I have a long, maybe 45 gallon fish tank that my 5 month old water dragon is in. I was the one that questioned the substrate in one eye thread...Anyway, Mooshu went to the vet this afternoon and yep...lots of substrate. The doctor advised to get reptile carpet or something flat. Therefore, I bought some reptile carpet to put in his cage before I put him back int it after the doctor cleaned all the gunk out of his eye and gave me antibiotics to put in his eye for the next week. Other than that, he is doing aok

My question now is how do I stabilize his humidity?

I do not want to use an under the tank heater sine the tank is so long (approximately 3-4 feet). The doctor suggested a humidifer, however, I don't want to get one of those until I arrange the soon to be reptile room. Is there anything that I can do that will not cost an arm and a leg for the time being?

I have been misting the cage as often as I can but it just seems like I turn around and have to remist the cage after about 10 minutes. Will a bucket/bowl under/close to the basking light help stabilize the humidity?

Please help!!!

The best way to start with controlling the humidity is to completely seal up the tank. Especially the top. The basking lights will draw all the humidity up and it will escape via the top. Once you have it sealed up you can then proceed to put some vent holes in the top to see what is required to achieve your optimum humidity.

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Mike
"Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you." - Mother Teresa

You can also add some live plants. Plant them in pots and place around the tank. Also does he have a swimming area?

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what shell said. Live plants keep in a ton of humidity, and also covering up the top where you don't have lights/heat elements sitting.

45 gallon seems pretty small. I would suspect an upgrade is in order.

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My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

thats great that you took mooshu to the vet glad its all worked out.
I would definately think about a larger enclosure real fast

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Just because you have an animal that isnt dead doesnt mean you know how to take care of it

Some of you have mentioned live plants...what plants would be good to put in the tank? I want to make sure that I don't get any plants that could harm Mooshu...