Humidity question

sulandcata

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Hi Wanted to know if this is good.
I have been designing a closed enclosure for my tortoises(sulcatas) but meanwhile i have an open enclosure that is almost imposible to get humidity lvls at a constant 80% unless I turn off the basking light.
The temperature shows 82 -85 during the day with the basking light off should i leave it off to be able to maintain 80% or not while i finish the other enclosure that will take me 2 months more or less?
 

wellington

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Basking temp needs to be 95-100. Over aall temp needs to be 80.
You will need to do something now to get the humidity to stay up in the table as 2 months is too long for them go be without proper basking humidity and overall temps.
Btw, tortoises should not be housed in pairs so if you have two seperate them and build two closed chambers.
 

sulandcata

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Basking temp needs to be 95-100. Over aall temp needs to be 80.
You will need to do something now to get the humidity to stay up in the table as 2 months is too long for them go be without proper basking humidity and overall temps.
Btw, tortoises should not be housed in pairs so if you have two seperate them and build two closed chambers.
Ok It is weird that all answers are like that so I will use the same language as the people in the forum
I got the info from 3 different petstore one that specialises on reptiles I got wrong information I KNOW THAT.
Humidity I am not asking if it is correct or not I am asking what I should choose
Temp with out basking light overall is 83 so it is over 80 Humidity without basking light is 75 80.
Temp with basking ligh is over 95 without cover 110 with tin cover humidity 50 without cover 60 with cover
They are together and they will keep being together until i finish the enclosure unless you tell me that keeping one in an enclosure and 1 in a shoebox with out light is better.

So now to my question what should I sacrifice humidity or basking or should I cycle a few hours between them normal temp with out basking lamp in all enclousure is around 83 I am trying my best to take care of them with what I am given so just repeating the same thing as the guides is not helping I already read those things that is why I am asking this since the care sheets don´t say what to do meanwhile I get the things, time and money to fix the mistakes I made because of the info from pet stores. I am going as fast as I can with that but i got bad info at the begining so I was not prepared to have them in the best conditions because of that. I am trying to fix those issues but those things take time so 2 months is the best I can do for making an enclosure 3 to make 2 different enclosures to separate them.
 

ZenHerper

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It's frustrating.

In order to keep your basking bulb from raising the temperature too high, find a thermostat. You plug the bulb fixture into the thermostat unit and set the temperature you want.

There are very simple ones like this:
 

wellington

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What I told you spelled out, you can't sacrifice anything for two months.
What you can do is turn basking on for a couple hours a day every day. They can't digest their food properly without the basking temps.
Or the better way to do it, is fix a better cover so temps don't raise up so much or so you can raise the light up so it doesn't get too hot.
Like fixing plastic over it in a tent like situation not just flat.
I can't see a pic of the enclosure so I can only answer with the info you gave and I did that!
 

sulandcata

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It's frustrating.

In order to keep your basking bulb from raising the temperature too high, find a thermostat. You plug the bulb fixture into the thermostat unit and set the temperature you want.

There are very simple ones like this:
Thank you that is actually very usefull since one of the issues is temp going to hot when the enclosure is covered so that termometer will need to be in what part of the heat gradient on the accuarium would it be good idea to put it on the middle programed to 80 or directly under the basking side programmed to 97
 

ZenHerper

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The thermostat units come with probes so you can experiment with setting the temperature. This is an engineering situation, so you need to make incremental changes then test the results. It will take some time, so don't be discouraged or think you're doing it wrong when you don't get immediate "Exact Right" results.

********

Some forum context might help: there are more than 73,000 TFO members. Right now, there are some 700 people reading and posting. Everyone from different experience levels, in different places, with different species.

You are basically asking for engineering help. When you post a separate question in a new thread, it will be helpful to have photos of what materials you are currently working with. We can stipulate that you are construction new enclosures, but need to know what you need help modifying for now. Memories for user names and avatars vary, so assume people reading may not have met you or don't clearly remember your situation.

Thermostats turn bulbs on-and-off automatically to regulate temperature. Water poured into substrate helps keep humidity high. Covering the entire set up (with a large gardening tent, for example) helps manage temperature and humidity by enlarging the area affected by the heat fixture.

