border
sSNAKESs : Reptile Forum
 

Go Back   sSNAKESs : Reptile Forum > Enclosure Creation Forums > General Enclosure Discussion

Notices

Closed Thread
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 02-13-12, 03:03 PM   #1
Skumbo
Member
 
Skumbo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb-2012
Location: Manchester, NH
Posts: 876
Country:
Your humidity may be way off!

I wasn't sure where to put this, so I'll place it here.

I was reading Inferalis' post on his poor Monitor who ended up with gout due to low humidity.

I have purchased nearly 30 (yes 30) brands of hygrometers, and this is BY FAR the most reliable, you can find them for ~$20-30 online.



I wanted to let you all know about a little problem many of you may not realize, and may be affecting you!

One of my other hobbies is smoking a pipe (tobacco) and occasionally cigars (don't make this about health stuff, I guarantee I'm healthier than you (you wouldn't believe the flak i get for referencing that hobby in some forums, so i feel a need to mention it) ... just take it as experience with hygrometers)

I have seen many pictures of enclosures and noticed a trend.. ONE hygrometer!

Why is this bad, you ask? Well, the cigar hobby is much more picky about humidity than you would imagine. the difference between 68% and 72% humidity could be the difference between a cigar that is too dry and has lost its oils (and thus flavor) or a cigar that is COVERED in mold and destroys your entire collection.

Because of this, many cigar smokers utilize multiple hygrometers to monitor different drawers, sections, etc. of their humidors (some are rather large).

People wiser than I, a while ago, realized that their humidors were uneven in humidity and trying to find the problem, decided to place all their hygrometers in one area and see if they might be off. You would be horrified as to how inaccurate some of the "high quality" hygrometers are, never-mind the cheapo ones.


I will use my own experienced from here on out to explain/apply this to reptiles.

I purchased a 5 pack of hygrometers (about $40 each if purchased retail) from a high-end cigar company, CAO. Upon opening the hygrometers, I laid them all out and let them acclimate (they take some time to read a change of environment) and they ranged from 20% humidity to 55% humidity. (it was 51% humidity in the room, measured by an accurate hygrometer) Yup, a 35% disparity between 5 identical, $25 hygrometers. This means your expensive hygrometer may be as off as 30% or more without you realizing it.

Luckily, my buddy who has owned a cigar shop for longer than I have been alive showed me his little trick to ensure his hundreds of thousands of dollars in cigar stock don't turn into bad cheese over night.

It's called the salt test, and many good hygrometers (the xikar ones) are sold as "adjustable" and have a "reset" button, which sets the hygrometer to read whatever the current humidity is as 75%. The reason it does this is because of the infamous (around cigar people) "salt test"

What is a salt test?

A salt test is an easy test that basically puts your hygrometer into an isolated 75% RH (relative humidity) environment, in which you can then determine how inaccurate the reading is and adjust accordingly.

How to do the salt test:

First off, grab some materials. Luckily, you should have all of them already in your house.

Small sandwich ziplock baggy
- Bottle cap from 2 liter soda bottle (works best)
- Table salt (sodium chloride)
- Hygrometer (AVOID ANALOGUE, think of them like the "hot rocks" of hygrometers. that's how bad they are!)

STEP 1:

Fill bottle cap with standard table salt; fill about 3/4 of the way up, not too hard!

STEP 2:

Add filtered or distilled water (not tap) to the bottle cap to saturate the salt.
You want more of a slurry consistency of water and salt.
If you see water floating on top of the salt, you’ve added too much water. Easy fix for this is to grab a paper towel, and soak up all of the excess water. This is a bit harder than it sounds, but you'll get it down in a few tries. just keep dumping it out and retrying until you get the right consistency, salt isn't expensive.

STEP 3:

Place both hygrometer and bottle cap (with salt/water mixture) inside of a small ziplock baggy. Note how sloshy the salt mixture looks:



(credit: cigarpass.com)

STEP 4:
WAIT. Wait 24-48 hours actually. I would probably go do something else, 24 hours is a long time to stare at a bag. Depending on the size of your ziplock bag, it can take between 24 and 48 hours for the bag to reach a stable humidity. It should be pretty close in 4-6 hours, but better safe than sorry.

