DT Outside Brumation House Humidity

[ChristyS]

Terry has been part of our family for over 50 years, and we live in inland Southern California, not far from his indigenous area. Terry has always been allowed to live very naturally, digging and brumating in burrows he dug himself, etc., with very little intervention from us and he has never been sick in all these years. A few years ago, a "house" a friend made for him (3 walls and a ceiling made of thick wood) was placed over his burrow to give him even more shelter, and I have always covered his house and the immediate area with a tarp when it rains, just to be sure he stays dry. After recently joining several FB Tortoise groups, I started wondering what the temperature is in his burrow through the winter.

So after a recent huge rainstorm (after he already started brumation), I went to add a thermometer in his burrow, and was horrified to see his burrow was very wet! Although the entire top and all around his house was very dry, the moisture from the surrounding earth had obviously saturated his burrow from the sides. I immediately put him in a box, inside another box, and stored him in the garage while I could figure out what to do.

After weighing the options, I decided there is no way around it, he needs a floor so he stays dry, as much as I hated to take away his natural burrow. I opted to get him an igloo-shaped dog house. I built a foundation out of stepping stones to keep the house a couple inches above the ground, put a rubber mat on it for insulation, and put the house on top of that. Inside the house, I "carpeted" it with the natural coconut fiber mat, then added several inches of Coconut Fiber Substrate, because I read that this would be good material for him to be in. In an effort to keep him warm (since he is no longer below ground and he is in plastic), I draped a tarp loosely over the house. His temperature has been staying in a good range, however, now it is VERY HUMID in his house! I could get rid of the door flap, and ditch the tarp altogether (since he no longer needs it for rain protection) to allow the humidity to go down, but I am worried that he may get too cold at night. Will adding some regular dirt or something else to the Coconut Fiber Substrate help lower the humidity? What should the relative humidity be for him?

While I realize that many people bring their DTs in during brumation, my goal is to allow Terry to continue to live as naturally as possible.

Thank you!

 

[Tom]

While I realize that many people bring their DTs in during brumation, my goal is to allow Terry to continue to live as naturally as possible.

This is a noble goal, and it sounds good on paper, but there is a MAJOR problem with this way of thinking: Your backyard is not the wild. Frankly, you are lucky that he is still alive after all these years. Most of them don't survive doing it the way you have done it.

FB is a terrible source of tortoise info. We hear nothing but bad news coming from those groups. Absolute insanity and refusal to listen to reason and sense. Other online sources appear to be no better. YT is chock full of bad tortoise care info. Sadly, vets and breeders learn their care info from these same wrong sources. Amongst all that bad news, YOU have found us. That will prove to be very lucky for you and your tortoise.

I wrote this specifically to help people in your situation. It should answer lots of your questions and help you decide what to do:

Tom's Brumation Thread

Every fall we get bombarded here on the forum with all sorts of questions and problems regarding hibernation and tortoises "slowing down" for winter. The purpose of this thread is to talk about all aspects of this subject, to dispel some of the myths and mysteries, and give a "how to" list of...

tortoiseforum.org

With all the bad info you have found, here is the right care info for your species:

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

Questions are welcome!