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Rockinkitty 
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Joined: November 16 2004
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 Topic: Increasing Humidity in a land crab setup
Posted: November 29 2004 at 7:37am |
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We have a 15 gallon tank for our boys. Sand, water dish, various decorations, heating pad underneath, and light.
The thermometer is reading 80-82 for the sand, but the humitity
measurer(?) is reading about 50. I know they need at least
60%. What can I do to increase humidity?
We don't have a lid. If we get one do we go for mesh?
That's all I've seen. I haven't come across a solid or mostly
solid glass one. I'm sure we'll need one for when we get more
decorations. So far the boys have no hope of reaching the top of
the cage but they do stretch pretty darn far!
I've tried spritzing the enclosue but that doesn't raise the humidity
for long. We have a humidifier in our apt on all the time, but
part of the problem is the type of heating in our apt building.
Does the colour of light make a difference? Now we have a 40 watt
bulb for reptiles. Do red bulbs decrease humidity loss?
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Kull
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Joined: October 24 2003
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Posted: November 29 2004 at 8:45am |
The only real way to increase the humidity for the long run that I know of is to enclose the area.
(Make it in to a green house of sorts.)
To be effective you would need to put a solid lid (preferably glass) on the tank. They run about $25, you can get them at most pest stores, or you can take your tank measurements to a glass shop and have them cut one for you (if you do this make sure you take the inside measurement)
You can also try to put clear plastic on top of the tank (this should work for the short term), make sure that you cut a few vent holes in to allow fresh air to come in.
Also I have seen misters that you can set to spray every 15 minutes (or whatever they cost a lot more, but that would do the trick as well)
Good luck
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"So this is what gives meaning to your life." -Unknown
Daniel in Santaquin
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SSpargur
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Posted: November 29 2004 at 8:52am |
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I personally would go buy some scrap glass or acrylic and cut it the size you need. That would be the cheapest way to go. ($5.00 or $10.00 max)
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Sean Spargur
West Valley, UT
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Jake Pehrson
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Posted: November 29 2004 at 9:08am |
I like using aquarium gravel (the kind used in freshwater setups). Add the gravel to the bottom of the aquarium (about 2 inches deep). Then add some water, but make sure the water line stays below the gravel. Then you will have dry gravel on top and water just below the gravel level to increase the humidity.
The only problem with this is you will have to change the water out every couple days (to keep the cage smelling fresh);.
If you really want to get fancy you can add more gravel, a pump, and turn the gravel into a filter. It works great. (that may need more explaining if you are interested).
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reptoreef
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Posted: November 29 2004 at 11:43am |
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I like Jake's idea... Although putting a sealed lid on will raise humidity, it will decrease fresh o2 and provide for a much un-wanted bacterial petry dish. A small waterfall would increase the humidity and provide asthetic value to the set up, IMO.
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www.captivereefing.com
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Kull
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Posted: November 29 2004 at 1:42pm |
I agree with these guys as well.
Have you seen the little water fall setups that you can put together? that would be cool, That way you could have the 3 - 4 inches of gravel, with 2 -3 inches of water under it going through a filter or just using the gravel as a filter so long as the water is circulating you should be good, It will over time have the potential to develope a smell, but them you clean out the water and its gone, you could even run carbon to reduce the smell even more.
Good luck.
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"So this is what gives meaning to your life." -Unknown
Daniel in Santaquin
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Skyetone
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Posted: November 29 2004 at 5:14pm |
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you can also go buy the dinky plastic hoods that have the lights "built in" that works well. But if they can submerge themselves in water, they are fine. They will choose if it is to dry or wet by where they are in the setup.
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I will just give my warning that your system will flood, bulbs will burn out, and things will take continuous maintenance... get over it.
Magna
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j's55
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Posted: November 29 2004 at 5:43pm |
 SSpargur wrote:
I personally would go buy some
scrap glass or acrylic and cut it the size you need.Â
That would be the cheapest way to go. ($5.00 or
$10.00 max) |
You can go to Regional supplies and ask to look
threw the scraps and they will some times give it to
you for free.
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Rockinkitty
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Posted: December 02 2004 at 8:33am |
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Interesting ideas, everyone! I'm not sure that the gravel and
filter setup is a good option for us, as the crabs need quite a deep
sand bed to burrow (thus molt sucessfully). I like the waterfall
idea, and will consider that for another day.
We got a lid for the boys and humidity started to rise
immediately. It's been on for 2 days now, and this AM when I woke
up the walls of the aqu. were covered in sand! seems as the boys
were digging last night and kicked sand everywhere.
The lid is 3 long pannels, 2 of glass one of plastic(which we removed
for fresh air). It's divided so it acts like a door.
KWIM?
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