Step 5:
If your hygrometer is perfectly accurate, it will read 75%. If your hygrometer is digital and has a calibration button or adjusting button, follow the directions that it came with to calibrate to 75%. Digital hygrometers have a calibration button you push, while analog hygrometers have a screw which allows you to adjust the needle accordingly. The push are ideal, as its annoying to try to adjust within the bag (as soon as you open it, the humidity will plummet), pushing one button is much easier.

If your hygrometer is not adjustable, you’ll just have to make a note and remember how far off it is. Mark -11% or +5% or whatever with a sharpie on the face so you know.

Now that you have a perfectly calibrated hygrometer, you're set for life, right? WRONG! Your hygrometer will slowly drain the battery (and depending on the model, burn through a battery within a year) and from personal experience, once a battery has reached its mid-way point, the reading will begin to read lower than it should.

Retest your hygrometers IDEALLY every 4 months, at LEAST once a year.


I hope this helps at least one person out there who went out and bought an good-quality hygrometer expecting it to function as advertised, but is actually off and could be causing health problems you don't even know are happening! Your pet will be happy you read this as well!

Skumbo is offline  
Login to remove ads
Old 02-13-12, 03:26 PM   #2
alessia55
Retired Moderator
 
alessia55's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep-2011
Location: Miami
Posts: 8,469
Country:
Send a message via AIM to alessia55
Re: Your humidity may be way off!

This is really great. Thanks for teaching us! I like how you put it in a step-by-step manner. I'm going to link back to this thread from my website on the humidity section
__________________
Alessia
Quote:
"Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened." -Anatole France
alessia55 is offline  
Old 02-13-12, 03:33 PM   #3
Norm66
Cold Blooded Chaos
 
Norm66's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov-2011
Location: Parkersburg, WV
Posts: 1,623
Country:
Re: Your humidity may be way off!

Great post and thanks! I recently discovered this exact thing and calibrated to my best hygrometer. But I'll be doing the salt test thing ASAP to see how close I actually was.

In fact the hygrometers I bought were sold for humidors.
__________________
1.0 Burmese Python, 1.0 jungle carpet python, 1.0 boa constrictor, 4.3 Royal Pythons, 1.0 50% SD reticulated python, 1.0 western hognose, 1.1 cats, 2.1 dogs
Norm66 is offline  
Old 02-13-12, 03:43 PM   #4
BarelyBreathing
Varanus Queen
 
BarelyBreathing's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan-2012
Location: Denver, CO
Posts: 5,078
Country:
Re: Your humidity may be way off!

I love this post!!!
__________________
Quote:
Originally Posted by A Whimsical Observer
A seed is a tiny plant, in a box, with its lunch.
BarelyBreathing is offline  
Old 02-13-12, 03:46 PM   #5
Skumbo
Member
 
Skumbo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb-2012
Location: Manchester, NH
Posts: 876
Country:
Re: Your humidity may be way off!

Quote:
Originally Posted by BarelyBreathing View Post
I love this post!!!
I try to balance out my uselessness with occasional fits of contribution
Skumbo is offline  
Login to remove ads
Old 02-13-12, 05:13 PM   #6
jarich
Member
 
jarich's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct-2011
Posts: 2,237
Country:
Re: Your humidity may be way off!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Skumbo View Post
I try to balance out my uselessness with occasional fits of contribution
Ha! Nice one.

