Humidity?

[shootingstars]

Hi there! I have a yearling sulcata and the breeder told me to use a combo of peatmoss,playsand and grass hay for substrate. It seem's really dry in there and today I noticed one watery eye. From what I got off of here that is due to low humidity, so my question is how do I make humidity? I thought they weren't supposed to be moist all the time due to shell rott? I need help I killed the last baby I had

 

[DeanS]

First of all...KILL THE SAND...too big a risk of impaction. Go to the dollar store and pick up a spray bottle and spray him down a few times a day...and of course, it wouldn't hurt to get him outside for 6 -8 hours...then you can put him in a kiddie pool with about a 1/2 inch of water...where are you?

BTW Tom (since I know you'll be here shortly)! This is what I'm doing now with the little ones...since it's hot as hell up here now...they go in the pool for 2 hours prior to going in their enclosure...they get splashed by me every 1/2 hour or so...then it's off to the enclosure...no hides while they eat...then I put the (soaked) hides back in the enclosure after about 15 minutes...they sleep most of the day...then at 3PM...back to the pool until 5...by moving the pool around they get varying degrees of shade...and the pool is tilted so that 1/4 of it is dry!

My (not quite) yearlings in the pool

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Dump the sand...it's bad stuff. Change your substrate I use cypress mulch...then you pour water all over the substrate and mix it around with your hand. Keep doing that until you can squeeze a handful and it keeps it's shape. Sulcata are not prone to shell rot and Tom has proven that humidity (abt 80%) is needed to prevent pyramiding. Just joking, but he needs about 80% humidity to keep from pyramiding. So you need to research that a bit and get a humidity tester thingy...monitor? Can't think of what it's called but get a humidity tester and pay attention to it as humidity is really important...

 

[chairman]

I use three different methods to keep humidity high. Approach one is to use a lot of substrate (I use 8 inches) and I keep standing water in the bottom 1 - 2 inches of it. The rest of the substrate soaks up moisture, but heat lamps will keep the surface dry, and my sulcata burrows till she finds the humidity she wants. My surface humidity is 70%, my tort usually digs down to about 90% in her hide area. Approach two is like approach one, but with installing an aquarium heating rope in the bottom of the substrate. This will increase the surface humidity. I use this approach combined with approach three for my hingebacks. Approach three is to use a garden sprayer and mist the enclosure with warm to hot water in the morning, and then again in the afternoon. Do NOT use a sprayer that has EVER contained poison- buy a new one and label it "For tortoise only!" Don't spray too late in the day if you have a night drop because cold-humidity can cause problems.

There are a lot more ways to raise humidity than this, there are just the ones I use.

 

[DeanS]

Actually, Mike has an excellent approach to the whole thing...and I like it Thorough and effective.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Shootingstars:

Welcome to the forum!!

We, (the collective "we" meaning folks in the tortoise-keeping hobby) are on the cusp of finally getting some really good data on how to take care of tortoises. For so many years, we just went by the seat of our pants without really knowing for sure how to care for them. Now we're coming to realize that each different kind of tortoise requires its own kind of habitat. Yes, a desert tortoise, a sulcata, a leopard, do come from the desert. But no, they don't require to be kept really dry!!

For the first year of so of its life, a sulcata stays hiding in burrows. Down in the earth its quite a bit more humid than it is above-ground. And besides natural humidity, the tortoises poop and pee in the burrow, raising the humidity level even higher.

So, follow the advice given in previous posts and change your substrate. Your tortoise will thank you for it.

 

[Tom]

All good advice above.

Dean and I have special "Aquatic Sulcatas". Its a new morph we are working on that actually have smooth shells vs. the typical bumpy. Ha Ha.

Welcome to the forum shootingstars. Sorting through all the conflicting issues can be difficult. Just remember to consider the source AND how old the info you are reading is. The humidity thing only became public in 2007 and, like other things, a lot of people are resisting the change. I credit a man named Richard Fife with the discovery and the publication of it. Here's an article from his website:
http://www.ivorytortoise.com/information/documents/pyramiding_in_tortoises.html

How humid you make it depends on where you live, how old/big your tortoise is and how warm you keep them. Its VERY dry where Dean and I live so we go way overboard with the humidity, hydration and shell spraying. If you live somewhere like Louisiana or Florida, you might not need so much. If you live in the Pacific Northwest you have to be careful with all the dampness and getting a chill. What I have found is that as long as you keep them warm, no lower than 75-80 all the time, there is no such thing as too wet for sulcatas. They are very resistant to shell rot. Much more so than typical "wet weather" tortoises like redfoots, for example. But remember, this is just my experience. I also put mine outside in the hot, dry, desert air for a couple hours a day (Although I thoroughly soak the pen first). If you live in NY or Vermont or Mississippi, I don't know exactly what will work best for you.

