Humidity and sphagnum moss

[vicky]

my fire belly newt hasn't been eating. it's been suggested to me that one of the reasons he's not eating and tries to hide a lot is because of humidity. I got temp. and humidity measuring guages,and the humidity is somewhere between 70 and 80. The temp is just under 80 degrees F! I have a fan blowing on the tank to keep it cool (which is probably what's killing the humidity) and the tank is on the floor as well, but other than that I don't know how to keep the temp down. Also, I don't know how to keep the temp down and the humidity up at the same time. I just planted some land plants in the terrarium in the sphagnum, and there's an aquatic side with water plants there as well-- should that help? What else can I do for the humidity and the temperature?

Also, I noticed that the newt tried to crawl up on the gauges as soon as he noticed them there. I used a test strip to check the pH and nitrite/nitrate levels of the sphagnum moss, and the pH is below 7. Is the sphagnum not good to use? I have gravel underneath it; should I use that alone? Also, could I squeeze the water out of the moss now and saturate it with more properly balanced water to correct the problem? Sorry for so many questions-- I'm crazy about newts and I've been up and down all the forums and websites I can find to make sure this little guy is ok. Thanks!

 

[rancidevilpingu]

wtf is humidity?

 

[kaysie]

humidity is the amount of water in the air. its a staple of newt care.

vicky, i've heard bad things about sphagnum... i'm not well versed on firebellies, but most of them are aquatic, not land based. you should reduce the land area to just a small island, and then try using frozen bottles of water to cool down the tank.

btw: you dont mention which firebelly you have but the caresheets are at http://www.caudata.org/caudatecentral/caresheets/C_orientalis.html or at http://www.caudata.org/caudatecentral/caresheets/C_pyrrhogaster.html

(Message edited by kaysie on September 22, 2003)