all right today we're going to talk a little bit about maintaining proper humidity levels in any
enclosure whether that is a tub a vision cage EXO Terra a wooden enclosure whatever that may be and
today with me to kind of help talk about that is our boy Remus the yellow a key monitor so when
we talk about proper humidity you know that's a big word that's really important and it's really
important for a lot of different reasons number one it's based on where they come from naturally
so like a rainbow boa they have to be super super humid I mean not like drenching living in swamp
because that can lead to stagnation and stuff but they have to be very well hydrated if you
have a you know a rainbow boa it can they were gets dehydrated that can you know be very very
detrimental even leading to loss of life and that's not something that we want as well as
we're gonna mostly a lot of this has to do kind of with like lizards and arid species is kind of what
I want to talk a little bit more specifically about and that is you know we always sit here
when we try to recreate their natural environment as much as we can based on where we live in these
boxes that we keep them in our house rodents again regardless of what you keep them in we always try
to recreate that as much as we can so you know we was talking about desert species so we think arid
dry really high hot basking spots so for instance for these Ackie monitors they need basking spots
well well into the hundreds even one hundred and twenty degrees but that doesn't mean they don't
need humidity so even though these guys are found in arid Australia out in the desert they're not
spending 100 percent of their time out in the over 100 degrees Sun they come out they bask
they warm up they get their the energy they need because they're exothermic and then they go back
in until they hunker back down at their to their dens and burrows until it's more optimal for them
to actually do their hunting and moving around and so when you think about that okay what are their
den sites are their burrows like they're a lot cooler and they're very humid so even though this
guy comes from arid Australia he needs a basking spot over 120 degrees he still needs somewhere
where he can go to for humidity and so that is all represented in a lot of other species well
that includes leopard geckos bearded dragons fat tail geckos as well as regular tropical species
that already we kind of have a bit of a hard time keeping humidity for ball pythons and stuff like
that but so for instance you know this guy he's kept in a four by two enclosure here he has a
very high basking spot and one to notice and one in the enclosure but on the other end he has a
big half log that's filled with cypress mulch and Spagnam moss that I have to keep humid as well and
that's because they still need that humidity if you don't have humidity with your reptiles
that will lead to bad sheds and bad sheds is a whole subject that what I don't want to get too
too much into but basically what that is is that they need more humidity period and so with lizards
of all species if there's not enough humidity enough humidity that can lead to bad sheds and
stuff sheds and it can actually end up eventually cutting off circulation to the toes and they can
lose parts of their toes the tips for even whole things and we'll get a little bit closer on this
guy but remus here before we got him because we got him as an adult because he didn't have proper
humidity even though his temps were correct as far as basking spot goes because he didn't have access
to a humid hide or watch water bowl because they will get into water they will drink out of there
as well I've seen him do it countless times he ended up having constrict constriction on his
toes and he's lost quite a few of the end digits and his claws on most of his toes and that can
also happen to leopard geckos they can happen to fat tails and beard dragons like we said you
know specifically for leopard geckos yes they are found out and factor that goes - they are found
out in the arid deserts but you know like I said they come out and they get their basking and they
they've asked for a little while and then they start moving around they're not always cruising
around into hot hot temps so access to a big humid hide is really good for them because when they're
not basking in they're not hunting they're in their dens they're in their burrows and that's
where there's a lot more humidity that's where the temps are a little bit cooler and that's
where they can you know kind of help with their shedding and everything else like that and I am
a little upset at you Remus because when we did the video about miniature dwarf monitor lizards
and you were in there you were cruising all over the place it's probably because he ate like five
junior oh she's grinning he's a big fatty today but that's basically really all I kind of wanted
to sum up today is that you know it seems almost kind of like when we talk about hide boxes with
sphagnum Moss and stuff that it almost for some of the more experienced reptile keepers it almost
seems like oh well then that means you're just not dialing in your habitat correctly but I
think that might be something that's beneficial for a lot of reptile species lizard snakes or
whatever that you know we have to think about what they want for that area that they're in but also
micro habitats as well so you want to have a big basking spot you want to have a nice area for them
to bask and you also want to make sure you have enough room for them to properly throw a regulate
that's what we're always you know thinking about and doing stuff like that but a proper humidity
where they can get in where it's cooler where it's humid where they can get away and they can
work on sloughing off their sheds skin that's also part of proper thermal regulation and giving them
enough you know places an area for them to move around as close to what we can you know close as
we can get to actually given them what they would be found in their natural habitats you know like
we said we like I've said it before you know we basically do just keep these guys in boxes in
our houses so it's up to us to try to give them as much of what we can to help them try to give
them some simulation of what they would be like in the wild and so giving them enough area to
properly thermal regulate high basking spot for these desert species but also a proper humid hide
so that way they can avoid things like this you know bluetongue schemes so you see a lot of adult
Blue Tongue skink star missing toes it's because a lot of them actually come from Indonesia because
any Australian animals that we have here in the United States they come from either European lines
or stuff that we already have in the States but in Indonesia they need a lot more humidity than
you would see in an Australian species and so everyone keeps them like their Australian so
they lives a lot of toes they're not giving the proper humidity and that's the same thing that can
happen with beard dragons and these a key monitor lizards and several other species so that's just
something that you guys want to think about you know if you are thinking about getting an errant
species like leopard geckos bearded dragons there are great first-time reptile pets even if you're
an experienced keeper there's a lot that you can enjoy from them but that's something that we need
to think you guys should probably think about a little bit about too is that yeah they need
those high temps but they need somewhere to get a little bit that humidity a little bit cooler and
for them to be able to shed properly I hope you did enjoy this video or at least got something
out of it some probably some decent information I hope once again I'm not gonna say I'm the perfect
reptile experience keeper but I've been doing it for a while and I do keep a number of species and
they all seem to be doing pretty well so I just want to share that a little bit if you can please
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these things and to you know be a little bit more interested in knowledgeable about reptiles if
you have any questions comments ideas for future videos ideas to help improve this let me know down
in the comments hit me up on Instagram or Facebook Jz's reptiles and I'll catch you next time