Egyptian tortoise in humid Florida

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redbaysnook

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I am a new member, and I have kept tortoises (Redfoots, Russians) outdoors here in Florida. I would like to try Egyptian tortoises indoors, but the Florida humidity is keeping me from doing so. I could not help but notice that there are a number of keepers and even breeders of Egyptian tortoises in Florida, and I am just wondering if the humidity issue with Egyptian tortoise is actually overstated based on old information? I live in an poorly insulated old Florida house surrounded by water (with bay in front and canal in back). The humidity outdoors is almost always over 80%, and the indoor humidity is 60-70% even with air conditioning. I have been told that as long as the basking area is 30-40% humidity then I should be fine with keeping Egyptian tortoises here in Florida. Anyone from Florida with success or advice is greatly appreciated.
 

Tim/Robin

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A very successful keeper/breeder of Egyptians lives in Florida. He has had Egyptians for many years. I do know he keeps them indoors. Clearly if done right, it can and has been done!
 

Termite Farmer

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I keep mine outside in the fall,winter (bring them in on cold spells under 60) and spring. I tried summer but they did poorly.
 

CyberianHusky

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I deal with the Pacific Northwest rain for 9 months humidity. To keep my level to about 30-40% I got a mixture of oyster shells and coco peat with sections of crushed walnut sand and coco peat for digging about. Keep your substrate deep and turn it about with your hand on occasion. These mixtures pull moisture out of the air. Even a couple dried out citrus leaves will pull moisture out.
For my main light I got a Sunlight Systems T5 4' long 8 bulb system with two switches each controlling 4 bulbs. Utilizing 6 full spectrum plant light and two uvb lights. Usually keep 3 full spectrum and 1 uvb going for main lights on timers for plants in the table and a little extra uvb. If humidity goes up switch on the other 4 and an hour or so of those 8 bulbs burns up all the uneeded moisture.
 

redbaysnook

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You are the second person advising me to use lights to control humidity. I would think that basking temprature might get too hot If I used lights to burn off humidity (it is humid here most of the time), but it seems better than having to run a room dehumidifier 24/7. We have power outages here quite often because of almost daily summer late afternoon thunder showers. What do you do for power outages or for humid nights? I have read that Egyptian tortoise will decline "rapidly" if exposed to humidity? How long can Egyptian tortoises safely handle 80% humidity (at night or during power outages) and how fast do they get sick from humidity? I have also read that in their natural habitat, there is often a humid night fog. To further the confusion, some breeders put moist sponges or moss in their hides and nest sites to increase the humidity. I am just so confused about humidity in the Egyptian tortoise. There seems to be so many successful keepers of this sensitive arid species in humid areas that I begin to think that the F2 and F3 hatchlings bred in the more humid areas outside of Egypt are actually evolving to handle more humidity, and it is not really anything that the keepers are doing right. It would be great to hear from Florida keepers on their opinion on humidity with Egyptian tortoises.
 

Tim/Robin

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redbaysnook said:
You are the second person advising me to use lights to control humidity. I would think that basking temprature might get too hot If I used lights to burn off humidity (it is humid here most of the time), but it seems better than having to run a room dehumidifier 24/7. We have power outages here quite often because of almost daily summer late afternoon thunder showers. What do you do for power outages or for humid nights? I have read that Egyptian tortoise will decline "rapidly" if exposed to humidity? How long can Egyptian tortoises safely handle 80% humidity (at night or during power outages) and how fast do they get sick from humidity? I have also read that in their natural habitat, there is often a humid night fog. To further the confusion, some breeders put moist sponges or moss in their hides and nest sites to increase the humidity. I am just so confused about humidity in the Egyptian tortoise. There seems to be so many successful keepers of this sensitive arid species in humid areas that I begin to think that the F2 and F3 hatchlings bred in the more humid areas outside of Egypt are actually evolving to handle more humidity, and it is not really anything that the keepers are doing right. It would be great to hear from Florida keepers on their opinion on humidity with Egyptian tortoises.

I can get you contact information on a very successful breeder in Florida. PM me if you are interested in contacting him.

I also think that down on the sand under a bush or scrub where they tend to hide, they dig down just a bit exposing themselves to higher humidity than you might think. They love to dig down some to hide. Additionally there native range is fairly coastal Mediterranean Sea. This range has to subject them to a certain amount of ambient humidity.
 

CyberianHusky

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My T5 system isnt to close to the table and a small fan off to the side for when it does get to hot but but hardly ever use it. For the most part T5 fluorescent lights are great to use with Egyptians. They get warm but not extremely hot like traditional bulbs. Because as much as they dont like cold and damp they don't like extremely hot either. Before controlling my humidity what I noticed was that when it was high for even just over a day they get lethargic and go off there routine. Instead of wake bask, eat/drink, run lapse and dig about; they would wake, bask, eat and just openly lounge about and become a little lethargic and not dig about so much. A little morning humidity is fine from wet food.
 

redbaysnook

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Super information from actual Egyptian tortoise keepers! I like to thank everyone for being so kind, helpful, and supportive. I even got a local contact from this post. I am going to give this a lot more thought before commiting to this delicate species.
 

zesty_17

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i think it depends on which part of florida you are from, from my daily logs here in tampa, the humidity in my work tort enclosure fluctuates, but generally stays around 50%, a lot lower than i expected.
 
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