Question: Ideal humidity for tiger salamander

[Shadowtail117]

Hello all,

I have a habitat prepared for a tiger salamander (with no salamander in it currently). It's a 15-gallon tank with about 4-5 inches of Eco Earth for the substrate, with several artificial plants/sticks, a hiding place, and a shallow water dish for soaking. To my knowledge, all of this is adequate...except for the humidity. When adding in the substrate, I forgot to wring it out at first, and so I think the lower half is currently oversaturated with water; the hygrometer I put in the tank reports about 82% RH at 71 degrees Fahrenheit, which is above the 70-75% that I want to keep the tank at.

Currently, I have the lid off the tank and intermittently blow hot air into it with a space heater in hopes that it will circulate with the less-humid air of the room and help evaporate some of the moisture away. But before I fully commit to that, I want to ask around to see if there are any better solutions or if it is something to worry about in the first place. Thanks!

Nb. The hygrometer is placed in the corner of the tank furthest from the water dish, pressed into the substrate by about a half-inch, if that matters.

 

[Herpin Man]

Tigers are naturally found in areas with high humidity, low humidity, and seasonal variations in humidity. I don’t think that there is an ideal, so I would aim for something in between the extremes. However, if I understand your question correctly, you are more concerned about substrate moisture than humidity in the air.
I would suggest that you try to provide a moisture gradient; keep one end fairly moist, and the other end a bit drier. While they do need access to moisture, they don’t necessarily need to sit in wetness all of the time. Remove and replace some of the wet substrate.
The other thing I would do is mix some topsoil into the substrate. This will help prevent it from getting dry and dusty. Top it off with a layer of leaf litter, which will help regulate moisture, feed any cleaners you may have, and give the salamander more hiding opportunities.

 

[Shadowtail117]

Tigers are naturally found in areas with high humidity, low humidity, and seasonal variations in humidity. I don’t think that there is an ideal, so I would aim for something in between the extremes. However, if I understand your question correctly, you are more concerned about substrate moisture than humidity in the air.
I would suggest that you try to provide a moisture gradient; keep one end fairly moist, and the other end a bit drier. While they do need access to moisture, they don’t necessarily need to sit in wetness all of the time. Remove and replace some of the wet substrate.
The other thing I would do is mix some topsoil into the substrate. This will help prevent it from getting dry and dusty. Top it off with a layer of leaf litter, which will help regulate moisture, feed any cleaners you may have, and give the salamander more hiding opportunities.

I am concerned about both, but I think the substrate moisture is what's causing the elevated humidity levels as the water slowly evaporates from the lower layers. I think taking out the substrate and properly drying it is probably the best solution, as you've said.

 

[Shadowtail117]

As an update to this...turns out the hygrometer was the problem, not the setup. Being half-sunk into the substrate made the reading inaccurate, and by simply putting it on top of one of the logs, I realized it was actually super dry in the enclosure. Go figure, but at least now I know.