And thanks for the post. I went the stupid route and paid $15 for the test kit on Amazon. Definitely wont be making that mistake again. Thanks again.
__________________
The plural of anecdote is not data
jarich is offline  
Old 02-13-12, 08:30 PM   #7
Wolfus_305
Member
 
Wolfus_305's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov-2008
Location: GTA
Posts: 1,061
Country:
Re: Your humidity may be way off!

ohhh! this is so interesting! Thanks for sharing it!
Wolfus_305 is offline  
Old 02-13-12, 08:45 PM   #8
KORBIN5895
Village Idiot
 
KORBIN5895's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct-2011
Age: 39
Posts: 7,360
Country:
Re: Your humidity may be way off!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Skumbo View Post
I try to balance out my uselessness with occasional fits of contribution
Don't bother. I sure don't.
__________________
I used to be a nice guy but that don't get you anywhere. So now I'm just a piece of ****, idiot,
who's too stupid to care.
KORBIN5895 is offline  
Old 02-14-12, 06:46 PM   #9
millertime89
Forum Moderator
 
Join Date: Sep-2011
Location: Overhill and underhill.
Posts: 7,365
Country:
Re: Your humidity may be way off!

Thanks for sharing, if I'm ever out that way I'll have to buy you a cigar and we can smoke together. I don't do it often but I find it very relaxing when I do.
__________________
https://www.facebook.com/KyleMillerPhotography1 & https://www.facebook.com/KylesQualityConstrictors
"We all have a common enemy and I can assure you it's nobody in this hobby." - Brian Barczyk
millertime89 is offline  
Old 02-14-12, 06:50 PM   #10
aj099
Member
 
aj099's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct-2011
Location: montreal
Age: 33
Posts: 136
Country:
Re: Your humidity may be way off!

I was actually into the cigar hobbie before the reptile`s
so i know what you mean!! i still keep a good collection of about
30 mote cristo`s number 7 of course.along with chohiba`s and romeojulieta

i have a great connection in cuba for cigar`s straight from the factory.
not the crap one`s that dont pass inspection that most cuban`s sell.

the real straight from the factory one`s!

if your looking to buy let me know!
__________________
got 99 problem`s but a tic aint one.
aj099 is offline  
Login to remove ads
Old 02-14-12, 06:55 PM   #11
aj099
Member
 
aj099's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct-2011
Location: montreal
Age: 33
Posts: 136
Country:
Re: Your humidity may be way off!

oh crap sorry didn`t realize you were in the state`s...
cant sell there or ill be put in jail! haha
__________________
got 99 problem`s but a tic aint one.
aj099 is offline  
Old 02-14-12, 06:59 PM   #12
millertime89
Forum Moderator
 
Join Date: Sep-2011
Location: Overhill and underhill.
Posts: 7,365
Country:
Re: Your humidity may be way off!

silly guberment.
__________________
https://www.facebook.com/KyleMillerPhotography1 & https://www.facebook.com/KylesQualityConstrictors
"We all have a common enemy and I can assure you it's nobody in this hobby." - Brian Barczyk
millertime89 is offline  
Old 02-14-12, 07:18 PM   #13
Skumbo
Member
 
Skumbo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb-2012
Location: Manchester, NH
Posts: 876
Country:
Re: Your humidity may be way off!

I'm not a big cuban guy anyway, they're not my flavor profile, only one ive thoroughly enjoyed was a trinidad, but even then, not worth the $$

but thanks :P
Skumbo is offline  
Old 02-14-12, 11:02 PM   #14
beardeds4life
Member
 
Join Date: Nov-2011
Posts: 804
Country:
Re: Your humidity may be way off!

how do you know it is exactly 75%?
beardeds4life is offline  
Old 02-15-12, 05:24 AM   #15
Skumbo
Member
 
Skumbo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb-2012
Location: Manchester, NH
Posts: 876
Country:
Re: Your humidity may be way off!

Quote:
Originally Posted by beardeds4life View Post
how do you know it is exactly 75%?
without getting into the exact chemistry of it, a slushy (2:1 ratio of water to salt) mixture of salt will equalize out to 75% relative humidity
Skumbo is offline  
Login to remove ads
Closed Thread

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 09:12 PM.

Powered by vBulletin®
©2000 - 2025, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright © 2002-2023, Hobby Solutions.

right