Increasing Humidity?

[Rae]

I have a Grey Tree Frog and am wondering how to increase the humidity without buying bulbs and lights... I mist about every other day lightly and Frodo has a small water dish in the terrarium. The temperature and humidity were both at a steady 70 degrees and % but ive noticed as its getting cooler the air must be getting drier and so is his home its dropped to 60% humidity. Any suggestions Please!

I am also aware Grey tree frogs need lots of ventillation so i dont want to cover the screen top.

[wesleybrouwer]

Can you describe you're tank setup?

What kind of substrate do you use,
how are the walls decorated,
do you use any life plants and so on.

A great way to keep you're RV at a good value is using life plants and a substrate like cocopeat.
This will raise you;re RV a lot.
Besides that it's worth the money to buy a misting system or humidifier hooked up to a humidistat (if thats the word for it , like a thermostate but then for humidity )

If you have a waterpart in your viv, it's also a possibility to use a aquariumheater in it,
since this will warm up you're waterpart it also vaporize it and gives the RV a boost as well.

[Rae]

Sorry I really am new at this Im not sure what kind of subtrate i use its from the pet store you add it to water and it expands ( i know i sound like a noob) they said it was the best thing they had for frogs... I have 2 fake plants and some real branches off the bush we found him near to add privacy to sides. a bark bridge/hideaway and a lil water dish oh and fake vines that you twist.

I have a picture of my terrerium in my album but i have added more plants fake and branches since those pics i will add some new updated right now to help!

[wesleybrouwer]

That's no problem/

I believe you are using cocopeat blocks, it will expand a lot as you put it in water.
This will give a good RV most of the times.
If the RV is to low, concider taking a humidifier you can use to get the RV up.
They are somewhat cheaper to but then a raining system.

[bshmerlie]

If you're only misting every other day and you're at 60 percent you could probably just mist everyday or twice a day and you'll be where you want to be. Mist once in the morning and once before you go to bed. Also live plants do help, but they can be a problem if you don't have adequate lights. I'd say just increase the misting at this point. Also check the guages. I had one of those gauges that always read 70 percent untill the entire tank was all steamed up and I finally noticed the needle didn't move. Yikes

[jtay]

I find using an air-stone (attached to an air pump) in the water bowl to work very well - but it depends on how deep your water bowl is as to whether that is a suitable solution for you.
Or as Cheri said, increasing your misting will help.

[wesleybrouwer]

I missed out on the part that the viv is only misted once every 2 days
As mentioned spraying every day or twice a day will do fine

[Jace]

I know with my Green treefrogs, I had to up their mistings to twice a day, and my Pacific Chorus frogs to once day to maintain humidity levels where I wanted them. I bought a 2 gallon Flo-Master pump action sprayer with a mister nozzle that I use to spray all my enclosures and it works amazing!

Jess, I like the airstone idea...how deep does the water have to be for that to work well?

[Rae]

Thank you so much for all the replies I'll start misting daily and maybe twice a day to see how that helps. We are trying to avoid lights and any thing that involving electricity because when we move the terrarium out of our kitchen it might not have an plug outlet close by.

Does anyone know anything about adding moss and its effect on humidity (thought I read something about that)?

[Paul Rust]

You can cover the top of the tank and use fans on timers or a humidistat to control humidity. You may have to mist or add water to the substrate only once a month if you do this. I Have water features and fans so i never have to mist other than spot cleaning.

[Tony]

Why try to raise the humidity? 60% is plenty.

[jtay]

Jess, I like the airstone idea...how deep does the water have to be for that to work well?

The water just has to cover the airstone by a couple of centimeters, so it depends on what size airstone you get. I got a really small one and it is submerged in the 3cm deep pool.
It does not have to be in the frogs pond - although that is the best way in my opinion You could also just put a mesh covered jar of water hidden somewhere in the enclosure with an airstone fed into it (could also use an aquarium heater that way too).
I like using the airstone as it creates air currents and brings fresh air into the enclosure.

[jtay]

Does anyone know anything about adding moss and its effect on humidity (thought I read something about that)?

Pretty sure adding any live plants would bring the humidity up

[wesleybrouwer]

Around here in Holland most of us use life plants.
I don't know wich way you guys create the bottom?

Mostly we use hydroballs with something on top of it to keep the substrate from mixing in there, as substrate we use all sort of stuff like the coco-bricks, clay, peatslabs or anything like that.
It will be good for the live plants to grow in and gets the RV up as well.

As wall decoration the most common seen materials are ferntree panels, Epiweb, epoxy raisin with peat or fern tree granulate put on top of it.
This will help raising the humidity as well (except the last choice) and offers the plants good climbing possibilities.

Most of the vivs we use got an air strip for ventilation on the front near the bottom and on top.
This will create a natural air flow providing fresh air and keeps you're windows free of condensation.
By using an aquariumheater the air will warm up,
warm air will rise and that way more airflow can occure as well and at the same time it gets the RV up in the upper half as well as down.

Using a waterfall or stream also puts up the RV and looks nice as well

On top of that most people either use an automated raining system or air humidifier to keep the RV up even when not at home.
I don;t know if any of you use a system like that?
And how do you build up you're viv?
Very curious what ways are used in other countries.

[Rae]

Why try to raise the humidity? 60% is plenty.

Is it? Are you sure? Whats Ideal for a Grey treefrog? Most terrariums seem to be around 70 to 90 that I have read about so far anyways.

[wesleybrouwer]

Haha, i'm not used with the common English names of most frogs.
If it's right that it is the Hyla versicolor it can withstand a lot more dryness then most.
Just make sure not to let the viv dry out, but 50% would be sufficient enough to keep them healthy.

Now i know the species and looking at the place you;re from,
best thing i can advise is put one RV metre outside and try to get the viv at that rate.
This species can be found in Ontario as well, so putting it outside solves you're problem already

[Tony]

I don't have any hygrometers in my frog room, trying to nail a certain number on the dial is unnecessary and will drive you nuts. Keep water in his dish and mist on occasion like you have been doing and he will be just fine.