Rain system DIY

[Rudiman]

Ok folks,

The rudi vive is in the home stretch. Heat, light, nesting, and humidity all figured out.

The question is rain. Rain or the monsoon is very important for breeding these guys. I have a frankenstein system on the old vive. It is comprised of a high pressure pump, tubing, a timer, and monsoon system misters. I am not happy with the misters at all. Any other suggestions for nozzles that create a more even simulated rain? The enclosure for those of you who are not following my thread has a pitched floor and will have a drain.

Scott

[infernalis]

greenhouse sprinklers??

[DiscoPat]

My girlfriend once bought a sprinkler hose by accident, it seemed to recreate rain quite well. It was a cheap 8 dollar one as well. You would have to figure out what pressure would work best because at full power it would just shoot it into the substrate.

That could work if you were trying to save money but you would probably have to manually choose when to turn it on/off and you would probably want to use a filter for the water. Also it would take a lot of awkward coiling and testing.

I never used it for this we just gave it to a neighbor because we had no use at the time for it.

[Rudiman]

http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/s495/scotyjp/44BB04C0-9B4E-4B54-B500-9E3D12F6004B-16255-00000A2E156F35D2.jpg

What about something this? Half a dozen hard piped?

Scott

[simpleyork]

probably not what you're looking for but still an idea none the less
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[Aanayab1]

First thing that popped into my mind. .5" PVC or CPVC + a 1/64th drill bit. that would be slightly smaller holes than the ones in a shower head. If you get a pump rated for high head pressure and use a ball valve on the output of the pump you could adjust the pressure through the water line without causing damage to the pump. If you do it on a 5-6" test pipe and do not like the results you could start trying to put holes through with leather sewing needles and a small butane torch to heat the needles up. A diaphragm pump gives a slight pulse to the water pressure and might make for better droplets...

[Gatorhunter1231]

I used a timer and a soaker hose with the crocs. Attached soaker hose to the top. It is quite (doesn't spook the monitors) makes droplets over a mist, cheap, and can be bought at lowes. I would suggest a fan though. A 10minute shower a day leads to wet ground, then mold. A fan to move the air would help cure that probably.

[Rudiman]

Great ideas.....I will let you know what I come up with.

Thanks

Scott

[h3h]

Cool video, wish there was a little more light. Does it "rain" 24/7 in the enclosure??

- h3

[Danimal]

I am completely ignorant of rain systems in general. A rain chamber is pretty self explanatory. The part I am having trouble with is how do you guys create a significant amount of rain in an enclosure (designed to retain humidity) with a couple of feet of substrate without running into other problems like mildew or mold?

Not asking anyone to go to a lot of trouble just help me turn the light bulb on, is it semantics like mist/rain or is it setting up the substrate to drain?

[Gungirl]

A few things help with mold.. Air flow is one, As long as you have a good amount of air flow mold typically doesn't grow. The other thing that you can do is add stone to the base of your substraight to allow for it to drain and reabsorb as needed. Depending on your base layer and how much "rain" you create it should all dissipate into the air before more "rain" is added.

[infernalis]

I am completely ignorant of rain systems in general. A rain chamber is pretty self explanatory. The part I am having trouble with is how do you guys create a significant amount of rain in an enclosure (designed to retain humidity) with a couple of feet of substrate without running into other problems like mildew or mold?

Not asking anyone to go to a lot of trouble just help me turn the light bulb on, is it semantics like mist/rain or is it setting up the substrate to drain?

Stagnant dirt will grow mold, I see mold in my cage sometimes. But usually the lizards churn the dirt enough that it does not get much chance to grow anything.

[Danimal]

My interest is arboreal. Is there a suggested best practice for airflow without losing too much humidity? My confusion comes for suggestions of no vents to retain humidity vs airflow to battle the negative byproducts of high humidity. Or is the point moot because a rainy season actually means heavy misting and not necessarily a large amount of water?

[Gregg M]

Ok folks,

The rudi vive is in the home stretch. Heat, light, nesting, and humidity all figured out.

The question is rain. Rain or the monsoon is very important for breeding these guys.

You are looking at it the wrong way Scott. Rain does not trigger breeding on its own. It is what comes with rain that are the actual triggers.

#1 is the humidity level. Simulating the rainy season does not need to involve actual droplets of water falling on the lizard. All you need to do is offer a bit more humidity.

#2, in some cases, it is the barometric pressure changes that can trigger breeding. Again, nothing to do with droplets of water.

In my personal opinion, it would be a complete waste of time and energy to set up a rain system. I can also see this causing a problem with too much humidity. In a properly set up varanid cage, there woud be no way for water to drain and for extra humidity to leave.

[Pirarucu]

You are looking at it the wrong way Scott. Rain does not trigger breeding on its own. It is what comes with rain that are the actual triggers.

#1 is the humidity level. Simulating the rainy season does not need to involve actual droplets of water falling on the lizard. All you need to do is offer a bit more humidity.

#2, in some cases, it is the barometric pressure changes that can trigger breeding. Again, nothing to do with droplets of water.

In my personal opinion, it would be a complete waste of time and energy to set up a rain system. I can also see this causing a problem with too much humidity. In a properly set up varanid cage, there woud be no way for water to drain and for extra humidity to leave.While I agree with the first part of this, I disagree with the second. A big old door opening on a regular basis would allow the extra humidity to escape.

[Rudiman]

Thanks for all the input. I will at least install it to help keep the soil/sand moist.

[Gregg M]

While I agree with the first part of this, I disagree with the second. A big old door opening on a regular basis would allow the extra humidity to escape.

If that is the case, you would be sticking your head into a varanid cage more than me which is far too often. LOL.

Seriously though, I am fairly certain that the ground would get too saturated pretty fast. You would be very limmited to how often you can make it rain in the cage. This would make setting up a system like that a complete waste. All you would need to is offer a proper set up with a proper substrate and just dump some water in the cage once in a while.

I personally feel that adding bells and whistles just complicates a thing that is not really complicated.

[Rudiman]

Thanks again!

[Gatorhunter1231]

Agreeing with Greg and repeating what is said earlier. It will ge wet and moldy. It would take fans to make it work because that would help dry the soil. I tried it and a 10min shower ended making it to wet after a week. I then went to ever other day. Then had to let it dry. Then my crocs decided to destroy it and I never tried again. Flowing water was more fun and increased the humidity. Crocs, like most info monitors are not fond of staggent water. May be better to try a moving water system which is full of it's own headaches ;)