How wet is too wet?

[Mgridgaway]

Hey all!

I'm trying to dial in a final on/off cycle for my humidifier and figure out how wet is too wet. Right now I have it on a 1/2 hour on/2 hours off schedule, and that keeps the humidity nice and high while the day temps seem to stick right around 88 farenheit. For that half hour though, his enclosure turns into a misty valley! I'm using Mosser Lee's long fibered spagnum moss as a substrate, and I would consider it somewhere between damp and moist. Similar to how a towel feels after you dry off --not soaking by any stretch, but definitely not dry anymore.

Is this an appropriate amount of moisture or should I cut it back a little/lot?

 

[Madkins007]

I like running a humid habitat, as long as I can also keep the place warm and the air fresh. Based on what you said I would not worry about it unless I started to see plastron rot, mold growth, etc.

One nice thing about using a humidifier is that you do not usually need to close the place quite as tight as you do for some other options, so you can have decent air flow.

 

[Mgridgaway]

I actually dialed back the humidifier to 4 times a day. Last I checked the humidity was at 60%, but that's because I haven't run it since last night. It easily gets to 90% when the humidifiers been on though. I may up it to 5 times a day, but I wanted to make sure it was ok to have a somewhat damp cage.

 

[Mgridgaway]

Alright guys... I have since added a CHE... which basically kills any type of humidity. With the CHE I get an ambient humidity of 39%, but if I keep the humidifier on constantly it makes the substrate pretty wet. Any new advice? Is wet substrate ok as long as I keep it clean? The only completely dry area in the cage is the upside down terra cotta pot basin I use as a food dish.

 

[terryo]

When I first got my Cherry Head I had 80% humidity all the time. The substrate was always wet, and eventually she got a shell fungus. I keep lots of plants in the vivarium now, and only water the plants and mist her when she comes out. I try to keep the substrate on the dry side and the plants wet.

 

[Redstrike]

You can also seal up the enclosure a bit, at the sacrifice of air flow Mark was talking about...

 

[Mgridgaway]

Before any of those, I'm going to see if adding more substrate helps. It was at about an inch, now it's around 2 inches.

 

[Madkins007]

I recommend, but have no clinical evidence for, keeping the top layer of substrate reasonably dry. I know this is tough, especially if misting is your main tool, but Red-foots do not seem to respond well to damp plastrons.

 

[Cloud 9]

One of my redfoot tortoises seems to hang out more in the cool dry area more than the moist warm area thus far?

 

[Mgridgaway]

Adding more substrate didn't help at all... my next choice is to just run the humidifier next to the tank raise the ambient humidity, and then raise one side of the cage so I can create a side that's more cool and dry and then a "bog" type side like Vicki from Tortoiseyard.com recommends.

 

[Madkins007]

There are other options as well. You can try the Tortoise Library linked below for some of them.

 

[Redstrike]

As a fellow east-coaster, I'll strongly suggest closing up part/most of your enclosure and trying some of the substrate tricks Mark has outlined above and at the Tortoise Library. You may also want to ask Terry O. about her setup as she's located in the east coast as well and has produced some very smooth and healthy looking cherryheads. The humidifier may work if you can close up the entire room that the enclosure is in...if not it may be very difficult to boost and hold humidity.

I had to seal up my enclosure and bury Big Apple heat ropes under my moist substrate to achieve reasonable and consistent humidity. I had the substrate wet for the first couple weeks and one of my hatchlings started to develop a contact/shell rot on it's plastron. As Mark said, they really don't seem to do well with consistently wet plastrons.

Good luck!

 

[Mgridgaway]

I think I've found a good compromise using the technique Vicki outlined. Using a humidifier running all day gives me an ambient humidity of about 55-60% which should be a bit higher in the cage itself since the water dish and boggy area are underneath the basking light. He's been sticking to his hide/dry side today though.... I've changed his cage around so many times in the past few days that he's probably stressed out. Still eating and pooping like a champ though!

 

[terryo]

My vivariums are completely enclosed except for a small opening for the long tube light and then two little holes for the heat emitters on each side. Pio is in a 125 gal. and Solo is in a 75 gal.viv. So when I water the plants and mist it stays very humid for a long time, without the substrate getting wet.