Heat and Humidity Issues with My Pixie

[mafoo]

Hello, after taking a long break from this forum I started browsing again after my pixie started having issues. Normally he is fine, but lately he has not been eating. I assume this is from not enough humidity/not enough heat but I do not know what I can do. I feel like I am forced to decide between proper humidity, and proper temperature.

I can get the heat to 80 with 2 Exo Terra rainforest small heatpads and a 60w ceramic heat emitter, but the humidity absolutely suffers. I can go the other way around and just use the heat pads and get proper humidity, although it is not hot enough for him. Either way I go he is not happy and I do not know what to do. These Exo Terra heat pads are barely giving off any heat so they are pretty much useless and the heat lamps just kill the humidity. Today after 4 days he ate 7 dusted nightcrawlers so he has not been doing to well.

Is there anything I can do to increase the humidity, and keep the heat and a proper level? The dirt is always moist, the tank is misted one or two times a day, I have a tinfoil lid to keep the humidity and heat in, and he has a fairly decent water dish with plants. Any advice is appreciated as I am having a very hard time with this and have not been able to find a way to get everything just right since I have got him a year ago.

[Kabikano]

Make sure the heat is right, dirt moist and mist the enclosure. I wouldn't worry about humidity too much unless it was bone dry. I don't even measure humidity except with a hygrometer placed at the top of the cage and EVERYTHING I keep comes from very humid environments; Tegus, Sailfin Dragon, Red Ackie Monitors, Caiman Lizard, Tarantulas and Pacmans. They have all been thriving for years out here in San Diego. What type of set up do you have? Plastic tubs are the easiest to get to where you wanna be...

[Mentat]

Could you describe your enclosure a bit better (size, etc.) and include a pic if possible? What are the exact temp. and humidity on it? Also, do you dust a couple worms or all of them? Thank you !

[mafoo]

The tank is a 20g tank, mainly the reason for this as it was fine when he was in his little 10g. The exact temperature is 82 in the hot side of the tank, 76 in the cool side after a full night with both heat pads and the ceramic heat emitter. I dust either all of his worms 1 or two times a week or 1 worm every feeding to get him started as he likes the dusted worms allot more and with that I can get him to eat the rest. I will try to get a pic up soon for you guys to see. Thanks for the replys!

[mafoo]

Well my pixie is now not eating again. He did good the one day but not so good now, and I am almost certain it is because of this. What heat pad would you guys recomend? The exo terra ones are absoulutely not working for me so I need something different for him. Any suggestions on what brand/size is helpful. Thanks

[XDragonFrogX]

Zoo med is my fav heat pad brand. You might want to get a dimmer for it to control the temp. These do work great. Exo terra heat pads suck. I have one on the back of my red eye tank and it dosnt help at all to keep the temps up lol

[mafoo]

Zoo med is my fav heat pad brand. You might want to get a dimmer for it to control the temp. These do work great. Exo terra heat pads suck. I have one on the back of my red eye tank and it dosnt help at all to keep the temps up lol

What size of the zoo med would you recommend? I was thinking of getting the medium with the rheostat to control it but I am not sure.

[XDragonFrogX]

Medium should be good for that size tank