Reptiles are completely different from us - we know there is a learning curve. Not everyone pictures things internally. You are doing a great job taking in a lot of new information and working with a second language!
 

sulandcata

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What I told you spelled out, you can't sacrifice anything for two months.
What you can do is turn basking on for a couple hours a day every day. They can't digest their food properly without the basking temps.
Or the better way to do it, is fix a better cover so temps don't raise up so much or so you can raise the light up so it doesn't get too hot.
Like fixing plastic over it in a tent like situation not just flat.
I can't see a pic of the enclosure so I can only answer with the info you gave and I did that!
That is a lot more helpfull thank you very much in that case I will do that I will prioritize humidity over basking and they do normally spent 1 or 2 hours basking at specific hour so i could use that time to prioritice basking.
Will test other tops besides the ones that were on one of the guides that is tin foil to see the results.
 

wellington

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That is a lot more helpfull thank you very much in that case I will do that I will prioritize humidity over basking and they do normally spent 1 or 2 hours basking at specific hour so i could use that time to prioritice basking.
Will test other tops besides the ones that were on one of the guides that is tin foil to see the results.
Tin foil usually works good. However it isn't for you or the enclosures they are in now is too small to regulate all the temps.
Seeing you have 2 months before the other enclosures are done. Consider adding on to the one you have. If it's a tote box, you could get another, put them end to end and cut a hole thru both ends. This might make it easier to get temps correct too.
 

sulandcata

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The thermostat units come with probes so you can experiment with setting the temperature. This is an engineering situation, so you need to make incremental changes then test the results. It will take some time, so don't be discouraged or think you're doing it wrong when you don't get immediate "Exact Right" results.

********

Some forum context might help: there are more than 73,000 TFO members. Right now, there are some 700 people reading and posting. Everyone from different experience levels, in different places, with different species.

You are basically asking for engineering help. When you post a separate question in a new thread, it will be helpful to have photos of what materials you are currently working with. We can stipulate that you are construction new enclosures, but need to know what you need help modifying for now. Memories for user names and avatars vary, so assume people reading may not have met you or don't clearly remember your situation.

Thermostats turn bulbs on-and-off automatically to regulate temperature. Water poured into substrate helps keep humidity high. Covering the entire set up (with a large gardening tent, for example) helps manage temperature and humidity by enlarging the area affected by the heat fixture.

Reptiles are completely different from us - we know there is a learning curve. Not everyone pictures things internally. You are doing a great job taking in a lot of new information and working with a second language!
Oh perfect that actually makes it easier will get that one probably will be able to get it in 2 days with how normally deliverys take and it can actually be reused later for the enclosure I am making.Will use that one to control temp and humidity while that termostat will help with heat I am finishing and auto humidifier for when humidity gets low but probably will take me sometime having issues with the web cam that watchs the humidity sensor output
 

sulandcata

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Tin foil usually works good. However it isn't for you or the enclosures they are in now is too small to regulate all the temps.
Seeing you have 2 months before the other enclosures are done. Consider adding on to the one you have. If it's a tote box, you could get another, put them end to end and cut a hole thru both ends. This might make it easier to get temps correct too.
Will defintly try the 3 options probably today will also try to find if uvb light can pass tru transperent wrap as maybe that material is the one i need thank you very much for this kind of answers
 

wellington

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Will defintly try the 3 options probably today will also try to find if uvb light can pass tru transperent wrap as maybe that material is the one i need thank you very much for this kind of answers
No it won't go thru but if you can make it like a tent, a simple pvc pipe frame with the plastic over it, you can hang the lights from the pvc frame and raise them to give a better temp.
PVC or wood either way.
 
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KarenSoCal

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This is what @wellington is describing to you. You can make a simple frame that goes over your enclosure. Make it out of wood or PVC tubing. Hang the lights from the bar across the top. Then use a shower curtain liner over all of it. You can adjust the height of the lights to get the proper temp, and the humidity is kept in by the plastic.

IMG_1511635956.495114.jpg
 

Tom

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Hi Wanted to know if this is good.
I have been designing a closed enclosure for my tortoises(sulcatas) but meanwhile i have an open enclosure that is almost imposible to get humidity lvls at a constant 80% unless I turn off the basking light.
The temperature shows 82 -85 during the day with the basking light off should i leave it off to be able to maintain 80% or not while i finish the other enclosure that will take me 2 months more or less?
The solution is to cover the enclosure to keep humidity high, and use a lower wattage bulb so the enclosure doesn't over heat. They need the basking bulb on for 12-13 hours a day.
 

wellington

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This is what @wellington is describing to you. You can make a simple frame that goes over your enclosure. Make it out of wood or PVC tubing. Hang the lights from the bar across the top. Then use a shower curtain liner over all of it. You can adjust the height of the lights to get the proper temp, and the humidity is kept in by the plastic.

View attachment 325961
Thank you. For some reason I could not find what I was trying to describe. Never dawned on me that they look like saw horses until seeing your pic lol.
 

meg_a_tarian

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When I realized I had this problem I went out and bought some sort of vinyl, similar to plexiglass. Cut into 2 roughly equal peices - duct tape made a perfectly functional temporary hinge. On one half I made a "window" with hardware cloth for heat lamps to sit and to top it all off a 12 x 12 metal box to go over the window and heat lamp.

My temps and humidity were always perfect after. It was very improvised of course but it worked.
 

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