New White's Tree Frog Setup Question

[newrkv]

ok, I have noticed some white mold on the grapewood, but also saw somewhere else in the forum that it was part of the maturation process of the terrarium. I will go ahead and remove that.

The screen is covered half with plastic wrap already, but somehow the humidity is still escaping... probably the grapewood you mentioned.

I have looked into the timed misters, but those things are pricey! lol

[DigitalPunk]

Misters are pricey, but they are way worth it. One pump can run up to 10 mist heads so you could use one pump for 8 - 10 tanks easily. LOVE my MistKing pump, it is by far the best purchase I made for my tanks.

Grape wood is awful for high humidity tanks. The mold is most likely a gray mold and will make your frogs sick fast. Josh's frogs has a great election of terrarium wood as does NEHERP.

Florescent or incandescent bulbs will kill humidity as well. You can compensate that loss with a large water bowl, a 2 inch layer of Sphagnum moss on the bottom of the tank. Also it helps to remove the plastic and use a damp towel instead. Switch to using a Ceramic Heat emitter at night instead of a feb bulb. It will help keep your humidity up more as the CHE produces no light and is radiant heat. They are amazing heaters.

[kueluck]

For your humidity issues it just might be the gauge. Analog have a tendency to not be very accurate, and you can get a bad digital also, so I would replace your gauge and go from there. Can't see how your levels can be so low yet mold is growing.

[GreenTree]

I don't disagree with the analog hygrometers being off. However 4 to 6 hours of humidity per day in a 24 hour period is enough time to show a mycelium mass on a grapevine branch. All this mold needs is that time window for the spores to create the mycelium mass and then its a rapid growing problem as long as the humidity is above 45 percent. This particular mold will remain dormant on the wood pieces in humidity of 20 percent but as soon as she mists it will reproduce rapidly.