OHAI! and question about maintaining humidity levels

[rosaphile]

Hey all, been away for a while I know. Just lots going on around here. I'm back with a question about maintaining humidity in the habitat (while maintaining good ventilation). Quick summary of our setup: we have two White's tree frogs in an 18x18x24 Zoomed terrarium. Egg crate false bottom, topped with Eco Earth then part of that has sphagnum moss (more on that shortly), with magnolia leaf litter on top of that. All artificial plants/decorations.

Here's the thing - we've been having no trouble maintaining appropriate temps in the terrarium - a little under 70F during the coolest part of the night, and between 75-80F during the day. But we can't seem to keep the humidity up above 35-40%. I go in there and spray distilled water all over the inside of the glass several times a day, which brings it up temporarily. I recently added some sphagnum moss to see if that would help to retain humidity (I'm not worried about the frogs ingesting any because firstly, it's mostly covered with leaf litter and secondly, we always feed the frogs in their glass bowls.) It hasn't seemed to help though. Oh, and I also covered up most of the open areas of the screen top with foil. The only exposed screen now is right around the edges of the clamp lamp.

Any tips on how to get the humidity to stay more in the 50-60% range? I seem to recall that live plants help, so I may have to try that but I'm reluctant to subject the frogs to so the upheaval if there's any way to avoid it. I was thinking of getting some plexiglas and cutting it to fit, with holes just large enough for the light fixtures, but I'm worried that would make the air too stagnant.

Thanks guys!

[John]

This is usually a matter of reducing the ventilation in the terrarium. If it's a Zoo Med, try blocking half the screen lid and monitor the changes. If that's not enough, block more of it. You could use a piece of glass cut to fit the sections of the lid or use a piece of plastic (lexan, acrylic, whatever). Good luck!