What to do about temperature and humidity gauges?

[WiseWarrior]

The ones I used for my G. rosea's cage broke, they never changed, and the humidity read 41 all the time when the humidity in the other room where my mom's G. rosea was read 68. My G. rosea, Yoshi, was never sluggish outside of pre-molt, or showed any signs of low humidity so I removed the broken gauges. I got a new T today, a B. albo and she's about ten feet away from Yoshi. I was wondering if I should bother getting new temperature and humidity gauges when I have no idea if they'll be accurate. I'm very compulsive, (I might have OCD) and I would be constantly worrying about it if they were too low, and trying to fix things when they probably wouldn't need fixing. What should I do?

 

[Nada]

Rosea, should be kept as dry as possible so no need for a gauge. just don't add any water. B.Albo only slightly more humid. overflow the water bowl every couple weeks.
I have never used gauges for individual cages.

 

[WiseWarrior]

Thank you! Also, I just read Ts need chlorine-free water. Is this true? I never knew this, and I've given Yoshi tap water for seven years. My mom's T has had the same for three, and my dad's T for less than one. I don't have a filter at home, so would bottled water work, or am I mistaken that they need chlorine-free water?

 

[Sabeth]

Humidity and temperature guages really are not necessary for tarantulas. Here are some basic guidelines as laid down by Stanley & Marguerite Schultz (authors of The Tarantula Keeper's Guide):

Tarantula's First Rule of Temperature - Any temperature at which you are comfortable will suit the tarantula just fine.
Tarantula's First Rule of Humidity - The primary source of humidity comes from the water dish.

Extra measures like misting are not required in the majority of cases. Babies and swamp tarantulas do need a very high humidity, and during premolt misting lightly once a day until the actual molt can be beneficial, but outside of this, supplementary humidity aside from the water dish isn't needed. You can, however, fine-tune the humidity levels by using a larger or smaller water dish, or by covering more of the ventilation holes with plastic wrap to impede air exchange and thus make conditions more humid. (I have had to do this with my baby A. versicolor because the cage dries out too quickly.)

Using tap water is fine. The only time bottled (distilled or filtered) water would be necessary would be if your water is very soft or heavily laden with salt and minerals.

 

[Nada]

I have never given bottled or purified water to any of my (300+)Ts and they do just fine.

 

[khatchet]

I had no problem with tap eather. I dont use it any more but that is cuz of my frogs.