Does orchid bark hold humidity well? Baby sulcata

[Hanksmom89]

Hey Tort peeps ☺️ So Bill is doing much better. He’s eating every day and still prefers to hide most of the time and sleep but you guys helped me realize thats normal. He’s a baby!! And he’s a growing little man. His substrate is a mix between repti bark, fine coconut fiber and Pete moss jungle mix soil. 70% repti bark and equal parts 15% for the soil mixtures. It’s not holding humidity as well as I’d like. I pour warm water on it and mix it every morning and it stays between 50 and 60 but I want it higher for him. Also I know it will mold faster. For orchid bark users does it hold humidity well? Do you soak it daily? Does it mold quick?

 

[Maro2Bear]

“Orchid bark” absorbs lots of water, especially if you soak it first in a bucket of water then add into your enclosure. Once totally soaked it slowly releases moisture into the air space & increases your humidity - but the key question, do you have a lid on your enclosure?

It’s not prone to mold.

 

[Tom]

Hey Tort peeps ☺️ So Bill is doing much better. He’s eating every day and still prefers to hide most of the time and sleep but you guys helped me realize thats normal. He’s a baby!! And he’s a growing little man. His substrate is a mix between repti bark, fine coconut fiber and Pete moss jungle mix soil. 70% repti bark and equal parts 15% for the soil mixtures. It’s not holding humidity as well as I’d like. I pour warm water on it and mix it every morning and it stays between 50 and 60 but I want it higher for him. Also I know it will mold faster. For orchid bark users does it hold humidity well? Do you soak it daily? Does it mold quick?

Sol and moss should never be used for tortoise substrate.

As Mark explained, O bark absorbs a lot of water and slowly releases it. You need at least 3-4 inches of it and you have to dump water into it to keep humidity up. How much water and how often varies tremendously from enclosure to enclosure and seasonally too.

O bark does not mold or grow fungus. It resists that, and that is why we use it.

To keep humidity up you must use a closed chamber with the heating and lighting contained inside. An open top, and even a covered top with the heat lamps outside, will create a chimney effect and draw all your heat and humidity up and out.

 

[Hanksmom89]

Sol and moss should never be used for tortoise substrate.

As Mark explained, O bark absorbs a lot of water and slowly releases it. You need at least 3-4 inches of it and you have to dump water into it to keep humidity up. How much water and how often varies tremendously from enclosure to enclosure and seasonally too.

O bark does not mold or grow fungus. It resists that, and that is why we use it.

To keep humidity up you must use a closed chamber with the heating and lighting contained inside. An open top, and even a covered top with the heat lamps outside, will create a chimney effect and draw all your heat and humidity up and out.

Would u happen to have a picture showing what your explaining?

 

[Tom]

Would u happen to have a picture showing what your explaining?

Yes:

New Stack of Animal Plastics CLosed Chambers

AKA: Tom's baby emporium. @GStars asked for a pic on my new baby raising enclosures the other day. I only had a partial, but I took a fuller one today. Each cage is 96x30 and divided in the middle into two 48x30 cages for starting babies. The colored tape on each upper right corner shows the...

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