Holding Heat / Humidity?

[Ris]

Turns out my parents decided to surprise me with my tortoise as a late Christmas gift - a Greek Tortoise hatchling came in the mail for me yesterday morning! I had just replaced all the no good supplies with the better ones too (which I'm so glad about), but I'm still worried about if I'm doing everything correctly. I now have a mercury vapor bulb, ceramic heat emitter, coconut coir substrate along with some sphagnum moss as well as a temp gun to keep track of the temperatures accurately. He has a water dish, and I have a ceramic pot as a hide. All of this is in a modified bookshelf, lined with a tarp (I know the set-up is kind of small, but I think it'll do for his size since he's so small)

Right now, I'm worried about the baby though. He's been eating and moving around a lot, but he also sleeps a ton. Is this normal? I've been soaking him twice a day and have given him kale, cucumbers, and ZooMed's grassland tortoise food

Anyways, onto what this post is really about. Before getting him, the temperatures were about room temperature, but getting the new bulbs raised them to be around the temperatures I needed for him, so in the 80F range with the basking temp at 90F (He's a Greek hatchling) In the far corners away from the lamps, especially under the night box (its more of an overhang), it can get into the high 70F. The humidity is a pain to keep up, I spray everything down with water several times throughout the day, but the levels always seem to go down. The moss seems to get dry pretty quickly too. I looked through the forums and have made the quick solution of covering the top with aluminum foil. It helped with keeping the temps in the 80F (but also raised the basking temp up to 95) and hopefully, it'll become more humid, but it looks as if I'm trying to slow cook the little guy instead of help him. Are there anymore cheap solutions I can do with the set-up I have right now? I can't really a lot of money right now, as I've already blown almost all of my budget already.

Any help would be much appreciated!

 

[Tom]

Turns out my parents decided to surprise me with my tortoise as a late Christmas gift - a Greek Tortoise hatchling came in the mail for me yesterday morning! I had just replaced all the no good supplies with the better ones too (which I'm so glad about), but I'm still worried about if I'm doing everything correctly. I now have a mercury vapor bulb, ceramic heat emitter, coconut coir substrate along with some sphagnum moss as well as a temp gun to keep track of the temperatures accurately. He has a water dish, and I have a ceramic pot as a hide. All of this is in a modified bookshelf, lined with a tarp (I know the set-up is kind of small, but I think it'll do for his size since he's so small)

Right now, I'm worried about the baby though. He's been eating and moving around a lot, but he also sleeps a ton. Is this normal? I've been soaking him twice a day and have given him kale, cucumbers, and ZooMed's grassland tortoise food

Anyways, onto what this post is really about. Before getting him, the temperatures were about room temperature, but getting the new bulbs raised them to be around the temperatures I needed for him, so in the 80F range with the basking temp at 90F (He's a Greek hatchling) In the far corners away from the lamps, especially under the night box (its more of an overhang), it can get into the high 70F. The humidity is a pain to keep up, I spray everything down with water several times throughout the day, but the levels always seem to go down. The moss seems to get dry pretty quickly too. I looked through the forums and have made the quick solution of covering the top with aluminum foil. It helped with keeping the temps in the 80F (but also raised the basking temp up to 95) and hopefully, it'll become more humid, but it looks as if I'm trying to slow cook the little guy instead of help him. Are there anymore cheap solutions I can do with the set-up I have right now? I can't really a lot of money right now, as I've already blown almost all of my budget already.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Hi Ris. I'll hit your questions in order:

1. Your set up and equipment all sound good. As long as he's eating and basking some of the day, the sleeping a lot is totally normal.
2. You only need to soak once a day.
3. Your diet needs some help. Kale is not a great tortoise food. Likewise on the zucchini. The Zoomed stuff is a good way to add fiber to the grocery store greens. If you must use grocery store foods this time of year, favor endive, escarole and spring mix. Add in lot of other things too. Kale should be one of these once in a while add ins.
4. Your temps sound fine. Basking area should be around 95-100.
5. The humidity problems you speak of are a direct result of your open top. You are fighting physics. Its futile and you can't win. When you are able to, buy or build a closed chamber, and you will be amazed at how easy tortoise keeping can be.

 

[Ris]

Hi Ris. I'll hit your questions in order:

1. Your set up and equipment all sound good. As long as he's eating and basking some of the day, the sleeping a lot is totally normal.
2. You only need to soak once a day.
3. Your diet needs some help. Kale is not a great tortoise food. Likewise on the zucchini. The Zoomed stuff is a good way to add fiber to the grocery store greens. If you must use grocery store foods this time of year, favor endive, escarole and spring mix. Add in lot of other things too. Kale should be one of these once in a while add ins.
4. Your temps sound fine. Basking area should be around 95-100.
5. The humidity problems you speak of are a direct result of your open top. You are fighting physics. Its futile and you can't win. When you are able to, buy or build a closed chamber, and you will be amazed at how easy tortoise keeping can be.

Thanks so much Tom, for all your help! I'll try to get out and see what I can find growing outside tomorrow, though I'm not so sure if any of the weeds have survived this far. I'll keep a lookout for those in the grocery store. I also wanted to buy some seed mixes from the tortoise supply, so once those are up and thriving I'll be able to have a healthy variety for him.

