4470 El Camino Real

Los Altos, California 94022

Veterinarian Always on Duty

Reptile and Amphibian Care

Humidity

An often overlooked environmental factor in herptile husbandry is humidity. Establishing proper humidity levels can be crucial for some herptiles and is certainly important for all of them. Herptiles who typically need high humidity are those from tropical areas. Examples of these are most chameleons, many iguanas and water dragons, and many frogs. Some turtles and geckos also come from very humid regions.

Humidity can be provided in several ways ranging from periodic misting with a spray bottle to rigging up an "in-tank" misting with humidi-stat to sense the ambient humidity in the enclosure. For example, one of our veterinarians has used spray bottles for his iguanas and a combination spray bottle and moisture absorbing/holding sphagnum moss for his South american horned frogs. For his tiger salamander, fire-bellied toad, and fire-bellied newt, he has an enclosure that has 3/4" of water on one side with large gravel gradually sloping up one side. This provides a dry area so they can submerge themselves fully and also move out of the water as they desire. That particular enclosure also has a branch of wood propped up so that they can climb off the ground should they wish to. Research your herptile's natural environment so that you know its humidity needs. This will help you design your enclosure properly.

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