How to meet a scorpions humidity needs

The obvious solution to increase humidity is to mist the enclosure. However, what if ambient humidity is higher than what the scorpion should be exposed to? Somehow I can't think of a way to make the humidity in a scorpions vivarium lower than ambient humidity.

I live in Oregon and today the humidity was about 80%......and it didn't even rain today.

Desert scorpions should be kept at 50%-60% humidity according to care sheets I have seen. If ambient humidity is consistently higher than 50%-60%, does that mean it would be physically impossible to take good care of a desert scorpion?

Easy fix would be a ceramic heat emitter or red heat light and a screen top!

As long as the substrate is dry and the temps are high then you don't have to worry about humidity.

1 thing i have done to control the humidity on my ghost desert scorpion from Chile, i have a hole in the top of my tank and a 5volt notebook cooling fan turned so it draws a little heat and humidity out of the tank, its very silent and does not disturb the scorp at all, it takes my humidity down from 40% during the night to 15% during the day, this is what my scorp needs and it works a treat, maybe it might help you also

I live in a colder climate so my scorpions end up being kept warm with a red light 24/7 and the RH in the tank drops to %10 or lower. Heat lamps will dry things up very quickly.

Bayss wrote:

Easy fix would be a ceramic heat emitter or red heat light and a screen top!

Wouldnt this also substantially raise temps? I could see this working out if it were cold out, but if temps were already 70*F or warmer, temps would easily shoot up into the 90s and higher. Unless of course it were thermostatically controlled. But if it gets warm out the light/heater wont be on often at all.

I have been testing out heating solutions with my t-stat, night drop and 25 watt red lights with empty vivariums and if it is 70*F or warmer the lights arnt on often and humidity doesnt drop by much.

Yames wrote:

I live in a colder climate so my scorpions end up being kept warm with a red light 24/7 and the RH in the tank drops to %10 or lower. Heat lamps will dry things up very quickly.

How could this be accomplished in a warmer climate where heat lamps being on all the time is not possible without over-heating?

Where I live they could be on all the time during the winter months, but that about it.

shadowfoot wrote:

As long as the substrate is dry and the temps are high then you don't have to worry about humidity.

This was my thought before I started testing with an empty vivarium. I had temps thermostailcally controlled at 87*F with humidity in the 70%-80% which as near as I can tell is too humid for a desert scorpion. I didn't mist or anything. This was simply an empty vivarium with a red light heater.

In the summer months do you use an air conditioner? If so it will reduce the RH of your room or home and lower the temps so a heat light could be used to keep the tank warm.

John Howe wrote:

1 thing i have done to control the humidity on my ghost desert scorpion from Chile, i have a hole in the top of my tank and a 5volt notebook cooling fan turned so it draws a little heat and humidity out of the tank, its very silent and does not disturb the scorp at all, it takes my humidity down from 40% during the night to 15% during the day, this is what my scorp needs and it works a treat, maybe it might help you also

If this fan pulls air out of the tank, that means that the exiting air is displaced by ambient air, right? Air from the tank goes out and ambient air goes in, right? Is this how you have it set up?