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GREAT shed!!!

Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2014 1:03 pm
by DianaBlueTongue
My red merauke shed today and from the tip of his nose to the tip of his tail came off in one piece, love it when they shed like this! Really makes you feel like you're doing something right. Also thought this is a good example for new bluey owners to see and to help understand how important proper humidity levels really are. Folks can quote percentages at you till theyre blue in the face about what the perfect humidity level is but really, it's your skink who will tell you whats best for them by showing you things like this. :D

Re: GREAT shed!!!

Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2014 6:56 pm
by MechHAN
What's your humidity?Would water spray help?

Re: GREAT shed!!!

Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2014 9:27 pm
by Romeyrider
Makes for an easy clean up!

Re: GREAT shed!!!

Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 5:41 am
by DianaBlueTongue
My gigas set ups stay around 50-60% humidity with a humid hide available that stays around 75-80%

Re: GREAT shed!!!

Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 5:47 am
by DianaBlueTongue
Oh, and spraying a cage down is actually a bit of a myth, I suppose it does help the humidity a little bit but its not the substrate you want wet, that runs the risk of things like scale rot and mold growing, its the air that needs to be humid. A fogger works well for this but honesly what I do is re mix the substrate in all my blueys cages/tubs once a week, I try to keep it the dampness of natural soil/leaf litter and provide a large water bowl on the hot side. I never mist cages, ive seen scale rot in lizards that were misted too much and it really doesn't do anything for the ambient humidity, at least not in my cages but bluey care for me is quite different them folks in florida or folks in Colorado and so on. DIfferent environments call for different techniques.

Re: GREAT shed!!!

Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2014 12:22 am
by MechHAN
So how to prevent the mold problem in the humid hide?last summer I had some mold growing problem...

Re: GREAT shed!!!

Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2014 5:02 am
by DianaBlueTongue
what is the ambient humidity where you live? here in northeastern Pennsylvania my air is quite dry most of the year so I have to work at keeping the humidity up in my cages a bit more then someone down in florida say. what sort of bedding are you using as well? some beddings, like aspen, mold easily and I always try to steer people away from using it. Just because it never has grown mold doesn't mean it won't aspen bedding can start to mold at 40% humidity. Lining the humid hide with something that is naturally antimicrobial and mold reisitant will help, try spagmun moss, it's what I line all my hunid hides with and haven't had any problems with mold. That's not to say that its mold proof, when kept too wet with too little ventilation ANYTHING will mold.

Re: GREAT shed!!!

Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2014 5:48 am
by MechHAN
Well I live in Wuhan,a mid-southern city in China,the ambient humidity in this season is about 40% to 80%
Last year I used the bark(which caused some breath problem),then the coco-fiber(which caused the mold problem),and then the aspen till now...now the hygrometers says the humidity in tank is 35%...I think I'll get some moss,thanks for advise!

Re: GREAT shed!!!

Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2014 7:45 am
by DianaBlueTongue
Sure thing :) It's kinda tough for folks in different countries to give specific husbandry advice because our own environments are so different from one another. Different things work for different people. I use a mix of cypress mulch, eco earth (coco fiber) and moss and have had great success with it so far but someone on the opposite end of the usa might have terrible luck with it. A period of trial and error with the things that have proven to work well for other folks is a good way to find out what will work the best for you and your skink.