Need help with humidity

[legendarytortoise7]

So my tortoise is a hermanns and the enclosure is a vivarium. The humidity is always often around 50% and I often need to spray it. Temperature 30c. Just need to know if the humidity is fine or if it should be higher as the person I bought my tortoise from recommended it to be around 80% . Also tips on how I can increase it if it should be higher please thanks

 

[wellington]

If your tortoise is a baby then it needs higher, as an adult your humidity is fine
To raise it stop spraying it and pour some warm water into the substrate to make it damp. Spraying only wets the top which will dry out quickly.

 

[Tom]

So my tortoise is a hermanns and the enclosure is a vivarium. The humidity is always often around 50% and I often need to spray it. Temperature 30c. Just need to know if the humidity is fine or if it should be higher as the person I bought my tortoise from recommended it to be around 80% . Also tips on how I can increase it if it should be higher please thanks

You listed one temperature. if the whole enclosure is 30C every day and night, that is not good.
-Ambient temperature during the day should be around 21-25C.
-It should be around 36C directly under the flood type basking bulb.
-All the lights should go off on a timer at night, and the over night low should drop to around 15-18C.

As Wellington said, spraying the surface dries too quickly and causes lots of evaporative cooling. To keep humidity up, use at least 3-4 inches of the correct substrate and keep it damp by dumping water into it periodically, as needed. How often and how much water varies with each enclosure, and it even varies in the same enclosure seasonally. You have to go by feel. Keep it lightly damp, but not sopping wet. My tortoises typically drag the substrate into their water bowl. As long as there is no poop or urates, I will often dump this "dirty" substrate water back into the substrate, rinse the bowl into the substrate, and refill it. Some enclosures need this daily, and others need it once or twice a week to maintain the correct moisture levels.

There is a heating and lighting breakdown toward the bottom of this thread, and much more helpful info too:

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[Littleredfootbigredheart]

So my tortoise is a hermanns and the enclosure is a vivarium. The humidity is always often around 50% and I often need to spray it. Temperature 30c. Just need to know if the humidity is fine or if it should be higher as the person I bought my tortoise from recommended it to be around 80% . Also tips on how I can increase it if it should be higher please thanks

From what I remember it’s a baby you have? Humidity does definitely need to be higher, which won’t be an issue in a vivarium, it’s just a matter of fine tuning your substrate maintenance.

As mentioned above, you really want to be focusing on the lower layers of your substrate staying nice and damp(not sopping wet of course), you can do this by pouring lukewarm water into the corners, go a little at a time so you don’t add too much, you can give it all a good mix to even it out. Your top layer is naturally going to dry under the lamps, you don’t need to worry about spraying that down, but you can by all means do it now and again to stop it getting too dusty on top. I do recommend giving substrate a good turn once a week or so to avoid any standing moisture at the bottom, it’s also good for a humidity boost. In a good closed chamber set up, you won’t have to do the pours often, we do ours every 7-10 days, you want to see condensation building on your glass, it’ll fall down into the substrate, continuing the cycle. Simply keep an eye on the consistency of your lower layers and check your monitors to do the pours as and when needed.
Are there any vents on your enclosure? You can tape them over if so, you don’t need to worry about an air flow, no set up is air tight and you create more than enough air exchange when you open up to do daily husbandries. Sealing vents to eliminate air exchange where possible will definitely help.
How thick is your substrate? A generous layer really helps, you don’t want it too thin.

The problem with only spraying to maintain humidity is it’s only creating a temporary boost by getting the surface area damp, the evaporation effect then causes temperature fluctuations.

Speaking of temperatures, in a high humidity enclosure, ensuring all your temperature levels are in range is paramount, high humidity with temperatures too low is a recipe for an RI. 30c is fine towards the warmer end during the day, but make sure your basking temperature directly underneath your basking bulb is reaching around 95f(35c) and a cooler end around 75f(23c), night temp can drop to around 65-70f, they can tolerate lower as you see Tom mention above, I just think it’s a good range to shoot for