The compact wall-mounted humidifier provides up to 4kg of steam per hour to the atmosphere, with its built-in fan unit. This is sufficient to maintain the ideal air humidity of 70 percent RH, as the arachnids would have enjoyed in their indigenous habitats from around the world.

Dave Clarke, ZSL’s head of invertebrates, commented: “Most of our spider species come from tropical forest, where the humidity is naturally high. If the atmosphere is too dry in their holding area, they would be unhealthy, unlikely to breed and have particular difficulty in moulting their exoskeletons.”

“Our spiders include the rare Desertas wolf spiders and Peacock Parachute spiders which are part of European Breeding Programmes, so the humidification system is playing an important role in helping us protect these threatened species.”

Mr Clarke concluded: “Having worked with Condair since 2008, we now rely on their steam humidifiers, which we find both efficient and easy to use. They are particularly important for our irreplaceable populations of endangered species, for example our Polynesian tree snails, many of which are now sadly extinct in the wild.”

The Condair CP3 Mini is ideal for small areas such as London Zoo’s spider nursery, due to its built-in fan unit and user-friendly design. The humidifier has a discrete fan incorporated into the top of its cabinet to disperse the steam into a room. The CP3 Mini installed at the Spider Nursery has exposed drain and electrical connections, but it can be installed with rear entering services, to avoid visible pipes and cables.