Keeping Closed Chamber Humid

[Sandy Martinez]

Getting closed chamber ready and planning on putting in the substrate (low sat night 60). What do I do to keep it humid. Using cypress now but have orchid bark on order. I'm sure he'll be going right back out in the morning for the warm days. thx

 

[Jodie]

Keep the substrate moist and the heat up. In a closed chamber it is easy to keep humidity up.

 

[Sandy Martinez]

I see that it is pretty moist in the bag but once I lay it in would I just spray it daily with a mister? thx

 

[Careym13]

Coco coir holds moisture well. I use it underneath my mulch in my closed chamber. I just dump water into the corners of the enclosure every few days as needed. In the mornings when I change the water dishes I will dump the old water onto the substrate if it doesn't have any poo in it. My MVB keeps the top layer (mulch) dry but the coco coir underneath stays damp which keeps the humidity at 90% all of the time.

Misting the substrate won't usually keep it damp enough because your heat source will cause it to evaporate relatively quickly.

 

[Sandy Martinez]

Coco coir holds moisture well. I use it underneath my mulch in my closed chamber. I just dump water into the corners of the enclosure every few days as needed. In the mornings when I change the water dishes I will dump the old water onto the substrate if it doesn't have any poo in it. My MVB keeps the top layer (mulch) dry but the coco coir underneath stays damp which keeps the humidity at 90% all of the time.

Misting the substrate won't usually keep it damp enough because your heat source will cause it to evaporate relatively quickly.

 

[Lyn W]

Hi Sandy
Do you have a digital temp/humidity meter in the enclosure? That will help with following the advice on temps and humidity on the caresheet for your species of tort.
A good rule I always keep in mind is
correct temp + humidity = healthy tort
too cold + humidity = sick tort.

 

[Sandy Martinez]

Ok ill try that, but how much coir should i lay underneath. ..couple inches?

 

[Lyn W]

Ok ill try that, but how much coir should i lay underneath. ..couple inches?

Does your tort like to dig and bury himself?
The depth will prob depend on that.

 

[Sandy Martinez]

Hi Sandy
Do you have a digital temp/humidity meter in the enclosure? That will help with following the advice on temps and humidity on the caresheet for your species of tort.
A good rule I always keep in mind is
correct temp + humidity = healthy tort
too cold + humidity = sick tort.

Digital temp humidity reader...got it, don't have it yet but i will ...thx!

 

[Sandy Martinez]

Does your tort like to dig and bury himself?
The depth will prob depend on that.

Actually no he doesn't dig...

 

[Careym13]

Ok ill try that, but how much coir should i lay underneath. ..couple inches?

I have about 4 inches or so...but a couple should be fine to start. You can always add to it if you need to.

 

[Lyn W]

Digital temp humidity reader...got it, don't have it yet but i will ...thx!

You'll find them on Amazon but I think many US folk buy them from places like Lowes, Walmart or hardware stores at reasonable prices.
Maybe someone can recommend a good make.
if you're not sure about best sort post a pic of the ones you find and see what people say.

 

[Careym13]

You'll find them on Amazon but I think many US folk buy them from places like Lowes, Walmart or hardware stores at reasonable prices.
Maybe someone can recommend a good make.
if you're not sure about best sort post a pic of the ones you find and see what people say.

I get one from lowes made by Accurite. It is under $10. Make sure you get one with a probe. Ideally you should have several throughout your enclosure and a temp gun for spot checks.

 

[Lyn W]

I get one from lowes made by Accurite. It is under $10. Make sure you get one with a probe. Ideally you should have several throughout your enclosure and a temp gun for spot checks.

Oh yes! A temp gun is great for spot checking throughout the enclosure and they aren't too expensive either.
Accurite is a well known name - more for watches and clocks in the UK - but I would trust them.

 

[Careym13]

Oh yes! A temp gun is great for spot checking throughout the enclosure and they aren't too expensive either.
Accurite is a well known name - more for watches and clocks in the UK - but I would trust them.

Yeah they seem to work fairly well. When I first started using them I would check their accuracy by using a more expensive probe thermometer in the exact spot as the Accurite and they were always within a degree or two of each other.

The only negative is that they tend to die after a few months in very high humidity. But, for the money, I can't complain.

 

[Lyn W]

Yeah they seem to work fairly well. When I first started using them I would check their accuracy by using a more expensive probe thermometer in the exact spot as the Accurite and they were always within a degree or two of each other.

The only negative is that they tend to die after a few months in very high humidity. But, for the money, I can't complain.

That's a shame.
As they use a probe could you put the rest of the unit in a plastic box or bag to protect it (out if reach of torty of course)
I suppose that depends if the probe picks up just temp or humidity and the unit does the other.

 

[Careym13]

That's a shame.
As they use a probe could you put the rest of the unit in a plastic box or bag to protect it (out if reach of torty of course)
I suppose that depends if the probe picks up just temp or humidity and the unit does the other.

That actually would be a good solution, but I watch the display remotely from my web cam that is inside the enclosure as well. Anything over the screen and it obstructs the view of the camera to the point where I can't read it. But for others, that is a great idea!

 

[Sandy Martinez]

Yeah they seem to work fairly well. When I first started using them I would check their accuracy by using a more expensive probe thermometer in the exact spot as the Accurite and they were always within a degree or two of each other.

The only negative is that they tend to die after a few months in very high humidity. But, for the money, I can't complain.

 

[Sandy Martinez]

Great, heading out to lowes...thanks for steering me in the right direction!

 

[Pearly]

Great, heading out to lowes...thanks for steering me in the right direction!

Hi, I haven't been on the forum for a while but this subject is very close to my heart as I too struggled with the humidity/substrate. I also house my babies in closed chamber following advise of the experienced keepers on here and things have been under control, nice cinsistent temps and humidity, and my babies look/act healthy. This is how I fixed the screen cover to keep the inside warm humid air from mixing with the room air( dry/cool from A/C). For substrate I have orchid bard on the bottom. Bought it for the top dressing initially but the babies' feet seemed so small I I immediately wanted simething softer for them to walk on so got the coco coir, topped with moss (currently looking for options to plant with live mosses. They will stay in that tank until they grow a bit, then they'll start spending daytime in theiroutdoor pen, and once they reach good size, they'll have an outdoor heated house built. Thei tank is planted with live plants, so there is some organic soil there. After couple of cleaning/ remodeling jobs the cour got more and more mixed with the plants' soil, and I knida like it this way, and so seem to do the plants. There is also a bunch of live earthworms that are thriving in there. I had initially bought them for the protein intake but the torts wouldn't touch them, so they've been released into the substrate and living in there since. I also intend to get a bunch of pillbugs, but for some reason this year there are hardly any in my garden! They used to be all over the place and the other day I went looking and found only 4 tiny ones. There are tons of snails though! Like I've never seen before. Not sure what to make of this, something with the climate change?... Anyway, back to closed chamber, we keep humidity up by daily use of Reptifogger which stays turned on for only few minutes every am and that seems to be enough to keep the good levels consistently. We just LOVE that thing (the fogger! My substrate is pretty deep, 4 inches in low lying areas and up to 7-8 in "hilly" parts. Again, this is to allow plant roots to grow unrestricted and babies to burrow freely. I plant fresh seeds weekly for the torts to nibble on young seedlings , also been researching plants that grow in their natural habitat that are not toxic to them in case ingested. To me, the more plants, the better and my RF's love them. I am a fairly new keeper but have spent so much time/money/effort on trying to do this right that I feel I can now offer some helpful tips to the others. Hope you have found at least one thing in my post that maybe useful for your setup