasing a window unit of measurement.

If y'all have other pets in your home, leaving windows and doors open up might not be possible all the time, especially when you lot're non effectually (for instance, if you accept a particularly mischievous cat who won't exit your beardie alone).

In this case, using a large fan (or even multiple smaller fans) will help to maintain proper airflow when your pets are home alone.

Lowering Humidity: Mist Less Oftentimes

Misting your disguised dragon and its enclosure is very helpful for keeping your pet hydrated and helping them shed their skin every and then often.

Related: How to assistance your bearded dragon shed

Nigh reptile experts highly recommend misting semi-regularly to keep your pet from condign dehydrated, every bit some bearded dragons are less willing to drink from gratuitous-standing h2o than others.

Misting the enclosure too much leaves water droplets in the air after each misting session.

This will increase the humidity within your pet's habitat, making it far too humid and uncomfortable for them.

Of all of the methods of lowering humidity we've listed here, this is probably one of the easiest and least expensive.

If you're misting your bearded dragon'southward enclosure daily, switch to every other day and see if anything changes by closely monitoring the hygrometer you've gear up in your pet's tank.

Additionally, focus on misting your bearded dragon rather than the entire enclosure itself if yous're worried your pet isn't getting plenty hydration.

By saturating the entire tank with misted water, the humidity levels will but increase farther.

Information technology will too help feed your beardie more than wet-rich foods if they don't particularly enjoy drinking from their water dish or like free-standing h2o sources.

For example, fruits like watermelon and strawberries contain lots of water, and nigh bearded dragons love eating them, too!

Alternatively, instead of misting, add more than h2o to your dragon's fruits and veggies in general; dip their greens in cool water or sprinkle h2o onto more fibrous veggies and fruits.

This style, your beardie volition get plenty of water from their diet and won't need to necessarily rely on misting for wet, and the enclosure will exist less humid overall as a event.

How To Maintain Proper Humidity In A Disguised Dragon Tank

Once you've fabricated one or more of the adjustments above to your bearded dragon's habitat and humidity levels have dropped to an advisable level, maintaining this correct level of humidity is ordinarily as unproblematic as repeating and/or maintaining those adjustments you lot made.

The first matter y'all'll need to practice is cheque the hygrometer in the enclosure daily, if not several times per day, to check for any sudden changes to humidity levels.

From there, utilize the reading on the hygrometer to decide if any further changes need to be made.

Is the humidity somewhere between thirty and 40%?

If it is, then bang-up!

You don't need to do anything else at this fourth dimension.

But remember, don't become complacent; proceed checking the hygrometer at least one time per solar day in case.

If humidity levels brainstorm increasing again, repeat some of the previous methods of lowering humidity, preferably the ones that accept given you lot previous results.

For example, just because the humidity has dropped a flake temporarily doesn't mean you should go back to misting the enclosure regularly.

The frequent misting was likely what made the humidity so high in the first identify!

You'll demand to do some troubleshooting to figure out what produces (and maintains) the best results for your particular setup and space.

All of the methods nosotros covered here will work to some extent, though some volition work ameliorate for some setups than others.

What Happens If Bearded Dragon Humidity Is Too High?

Keeping humidity within an appropriate range is crucial to your bearded dragon's health, and novice reptile owners too often overlook it.

While likewise depression of humidity is certainly an upshot in its own right, the real health problems begin to ascend when humidity climbs in a higher place 40% or so.

The main consequence with excess humidity is it makes your disguised dragon susceptible to respiratory issues, namely very painful and uncomfortable respiratory infections.

Check out this article on how you treat respiratory infections in bearded dragons to see how tough it is to handle.

Hot, humid conditions also create the perfect convenance ground for bacterial infections and diverse types of fungi.

As your bearded dragon breathes and draws in the moist, hot air from their humid surround, it volition collect and build up in their lungs, in turn causing them to present upper respiratory infection symptoms like cough, lack of free energy, and loss of appetite.

Treatments for these infections often require veterinarian intervention in one case they become severe, so when it comes to reducing excess humidity, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of a cure.

Y'all may also want to bank check out other reasons your bearded dragon is breathing heavy.

Source: https://oddlycutepets.com/humidity-in-bearded-dragon-tank/

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