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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dave Jay" data-source="post: 142433" data-attributes="member: 27677">Hi, your tarantula will be fine, high humidity in the short term is not a problem but....Firstly you need to know that a lot of gauges aren't reliable, they're generally not useless, they will show variations in humidity, but you can't take it for granted that when it says 88% that that's what the humidity really is. If I am buying a thermometer or hygrometer I look at all of the stock and buy one that reads the same as the majority of them do, you'll find some show vastly different readings from the rest even though they are in the same environment. Some will say hygrometers aren't useful at all, but I use them in the general area of the enclosures just to get an idea of the fluctuations in my home so I know how fast things might be drying out, I don't use them inside enclosures.Also know that the meter is showing relative humidity, it varies according to the temperature, relative humidity rises as the temperature drops, a high reading at 15c might be a low reading at 30c even though the moisture in the air remains the same.In an enclosure ventilation effects the relative humidity far more than the substrates moisture level, so adding more ventilation if possible is the best way to lower humidity if that is desired. You haven't named a species so no one can say if 88% is too high for your particular tarantula, but I suspect a high reading might be through lack of ventilation rather than the substrate being too moist. A temporary higher than usual humidity is no problem for most species as long as it doesn't stay too high long term. With adequate ventilation a spider can access high humidity in its burrow or hide and a variety of different humidity levels in other parts of the enclosure. Ventilation is far more important than trying to nail a certain humidity number, it allows the spider to choose.</blockquote>

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