# Humid Hide Idea...



## Madkins007 (Dec 19, 2010)

I was looking into the Tortarium and daydreaming. All of my plants are in 4" clay pots for a more natural look and because you cannot plant directly in cypress mulch. I also like how the clay soaks up water and turns it to humidity for me.

So, why not use that ability in a hide? I'd cut a big pot in half top to bottom, or use a smaller pot and bury the bottom half.

Soak the whole pot in water to charge it, position it where it is warm, and pour water on it often enough to keep it mostly wet. You could even rig up a drip system to slowly drop water on it all day long.

Fill with a fluffy substance they can snuggle into, and done.

You'd have to be careful to keep it in a warm area, because you can also make a pretty decent food chiller from clay pots (take a medium sized pot, set it in a bigger pot, fill the gap with sand, soak the whole thing well. Put food in the smaller pot and cover, position in a shaded breezy spot, and keep the sand wet to keep things pretty dang cool.)


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## DeanS (Dec 19, 2010)

Not to mention clay is all minerals...anything that seeps out of the pot and into the substrate could be absorbed (albeit in trace quantities) by the inhabitant's permeable skin


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## Kristina (Dec 19, 2010)

17 years ago when I got my first tortoise (a Florida Gopher) I had a terra cotta "wine chiller" for his hide.







Every couple of days I took it out and soaked it in warm water, and the inside was filled with just regular old moss that I collected from the woods. It worked great though.

My little Cherry head hatchling has a terra cotta pot turned on its side, half buried and covered with moss and soil to keep it damp. I pour water on it every couple of days.


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## Angi (Dec 19, 2010)

Is there any lead or anything that could be harmful in terra cotta?


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## jensgotfaith (Dec 19, 2010)

That is such an awesome idea. I've seen the pots in enclosures before, but it never occurred to me that you could make it a humid hide. Fabulous idea. I'll have to incorporate that in my next enclosures.


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## yagyujubei (Dec 19, 2010)

I think that it won't work. You're making a little tortoise refrigerator. Evaporation = cooling. It will always be colder than the surrounding area.


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## onarock (Dec 19, 2010)

Angi said:


> Is there any lead or anything that could be harmful in terra cotta?



I would avoid the pots made in mexico. I heard they still use lead in their clay pot production


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## terryo (Dec 19, 2010)

I know people who use the terra cotta roof tiles, that they use in Fl. for hides in their boxie gardens. 
I always soak Pio's hide (he used to have a big half log) in warm water. Once a mushroom grew on it, but it was great for holding in the humidity.


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## Madkins007 (Dec 19, 2010)

yagyujubei said:


> I think that it won't work. You're making a little tortoise refrigerator. Evaporation = cooling. It will always be colder than the surrounding area.



If you re-read the post, you'll see that I mentioned that fact and said in two places to put it in the warm spaces. Evaporation steals energy, so you need to provide enough energy to counteract it.


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## Angi (Dec 19, 2010)

I was thinking of using some terra cotta roof tiles under my boxie enclosure, but I didn't think about toxins. Thoughts? 
A lot of dishes sold in stores say "may contain lead". I don't know how you would tell if a planter of wine chiller was safe. I doubt they are regulated.


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## Madkins007 (Dec 19, 2010)

DeanS said:


> Not to mention clay is all minerals...anything that seeps out of the pot and into the substrate could be absorbed (albeit in trace quantities) by the inhabitant's permeable skin



You mean the waterproof, impermeable reptilian skin? ("Reptilian skin is covered in a horny epidermis, making it watertight and enabling reptiles to live on dry land, in contrast to amphibians." Reptiles- Wikipedia and almost every other definition of reptiles)

More seriously, that is a good point, but even very old, used clay pots do not show much evidence of mineralization other than the minerals in the water



kyryah said:


> 17 years ago when I got my first tortoise (a Florida Gopher) I had a terra cotta "wine chiller" for his hide.
> 
> Every couple of days I took it out and soaked it in warm water, and the inside was filled with just regular old moss that I collected from the woods. It worked great though.
> 
> My little Cherry head hatchling has a terra cotta pot turned on its side, half buried and covered with moss and soil to keep it damp. I pour water on it every couple of days.



Cool! Nice to find that the idea works, although it is obviously not one of my most original thoughts!


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## Tom (Dec 19, 2010)

In my area, I can't keep something like that very humid with the wide open mouth and all. I need something totally closed in with only a little entrance hole to keep it humid here.


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## Madkins007 (Dec 20, 2010)

Tom- that is why I was thinking of a drip system for guys like us in drier places. It would not take much to rig up a milk jug with a small plumbing fitting to accept a small tube, then put a clamp on the tube to allow us to regulate the flow to a slow, steady drip. Soak the pot, keep it in the warm area, and slowly drip liquids on it all day long. 

I don't know for sure that it would work- hence the 'idea' part of the post, but it sounds like it should to me.


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## Jermosh (Dec 20, 2010)

Tom said:


> In my area, I can't keep something like that very humid with the wide open mouth and all. I need something totally closed in with only a little entrance hole to keep it humid here.



Hmm, I bet you could bury one in a burrow with a funnel on the outside to fill it once a week or so. Or make it into a water bubblier. 



Madkins007 said:


> I was looking into the Tortarium and daydreaming. All of my plants are in 4" clay pots for a more natural look and because you cannot plant directly in cypress mulch. I also like how the clay soaks up water and turns it to humidity for me.
> 
> So, why not use that ability in a hide? I'd cut a big pot in half top to bottom, or use a smaller pot and bury the bottom half.
> 
> ...



I bet if you contacted a local pottery shop they could build something that would be refillable. Or place a cat drinking bubbler fountain above it and add some sort of wicking device to draw water out of it.


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## Kristina (Dec 21, 2010)

They even sell little "drip" bottles at places like petsmart and petco. I used to use one for my hermit crabs during the winter. It is humid here during the summer, but winters are really dry. My house isn't as bad as some (having multiple 150, 125, 100, and smaller gallonage aquariums helps, lol.)


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