humidity???

[tortoise007]

OK so I was reading one of tom's threads about humidity for babies, he said that there should be a humid hide, warm soaks, and the whole enclosure should be fairly humid. So I started spraying down the enclosure once a day and giving them warm bathes every other day(I'd like to add a humid hide soon). They loved it for about two weeks... then I added a CHE to keep it warmer during the night(It was getting way to cold at night and one of the got a runny nose. He is better now tho) and about a week later they all started getting very lethargic and sluggish. Why?

 

[mainey34]

What type of torts are we taking about? Were the temps increased? What were the temps? What was the humidity ?

 

[Dizisdalife]

Lethargic and sluggish is usually because they are too cold. I experienced this when my sulcata was a baby and the runny nose turned into an Upper Respiratory Infection. I would make sure that the minimum temperature any where in the enclosure is 80*F. You may want to keep them warmer for a while until you know what is going on. I used a couple of CHE's controlled by a thermostat to keep the ambient temperature at about 80F. The basking light produced a spot where the temp was about 100F and it was on a timer, 12 hours on and 12 hours off. The top of the enclosure was mostly covered except where the lights came through so the heat and humidity stayed in. The average humidity was kept at about 75% (wish I had got it higher) and in the humid hide it was usually 95%. Now my sulcata is 3 years old and lives outside in a heat house that I keep at 85*F for him.

 

[Arizona Sulcata]

Along with it possibly being too cold, if they don't have UV this can happen as well.

 

[tortoise007]

they are Sanoran desert torts. the cool part is 75 the basking spot is 95 the humidity was 20 now it is 40

 

[Tom]

First and foremost, that info is for leopards and sulcatas. It has not been tested on enough CDTs for me to want to recommend it. I did it with 7 hatchling CDTs a couple of years ago, and it worked beautifully for all of them, but that's not enough for me to want to recommend it for the species.

RIs are usually caused by cold and damp. Seems like you had this going on for a while before you added the heat. Even though they seemed better at first, the damage has been done, it sounds like. The usual protocol for RI is to keep them warm, day and night for a while. 80-85 all the time with a basking spot near 100 for 12 hours a day. Mine were maintained at 50-70% ambient humidity with a humid hide and daily soaks.

Many people read about the humidity, and that part seems to stick with them, but I find it frustrating when the part about keeping them warm all the time, or the part about which two species I've done this with, just seems to get over looked. I don't want to contribute to someone's tortoise getting sick. I report all the details about what has worked for me, but many people only do part of it, and that can lead to problems. I just mean all of this in a general sense. Not directed at the OP or anyone in particular.

007, in your case, a spray down once a day, plus a soak every other day, is not the likely cause of any of this. 20-40% humidity would not cause them to get sick. I suspect that the timing is coincidental. Many desert tortoises are started wayyyyy too dry and dehydrated. This usually will take months for obvious problems to become apparent. It is alos pretty common for tortoises housed indoors all winter to show signs like this, especially if they were really kept warm enough, or they had no UV, or we're fed mostly grocery store foods, or if they were simply started too dry. This is just a list of a few commonly seen potential problem starters. You'll have to tell us if one or more apply to your case.

 

[tortoise007]

well, I do think that it was to dry and not hot enough (they didn't have a basking bulb when I got them) and did not get bathes or spray downs

 

[mainey34]

And this is why I questioned what type of tort. I believe it specifies for sulcatas and leopards...