Question about Humidity

Hi, and thanks in advance for answering my question (or even taking the time to look at the post!)

I have a 10 gallon tank, and a single scorpion. My substrate is about 2 1/2 inches of packed and 1/2 an inch of loose coconut husk with a couple sections of spagnum moss in order to hold humidity.

However, because any (and all) undertank heaters barely warmed my tank (2 degree's Celcius after a week of running) I used an overtank ceramic and it works fine (under which is her water dish)

However, (and here's my question) my humidity stablizes about 70 (after misting it will rise to 80 for about 2 hours).

My tank walls are condensation free, but the glass around the substrate is covered in condensation. Does this mean my humidity is to high and my hygrometer isn't registering it, or does it mean that the water is simply being absorbed into the substrate and my heater isn't penetrating?

My concern of course is whether my scorp is getting enough humidity to survive, and whether mold is going to become an issue.

I'm aware an undertank heater might balance this out.

Any suggestions? Advice? Anything? My scorp does seem very happy (had her about a week now) and I really don't want to be the cause of this excellent critter's death.

Thanks again!

Welcome to the forum

Do NOT put the heat source under the tank - scorps burrow to get away from the heat, so discouraging them from doing so will mean they are going against their natural instincts, will cause undue stress and can ultimately lead to death.

Heat mat goes on the back side of the tank.

Use 100% coco fibre as substrate (also known as eco-earth). That will hold moisture perfectly, enable solid burrowing etc.

Get rid of the husk and the moss.

Don't spray/mist to raise humidity as it is ineffective and will only last an hour or so. Instead, pour some water onto the coco fibre substrate so that it is damp to the touch and goes a darker colour but not bog-like or soaking and that will give you the perfect humidity of about 80%-90% and will last for about a week or two before you repeat the process.

This is all assuming your scorp is an emperor, in which case humidity doesn't have to be constantly perfect in order for it to survive. As long as it is at least 60% that is fine, however, you want around the 80% mark as the optimum level for growth and achievement.

first off welcome to the forum....

second... I'm new to the world of scorp.. so take what i have to say as info.. I have been lurking and reading lots here so I would hope my info is correct...

now for my advice and info.......

first emp. scorp are burrowers so you you should have 4-6" of substrate most tend to recomend things like eco earth....

to help maintain humidity you might want to think about doing a false bottom to your tank.. you can search on here and find lots of info on this....another key to maintaining humidity is the tank cover... what kind of a cover are you using? the solid tank lids work well so long as they have a way for the tank to breath such as a screen section...if you have the screen top try covering about 80% of it with a towel to start with.

now this one you really need to do... do not put an undertank heater on the underside of an emp tank... as stated they are diggers and they dig to get away from the heat and with the heater under the tank you could easly end up with steamed scorp and none of us want that.... the advised way to put the under tank heater is on the side/back of the tank....

Now you didn't mention hides so i will go into that really quick....your tank should have more hides then you have scorps so for you 2-3 should be fine....

another thing that comes to mind is that scorp tend to go thru phases where they don't eat...don't worry to much when and if yours does this just keep offering food every day or two...

Thanks for taking the time to look at my post and respond.

Thanks for the advice as well. I can tell you a little bit more about my setup.

First, I don't know why I said "husk". I have the coconut dirt (looks like dirt, smells like damp forest, no husk or bark). So, for that I apologize, and thanks for catching it just incase I did mess it up.

My scorp is an emperor, and I have 2 hides for him in the tank, as well as a fake plant and a water dish with a built in ramp that he could submerge about 1/2 of his body height in, but his full length.

The tank has a cage lid with full coverage custom fitted acryllic cut to measure (ie 2 lids, with cage lid holding the full top lid in place), with a 4x3 inch hole (covered with mesh to prevent any mishaps) and a sliding cover (one of my prouder inventions), and a 1/2inch hole with a tiny airfan to create the worlds tinest air movement (to prevent stale air of course).

Thanks for the advice on the heating pad as well. I really didn't want to get one, but if it comes down to it, it's good to know that it should go on the back (again, something I'm sure I read 1000 times when researching, but when you get down to building these things for the first time, [if you're like me] you immediately forget.)

I'll add another 1 1/2 " of substrate (fibre, not husk ).

Any suggestions for the amount of water that it will require for a 10 gallon? Either way, i'll play around and try to get it right after a couple tries.

But thats about it for the setup and questions.

To conclude I will;

-Add another inch 1/2 or so of substrate
-Remove most of the moss (she loves to move it around and bring it into her hide so Ill keep some)
-Pour water in order to darken/moisten the fibre, but not soak/bog it.
-NEVER put a heating pad under it no matter how paranoid I get about mould/bugs/condensation that is below ground

If I miss anything, please let me know, and thank you very much! I do appreciate your time / effort.

Just throwin it out there, dont constantly change everything up on your scorp, it stresses them out. so if you have decided to make changes make sure you make everything you want to change at one time so your not going to change, change, change over a period of time and deplete their lifespan. Im not sure if you knew that but i just wanted to make sure, and have fun with your scorp, dont constantly worry like i did when i first got mine.

No problem

With regards to the amount of water, I'm assuming that you mean the amount to pour on the substrate?

If so, just pour some onto the substrate so that it goes a darker shade - you don't have to pour water on every inch of it but at least about 50% of the surface. The more substrate you wet, the better/higher the humidity will be and the longer it will last.

Thanks again guys. I'll give her some time to settle in (she seems very happy) and than when I'm comfortable that she can take that little extra boost of stress, I'll make these changes.

I've already done the water pouring. It's been at 80 humidity since about 10 minutes after the first post, and I haven't had too mist it once. I've even removed some of the moss (which is nice).

I guess my only last question is about food (I could ask elsewhere, but why clutter the forum).

She gave me the "feed me" pose, so I fed her. She went through about 7 crickets (the petshop was out of proper sized crickets for her, so I had to use small ones thats why the number is so high).

After her meal, she continued to do the "feed me" pose.

Should I give her more until she's satisfied, or should I wait 3 or so days and feed again then? Will she know when to stop eating? I heard that overfeeding is a huge problem.

Thanks, again, in advance.

i wouldnt feed it anymore, but thats my opinion...
if you do make it gorge itself, you wont have to worry about feeding for a good while