humidity problems need help

i cant seem to get my humidity to stay at 80. my substrate is damp but not soaked i try misting but it goes up for a while and goes right back down. my humidity gauge is near the substrate not the top of tank. got half of the top of the tank closed up but it remains at about 60 percent. i heard gauges arent real accurate. should i be worried? i heard that as long as the substrate is damp its fine. and suggestions would be really appreciated. im gettin frustrated lol

What is your tank? And what is your lid? Generally though, you are correct the gauges are not accurate and more than likely you have nothing to worry about.

Big key is keeping the substrate at the proper moisture. Monitor the color of it both drying and wet, if you are using coco-fiber you will see it dark brown when wet and light brown when dry, if it's dry add more water until it is wet. You don't want to be able to pick up a clump and ring it out but it should hold it's form and feel wet.

If your substrate is like this, don't sweat it. It will be dryer up top but if the scorps want higher humidity they can burrow. The humidity is always higher near the substrate. And if you are still concerned make a lid out of Plexiglas. You will be able to see condensation on the glass for sure if you do that

Hope this helps

I had the same 'problem' in my enclosure too my gauge was reading 40-60 at all times, but my substrate was always moist + water dish, til I read on here what they said about the guages they arent correct, and if you put them near the substrate you will get a 'better' reading.

Just keep it moist and you will be fine

Isnt condensation bad? I have little patches of it on the bottom of my substrate near the walls but thats about it.

I don't think so, you are at risk for mold and all that in a tropical set up anyways, but otherwise no. Tropical species are not as susceptible to issues that stem from to high of humidity. An arid species would probably not survive long though.
And yeah, gauges are a guessing game, digital is better than analog, placement also helps with accuracy but if you go by substrate, that's about the best in my opinion. Hope this helps.

+1 on everything iitamadochi1 has said the gauges are rubbish ours in the Emp tank just sits on 50% when I know it's not

okay thanks guys i feel a lot better now lol i always check to see if substrate is damp its eco earth. and i have a 10 gallon terarrium with a screen lid but i covered half of it. and i now have a red light for her lol but she didnt come out last night and it was the first night with the red light. would the black night heat light work better for her at night? i checked and is not a black light she dont really even glow with it on

IR is the best way to go, that or the exo terra night-glo (did research it doesnt contain any UV and the color filament is what makes the scorpion glow if it all, not the potential UV that it 'contains')

Black lights are a no no I beleive

I have heard mixed things on the night-glo but if there is no uv then it should be fine. I keep a black light on hand for occasional viewing but never for longer than moment and definitely not any regular or common occurrence either. So yes I'd agree with you Rob.

plus scorpions arent the only species sensitive to UV rays, and since exo terra doesnt state that there is any UV rays, its safe to assume there arent any, I dont think they would make a product bringing harm to what their business built their foundation on either especially among the sue happy lol

it simulates moonlight and seeing how most scorpions are nocturnal they will be exposed to that kind of light anyways lol

Hmm, you know what they say about making assumptions? I don't trust anything unless I find something explicitly stated in some reliable source. If it doesn't say anything I wouldn't count on it, exo-terra is a company and they want to make money so legally if they don't state it they aren't liable and once complaint won't change a company. Many companies have a reputation and have no qualms burning people at will unless court ordered otherwise. Thus the nature of the beast and has been demonstrated time and time again historically. That's why we have Theories, Hypothesis and Facts, all very much different animals

I'm sure I've read in a post on here last year that someone had rung Exo terra and they said it doesn't emit uv, but then they found out that it indeed did, so I'm avoiding them, better to be safe than sorry, the sad thing is moat companies will say anything to sell a product ( specially if you end up speaking to someone that actually doesn't really know what they are talking about) and actually most reptiles need the uv and that's what Exo terra are mainly aiming at, obviously to much uv is dangerous for anything, but most animals need it to stay healthy.... But not nocturnal animals obviously, I think it's mad that scorps glow under uv, some people think it's to attract moths and bugs in the moonlight

Well put Bex