I read about using plexiglass to close it off, but until I can get a sheet is the aluminum foil okay?

 

[wellington]

Congrats on the great gift. Yes, the foil will also work.

 

[Gillian M]

Turns out my parents decided to surprise me with my tortoise as a late Christmas gift - a Greek Tortoise hatchling came in the mail for me yesterday morning! I had just replaced all the no good supplies with the better ones too (which I'm so glad about), but I'm still worried about if I'm doing everything correctly. I now have a mercury vapor bulb, ceramic heat emitter, coconut coir substrate along with some sphagnum moss as well as a temp gun to keep track of the temperatures accurately. He has a water dish, and I have a ceramic pot as a hide. All of this is in a modified bookshelf, lined with a tarp (I know the set-up is kind of small, but I think it'll do for his size since he's so small)

Right now, I'm worried about the baby though. He's been eating and moving around a lot, but he also sleeps a ton. Is this normal? I've been soaking him twice a day and have given him kale, cucumbers, and ZooMed's grassland tortoise food

Anyways, onto what this post is really about. Before getting him, the temperatures were about room temperature, but getting the new bulbs raised them to be around the temperatures I needed for him, so in the 80F range with the basking temp at 90F (He's a Greek hatchling) In the far corners away from the lamps, especially under the night box (its more of an overhang), it can get into the high 70F. The humidity is a pain to keep up, I spray everything down with water several times throughout the day, but the levels always seem to go down. The moss seems to get dry pretty quickly too. I looked through the forums and have made the quick solution of covering the top with aluminum foil. It helped with keeping the temps in the 80F (but also raised the basking temp up to 95) and hopefully, it'll become more humid, but it looks as if I'm trying to slow cook the little guy instead of help him. Are there anymore cheap solutions I can do with the set-up I have right now? I can't really a lot of money right now, as I've already blown almost all of my budget already.

Any help would be much appreciated!

A very warm welcome to the forum!
No need to worry/panic: we've all been beginners. And by the way, you can read the "beginners mistake" thread as well as different care sheets. Plus, you'll get the help you need here, so do not worry. I too have a Greek tort (OLI ), though he's not a hatchling.

Where do you live? If it's cold right now, then it's expected that a tort sleeps/hibernates. I live in Jordan (in the Middle East), where we have one of two as far as the weather is concerned:

a) BOILING HOT Summer or
b) FREEZING COLD Winter with ....snow! Moreover it's that very dry climate (desert climate). Therefore, I give Oli daily soaks in warm water (in Winter and Summer alike) and I spray his enclosure with water each and ever day.

Would you please post pics of your tort and his enclosure asap, to enable us to help you more.

 

[Ris]

A very warm welcome to the forum!
No need to worry/panic: we've all been beginners. And by the way, you can read the "beginners mistake" thread as well as different care sheets. Plus, you'll get the help you need here, so do not worry. I too have a Greek tort (OLI ), though he's not a hatchling.

Where do you live? If it's cold right now, then it's expected that a tort sleeps/hibernates. I live in Jordan (in the Middle East), where we have one of two as far as the weather is concerned:

a) BOILING HOT Summer or
b) FREEZING COLD Winter with ....snow! Moreover it's that very dry climate (desert climate). Therefore, I give Oli daily soaks in warm water (in Winter and Summer alike) and I spray his enclosure with water each and ever day.

Would you please post pics of your tort and his enclosure asap, to enable us to help you more.

This is the little guy. He's a Syrian subspecies from the Arizona Tortoise Compound.


And then the enclosure before and after the aluminum foil


I live in Virginia, USA. The summers are very hot and winters very cold (though these last few years very cold winters haven't started until February) The weather isn't predicted to rise above 55F all week, I figured that was too cold to be taking him outside.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Too cold outside for him. I hate to screw up your pretty set up, but you need to pour water over the whole substrate then stir it around. Then the top will dry out, but the underneath will stay damp and create humidity...ta da!
I can see you have worked hard to correct things, welcome. What's his name?

 

[Gillian M]

This is the little guy. He's a Syrian subspecies from the Arizona Tortoise Compound.
View attachment 160636View attachment 160637View attachment 160638

And then the enclosure before and after the aluminum foil
View attachment 160639View attachment 160641

I live in Virginia, USA. The summers are very hot and winters very cold (though these last few years very cold winters haven't started until February) The weather isn't predicted to rise above 55F all week, I figured that was too cold to be taking him outside.

What a cute little tort-GOD bless. Your tort looks healthy, so please don't worry.

 

[Ris]

Too cold outside for him. I hate to screw up your pretty set up, but you need to pour water over the whole substrate then stir it around. Then the top will dry out, but the underneath will stay damp and create humidity...ta da!
I can see you have worked hard to correct things, welcome. What's his name?

I did before I added everything in and I still pour a little where the sphagnum moss is, along with misting from time to time throughout the day. The humidity has risen a lot since putting the aluminum over it, so that's good.

He doesn't have a name quite yet, nothing I've come up with quite suits him. I want it to be something unique and really good, since he'll have to stay with it for a very long time.

What a cute little tort-GOD bless. Your tort looks healthy, so please don't worry.

Thank you! That's very reassuring, I hope to keep him that way!