How moist do you keep your tanks?

[rob]

Hey all,

I noticed that no one really talks about how moist they keep their tanks. It's all agreed that they need to be moist but not soggy with wetness, but that's pretty open to interpretation. So I wanted to know what everyone does.

I currently mist with water every few days and poor a glass or so worth of water into the corner every week or two. I notice when I think it's been kept too wet by the nice smell of mildew that comes from the soil...so I try to not keep it that wet. I think it may be a bit on the dry side....but I'm not sure exactly since I can't find any specific references as to how wet it should be.

What does everyone else do?

 

[aaron]

depends on what species you're talking about. for example, shanjing likes it very dry, torosa doesn't care, and tigrinum likes it moist. to keep humidity levels up, try putting seran wrap or some other plastic wrap over part of the top of the tank.

~Aaron

 

[nate]

I agree Rob. The best way to take care of that though is to offer your animal a choice of moisture levels by giving it a gradient to choose from. You'll often find that some salamanders often stay at one moisture level, but many others change daily.

 

[rob]

I do have the soil slopped with the low end having a water dish for all of my tanks. I still wonder if I keep them too dry or not sometimes...and was curious about everyone else.