Question about Blaze

[ladybug15057]

Would you happen to have a glass scraper that will fit behind the gauge to try to peel it off? Sometimes if it is a sticker type substance on the back of the gauge they will not stick right again so you may wish to have some velcro hand just in case. (make sure not to cover any holes to effect the reading) Humidity gauges should be retested about once a month to make sure they are still reading correctly.
If you need the extra heat through the night since we had a cooler snap you can use black construction paper on the outside of the tank and aim the light there to still keep the night cycle. This should help to keep an area of the substrate warm for them. Due to hermies being a cold blooded creature there should be a cooler side to the substrate of about 71-73* and a warmer side of 78-80*. This helps them to regulate the body temp they need.

[Gizaroo]

From what I've noticed the tank doesn't get below 72 degrees at night (thus far...fall/winter might be a different story). I don't have any heating mats or heat lamps yet...I don't have any other electric sockets that I can plug anything into besides the aquarium light that came with the tank.

Hmm, good idea. I'll look in the garage and see if I can't find a glass scraper. We have velcro floating around too I believe, as well as double sided tape.

Know of any really small heating lamps? It'd be easier to do if I had a ten gal + tank...but 5.5 gal stuff is kind of hard to find things like that for

[Gizaroo]

Sweet! The hygrometer popped right off...and is still really sticky. Didn't need to use anything to get it off. It's calibrating now...hope its accurate.

[Gizaroo]

So I have been trying to calibrate this hygrometer for several hours now...and the silly thing wont stay put in one spot...keeps falling...I don't have a plastic dish (with a lid) big enough for me to put it on the bottom of it and not have to worry about the salt mixture touching it( thankfully each time it's fallen-3x now- it hasnt touched it, I don't think. out of the 3 times i've tried it so far (had to open the container to readjust it) it's only gotten up to about 65% in about an hour and a half...the directions I'm following say to let it sit for 3 hours at least and that it should say 75% after that time...

Any suggestions on how I should try to calibrate this thing? Or should I get a new one and try again? I haven't been able to locate the velcro yet...and this thing doesn't seem to want to stick to the plastic...

[ladybug15057]

Unfortunately if you opened the jar this means you would need to restart the timing for the test. I use a large plastic peanut butter jar and a medicine cup. (One that came with Robitussin cough syrup) One can use an empty mayo jar too, or even a gallon ziploc baggy if you have one?
If the sticky was still good, it should stick to plastic too. (plastic would need to be cleaned) The more you try to stick it the less the sticky is going to stick. My suggestion would be to try to find the velcro or buy a little for a couple dollars at WalMart. In the long run for future calibrations it will be much easier.

[Gizaroo]

Yea I know it reset the time each time. It hasn't moved from 65% in the last 4 hours.

Sadly we are out of any ziploc baggies, and have no jars anywhere. Yea, I cleaned the plastic first before putting it on there...still didn't work. I guess I ended up with a faulty hygrometer

Any other suggestions? I'm going to try to get to the petstore tomorrow after work and buy another one (if they're open...being the 4th of July weekend)

I got a 1-5 gallon heater today and have it on one side of the tank to help keep the temperature more constant. It's been in the tank now for 5 hours and has stayed at 78 degrees F. Is this too warm to stay at the whole time? If so, i'll only turn it on at night to help with the cooler temps in the house.

Thanks in advance!

[ladybug15057]

The warm side at 78*F is ok, but you should have the cooler side to the substrate too of 71-73*F.
Once you get the temp stable it should be easier to keep the humidity more stable too. (I have an electronic temp controller on all our tanks for this reason... a thermostat not a rheostat)
Why buy another humidity gauge? Majority of the time they are off when we buy them and why it is suggested to calibrate/test them. Once we know what they read we can adjust our readings accordingly. For example your test showed 65% so you know your gauge reads 10% too low. So you would want to try to aim for a humidity level of 85% once they were acclimated to the proper conditions. (so 85% in reality due to the test is actually 75%)

[Gizaroo]

Oh ok...cool. (didn't think about that lol) Yea I guess I better not leave the heater on then. Since it's only a 5.5 gal tank it's staying a bit too hot. Too bad they don't make 2.5 gallon ones...that would probably be good lol. The thermometer is on the other side of the tank reading about 76-78ish degrees(I'm estimating...there's no numbers to be exact)

Putting the hygrometer back in the tank now Hopefully the humidity will be ok now! I've been keeping it at 80% on the gauge up til now in the tank, so I haven't been too far off.

[Gizaroo]

I take that back...the heater has been working good the last couple of days. the side of the tank i have it on is staying around 80 degrees while the opposite end is staying around 73ish. Humidity is almost at 85%...it's staying around 83% . I bought some plexiglass today...so just need to get that cut, then my humidity should be good. I bought a sheet large enough that I can cut a piece for my 5.5 gal aquarium and also for my critter carrier (in case I need to use it as an iso tank) with a bit left over

wish I had more room...I'd upgrade to a ten gal aquarium. I've also seen several 55 gal aquariums for 15 bucks on Craigslist near here :/ wish I had ALOT more room lol. *sigh* oh well. One day

Blaze was walking around a little bit ago, so I picked him up and stuck him in the moss pit (where I also have 2 shells). He was madly investigating the green turbo when I came back upstairs a little bit ago...*crosses fingers that he'll switch shells soon* He is sitting on the cork wood munching right now and staring down into the moss pit. Seems to really like it

I know I probably shouldn't have messed with him, but I wanted him to see the moss pit. It's right next to the heater, which he seems to be enjoying right now too lol.

[Gizaroo]

I checked on the hermies tonight, Blaze and Skip, and blaze is completely limp. I gently moved him off of the moss pit (as he was on the side, right next to the heater) because I didn't want him to roast there...he was extremely limp Humidity is at 85% (75% really) and temp at that end of the tank is 80 degrees F. The other end is 73 degrees F.

At first I thought he was dead...but he does not stink...anyone know what could be going on? He was fine last night and quite actively exploring the cork and the moss, and even some of the shells that were around there too.