Getting and Keeping Humidity for Irian Jaya BTS

[Miss.Bluey]

Hello! I live in a rather dry/non-humid area of Southern California and have a very hard time keeping my Irian Jaya BTS' humidity up. I was looking into a mister or fogger to help with this as well as better substrate.

I've read that Indonesian species need humidity in the 60%-80% range, but I don't know if the fogger/mister would put my skink at risk for respiratory infections. He'd be breathing the humid air in any method I use since the humidity is so high (or that's what I'm thinking...could be wrong).

Is it advised that I get a mister or a fogger? Any ways to keep the humidity up so high in a dry place without using a mister/fogger?

[alichamp]

Hi and welcome. I don't have experience with the high humidity requirements so I can't answer specifically about fogger/mister. While you wait for some others to post, thought I could link a few things for you.

Here you can read about good substrates for humidity. As well as substrate, a humid hide, large water bowl (but not too deep they can't swim) and wet sponge under the heat source might help. Use the search box above to find relevant posts (search things like Irian Jaya, humid hide, humidity, mist, fog) as this is a topic discussed often on here.

Here's a previous post from Susann with suggestions:

You don't need to buy an expensive cigar humidifier, just go to Walmart and pick up a suction-cup container that will fit a sponge:
attach it to the wall of the tank under the heat lamp and keep the sponge wet.
You can also make an inexpensive humid hide by cutting an opening in a plastic container and filling it with paper towels, wash cloths, moss, or something else you can wet down for them to burrow in, and keeping it on the warm side of the tank.

Misting is OK; because the tanks for BTS generally are on the warmer side, mold and bacteria are usually not a big issue unless you are really overdoing the misting.

[jesswebb93]

I use New Zealand Sphagnum Moss as the substrate for my IJ BTS and I heavily mist the enclosure and substrate every other day, and keep a towel on top of one side of the enclosure to keep the humidity in. It seems to work well. The Sphagnum Moss holds moisture well, so with regular misting, a water dish on the cool end and a towel over one side of the enclosure, the moisture/humidity stays up. I hope this helps!

[Edward]

[Gao]

All you have to do is mist the enclosure once a day.

[Susann]

I don't know if the fogger/mister would put my skink at risk for respiratory infections. He'd be breathing the humid air in any method I use

The gigas species and IJ's are actually more prone to respiratory issues from being too dry than they are from breathing humid air. Where these species originate (Indonesia/PNG) they live in near 100% humidity through most of the year --humidifying the air is what you want.

How long have you had your skink? How old is it? Any shedding, eye, or toe issues?