If you've got some time here is an exhaustive look at the subject and more explanation of all of this: http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-15137.html

 

[DeanS]

If you've got some time here is an exhaustive look at the subject and more explanation of all of this: http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-15137.html

or you could take a peek at this little ditty...

http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-14125.html

 

[DeanS]

All good advice above.

Dean and I have special "Aquatic Sulcatas". Its a new morph we are working on that actually have smooth shells vs. the typical bumpy. Ha Ha.

Welcome to the forum shootingstars. Sorting through all the conflicting issues can be difficult. Just remember to consider the source AND how old the info you are reading is. The humidity thing only became public in 2007 and, like other things, a lot of people are resisting the change. I credit a man named Richard Fife with the discovery and the publication of it. Here's an article from his website:
http://www.ivorytortoise.com/information/documents/pyramiding_in_tortoises.html

How humid you make it depends on where you live, how old/big your tortoise is and how warm you keep them. Its VERY dry where Dean and I live so we go way overboard with the humidity, hydration and shell spraying. If you live somewhere like Louisiana or Florida, you might not need so much. If you live in the Pacific Northwest you have to be careful with all the dampness and getting a chill. What I have found is that as long as you keep them warm, no lower than 75-80 all the time, there is no such thing as too wet for sulcatas. They are very resistant to shell rot. Much more so than typical "wet weather" tortoises like redfoots, for example. But remember, this is just my experience. I also put mine outside in the hot, dry, desert air for a couple hours a day (Although I thoroughly soak the pen first). If you live in NY or Vermont or Mississippi, I don't know exactly what will work best for you.

If you've got some time here is an exhaustive look at the subject and more explanation of all of this: http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-15137.html

Tom...you ever experienced swimming yearlings...one of my 2 smaller h=yearlings - Jimmy - was literally swimming. It was immediately reminiscent of how an elephant swims and he was floating...you couldn't have picked a better time to mention 'aquatic sulcatas'

 

[Tom]

Not yet, but after watching my Gulf Coast Box Turtle happily swimming the other day, I contemplated trying it with Daisy to see what would happen. I've seen footage of Galops swimming.

 

[Redfoot NERD]

Look what I found guys!.. looking thru past issues of Reptiles Magazine - note DATE at bottom -

Guess who the author was...

NERD

BTW is it O.K. to post the article here?

 

[egyptiandan]

Go for it Terry

Danny

 

[Redfoot NERD]

Keep in mind this was over 5 years ago when Richard first submitted this article to Reptiles magazine.

I really don't recall if my hook.. "Mist them til they drip" came from this article or not - but in the 'earlier' 2000's is when I started misting them and especially with the hatchlings of early '05. Point is - Richard got it published over 5 years ago.

Reptiles then published my article in Sept. '06 where I mentioned on the Hatchling Care paragraph about "misting" 2-3 times a day.. which I attribute to be the main factor in smooth even carapace growth. This is not open for debate - and has not been posted for such.. regardless of how others feel or think. It has proven to work along with other vital parameters of care needed for various species of tortoises.

Terry K

 

[Tom]

Thanks for posting this Terry. I missed this issue and didn't hear about the humidity thing until The Fife's published their book "Leopard Tortoises" in 2007. So, the info has been out there since 2005... wow. I can't wait to see all the smooth tortoise pics five years from now. It seems like more and more people are now able to raise smooth tortoises.

 

[Redfoot NERD]

Tom "we" [ private keepers/breeders ] talk amongst ourselves way before we make anything public.

Richard spoke of his 'experiment' starting no later than 2000. My '98 hatchlings started to show 'bumpiness' at about 5" SCL ( '01? ).. so I figured I better do something completely the opposite of the way I had been keeping them. Again.. I really can't tell you who or how the humidity/misting come about.. just that it did with me and the proof has been documented with a few of my '05 hatchlings.

See the date of "Butterscotch" hatching -

And today ( 6/12/10 ) -

I'm surprised I could get any pics.. she just wouldn't stop -

I think we've made the point about humidity by now.. didn't mean to 'piggy-back' this thread.

Terry K

 

[Tom]

Five years into it and she looks just perfect. As it should be.