New Leopard owner... humidity help!

[JSMitch]

Hello Everyone,

I've enjoyed pouring over all your great advice. Twenty years ago, I had a Leopard Tortoise baby, along with many other reptiles, with my boyfriend at the time. When we parted ways, I kept the rainbow boa, king snake, and bearded dragon, and he kept all the others, including the Leopard. I found out years later the tortoise didn't make it. I never knew why until reading your posts- boyfriend definitely was not maintaining a humid environment, among other mistakes.

Fast-forward to a week or so ago. I attended a reptile expo and couldn't resist trying again with this precious little Leopard hatchling, which I named Baby Sinclair. Of course, I bought all the wrong stuff, but I realized it within an hour of getting him home and reading the forums, and I have since been racing around fixing everything. I asked the breeder many questions but didn't know to ask the most important ones about whether or not they were raised in a closed/humid chamber, soaks, etc. I'm guessing they did not correctly raise these hatchlings. Breeder said he's about four weeks old. I weighed him at 37g.

He eats like a champ, gets daily outside time, soaks, and chills in his humid hide when he's not trouncing about his enclosure. However, I have two temp/humidity gauges, and it seems I cannot get the humidity above 60%. I have him in a plastic storage tub with moist orchid bark. I have a piece of glass covering the majority of the tank except for the light fixture (basking bulb and UVB), and then I enclosed the rest of the opening with tin foil.

I am desperately looking for a better setup, but I do not have the skills to build something right now. We will build an outdoor enclosure when Baby Sinclair grows up. I'm more of the type to convert a piece of furniture into an enclosure, but I've run around to all the thrift stores and haven't seen anything with potential yet. I know I should have done this before the impulse purchase.

What can I do in the meantime?

Thanks so much!

 

[wellington]

He needs to be in a closed chamber enclosure. That means all lights and heat are inside and there is no opening on top which is where your heat and humidity is going.
A pop up portable greenhouse works good for this and are not expensive.
Also lower the gauges to tortoise height and be sure they are digital.
Do not use mercury, halogen or coil type bulbs for uvb.
You need a tube flourescent for uvb, an incandescent flood bulb for basking and ceramic heat emitter for any needed day heat and night heat.
Basking 95-100
All over and night never lower than 80
Humidity 80%

 

[JSMitch]

He needs to be in a closed chamber enclosure. View attachment 379895 That means all lights and heat are inside and there is no opening on top which is where your heat and humidity is going.
A pop up portable greenhouse works good for this and are not expensive.
Also lower the gauges to tortoise height and be sure they are digital.
Do not use mercury, halogen or coil type bulbs for uvb.
You need a tube flourescent for uvb, an incandescent flood bulb for basking and ceramic heat emitter for any needed day heat and night heat.
Basking 95-100
All over and night never lower than 80
Humidity 80%

Thank you!

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

To expand on wellingtons comment, perhaps you’ll find this thread below useful to read through, I go over closed chamber examples, correct equipment, levels, appropriately maintaining humidity, there’s lots of visual examples and a good diet link to check out

Leopard/sulcata starter

Hello there! In this thread I’m going to include some information below on how I’d personally tackle an indoor starter set up for this guy until they’re bigger. Hopefully it helps give you some ideas! I know it looks a lot to go over, I like to make sure all bases are covered, I’m happy to...

tortoiseforum.org

This one is also good to familiarise with, it’ll help you avoid the wrong bulbs, substrates, housing etc

Common keeping errors

Hello everyone! I’d been a long time lurker on this site long before joining just under a year ago now, over that time I’ve seen these husbandry issues come up time and time again, sometimes with dire consequences☹️ I thought this thread might serve as a good visual guide for these common...

tortoiseforum.org

Hope they help! Please feel free to ask further questions

 

[JSMitch]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

To expand on wellingtons comment, perhaps you’ll find this thread below useful to read through, I go over closed chamber examples, correct equipment, levels, appropriately maintaining humidity, there’s lots of visual examples and a good diet link to check out

Leopard/sulcata starter

Hello there! In this thread I’m going to include some information below on how I’d personally tackle an indoor starter set up for this guy until they’re bigger. Hopefully it helps give you some ideas! I know it looks a lot to go over, I like to make sure all bases are covered, I’m happy to...

tortoiseforum.org

This one is also good to familiarise with, it’ll help you avoid the wrong bulbs, substrates, housing etc

Common keeping errors

Hello everyone! I’d been a long time lurker on this site long before joining just under a year ago now, over that time I’ve seen these husbandry issues come up time and time again, sometimes with dire consequences☹️ I thought this thread might serve as a good visual guide for these common...

tortoiseforum.org

Hope they help! Please feel free to ask further questions

Appreciate you!

 

[Renee_H]

Hi! Welcome! You’ll find this forum so invaluable! I know I have! I am a new leopard tort keeper too but I was too intimidated to start with a baby so I found an adult needing a new home. I wish you all the best and I’m excited to watch your little one thrive under your care

 

[JSMitch]

Thank you- that's so kind. Yes... definitely nervous about how young mine is! Congrats on your new journey!

 

[JSMitch]

He needs to be in a closed chamber enclosure. View attachment 379895 That means all lights and heat are inside and there is no opening on top which is where your heat and humidity is going.
A pop up portable greenhouse works good for this and are not expensive.
Also lower the gauges to tortoise height and be sure they are digital.
Do not use mercury, halogen or coil type bulbs for uvb.
You need a tube flourescent for uvb, an incandescent flood bulb for basking and ceramic heat emitter for any needed day heat and night heat.
Basking 95-100
All over and night never lower than 80
Humidity 80%

So the side that appears open is actually covered in glass. Still not enough? I like the greenhouse you shared, gonna check that out. Thanks again!

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

So the side that appears open is actually covered in glass. Still not enough? I like the greenhouse you shared, gonna check that out. Thanks again!

Because the heating elements are still technically mounted on the outside, it’s creating a chimney effect, so the hood fixture is probably still allowing air exchange underneath and out the sides where it’s resting, all your heat and humidity is getting drawn out the top

 

[JSMitch]

Because the heating elements are still technically mounted on the outside, it’s creating a chimney effect, so the hood fixture is probably still allowing air exchange underneath and out the sides where it’s resting, all your heat and humidity is getting drawn out the top

Gotcha- thanks so much

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Gotcha- thanks so much

No problem

 

[wellington]

So the side that appears open is actually covered in glass. Still not enough? I like the greenhouse you shared, gonna check that out. Thanks again!

Yeah I did get that about the glass. But the open area for the lights/heat won't work.
You can try to close them off with tin foil. Tin foil is safe around the heat. Set a piece of tin foil of the opening. Then cut a hole only as big as the bulb/heating in the tin foil. Place you lights heat back over the holes.

 

[JSMitch]

I'll continue to tweak, but we're all fixed up for now. Thanks, everyone!

 

[Maggie3fan]

I recently got a small Sulcata, and while I am waiting for his greenhouse I made this poor man's greenhouse, with strapping tape, wood and plastic. The humidity hovers around 80+ and the temp is good at 85-90 degrees. I pour water over the substrate...
right now the temperature is 86 degrees with 85% humidity...look at the visible humidity...
my Sulcata is a very small 9 months old and here is Little Sh*t trying to reach that blade of grass hay to eat...

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

I'll continue to tweak, but we're all fixed up for now. Thanks, everyone!

View attachment 379995

Yay well done!!