New to Forum and SULCATAS....some advice please...

[Cre8ruckas]

cool thank you so much! No im just still having trouble with keeping the humidity up about 50%. I got 2in of cypress mulch in there 2 potted plants covered the top as much as possible as seen in the pix early that i posted to this thread... Ive been spraying and spraying and the humidity goes way up to 70 almost 80% when i spray then back down to like 40-50% , cant seem to keep it up...any other ideas....?

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if i wet the cypress mulch any more it will have puddles in there lol. Maybe mix the mulch wit some moss??? ugh i dunno.....

 

[Tom]

You need a much thicker layer of cypress, about double what you have, and then dump a bunch of water in there. It looks dry in the picture. My typical heating/lighting set-up for something like what you have there is a 60 watt CHE near the warmer end, but in the middle if need be, on 24/7, and a 100 watt MVB on a timer for 12-13 hours. Adjust the height of both to get the temps right. Cover as much of the top as you can. If your torts are getting lots of regular sunshine then you can just use a regular incandescent spot or flood bulb of 35-50 watts and save some energy. Of course you'll have to lower the bulb to get the temps right because of the lower wattage.

 

[Cre8ruckas]

so about 6inches of mulch on the bottom of the tank? Right now theres about 3inches and it's roughly at 50% humidity, spraying the mulch like 4 times a day to raise the humidity. coverd as much of the top as i could without going near the light fixtures.

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with the tank temps being 95 plus on one end and 85 on the other the mulch dries out very very quickly and down goes the humidity again....

 

[Dizisdalife]

I am having somewhat of the same problem keeping the humidity high in my tortoise enclosure. I am using coconut coir and organic top soil for substrate. I have wet it down several times today and covered the top as much as possible. The only opening is near the ceramic heating element that I use for night heat. The temp inside is about 80F. Throughout the day I have monitored the humidity, and I have a basking light on during the day, but the humidity rarely gets over 60-65%. This is after wetting down the substrate. I am starting to not trust my gauge as it is a inexpensive plastic dial. The substrate is moist to the touch.

I am wondering just how critical a 80% humidity is to the health of these torts? Is 65% okay?

 

[lisalove]

I too am having a humidity challenge, it stays at about 75% in the hide with moss soaking wet.
I'm also using Garden Bark pathway bark groundcover. It's a finer texture of bark. Should it be soaking wet all over and not worry if it gets a bit 'muddy'?
Also, sorry to bring up light again, but I have a red light for night and Nodder LOVES it. Is that bad???

 

[Tom]

so about 6inches of mulch on the bottom of the tank? Right now theres about 3inches and it's roughly at 50% humidity, spraying the mulch like 4 times a day to raise the humidity. coverd as much of the top as i could without going near the light fixtures.

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with the tank temps being 95 plus on one end and 85 on the other the mulch dries out very very quickly and down goes the humidity again....

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As you are seeing, spraying the surface of your mulch doesn't do much. You'll need to be regularly DUMPING water in there. This is why I don't like wood tortoise tables. How much water and how often will depend on YOUR set-up and conditions.

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I am having somewhat of the same problem keeping the humidity high in my tortoise enclosure. I am using coconut coir and organic top soil for substrate. I have wet it down several times today and covered the top as much as possible. The only opening is near the ceramic heating element that I use for night heat. The temp inside is about 80F. Throughout the day I have monitored the humidity, and I have a basking light on during the day, but the humidity rarely gets over 60-65%. This is after wetting down the substrate. I am starting to not trust my gauge as it is a inexpensive plastic dial. The substrate is moist to the touch.

I am wondering just how critical a 80% humidity is to the health of these torts? Is 65% okay?

Very critical for hatchlings and babies. Less so, as they get older. Those plastic dials are just about worthless. Try one of these:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-Wireless-Remote-Thermometer[hr]

I too am having a humidity challenge, it stays at about 75% in the hide with moss soaking wet.
I'm also using Garden Bark pathway bark groundcover. It's a finer texture of bark. Should it be soaking wet all over and not worry if it gets a bit 'muddy'?
Also, sorry to bring up light again, but I have a red light for night and Nodder LOVES it. Is that bad???

Make sure you are using a proper, closed in, plastic shoe box type humid hide. Even here in the dry CA desert my hide boxes stay 98-100% all the time. See the above post with the link to a good humidity gauge. Maybe yours is off.

I keep my Garden Bark wet. Never had a problem in two years of doing it. Just remember that the temp needs to stay around 80 all the time, with a "hot" spot for 12-13 hours a day.

I don't like colored lights for daytime. Is it bad? Not if you have a healthy tort with no aberrant behavior problems. Just not something I would do. An MVB would be much better and give your tort some necessary UV over the cold winter.

 

[Dizisdalife]

Thanks Tom. I will get one of the AcuRite units tomorrow.

 

[lisalove]

Thanks Tom. I do have a 100 watt MVB on for 13 hours during the day and I put him in sun on nice days. Kind of cute because when I turn the MVB off and the red light on for night, he/she runs to it. So smart!
I know the dry CA desert well, I'm in Lancaster. I just dumped a ton of water on my Garden bark--Thanks again!

 

[Xilonen]

Just a thought - I've got peat moss as the current substrate, which holds moisture wonderfully without being soggy.. However, since I'm picking up stuff this morning, I'm wondering if anyone had tried a setup like a veggie steamer, with a layer of water separated from the substrate by netting/mesh to keep a reservoir underneath to prevent drying. It should evaporate naturally with the heat and keep the air humid without the need to keep the substrate too wet. If I were to set it up, I'd probably have a layer of gravel, water to cover, a layer of mesh, and then substrate above. Thoughts?

 

[Cre8ruckas]

wow check this out, this would probably help just came across it on ebay......

http://cgi.ebay.com/ZooMed-Reptile-...343?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item483d8f6e2f

 

[Tom]

Just a thought - I've got peat moss as the current substrate, which holds moisture wonderfully without being soggy.. However, since I'm picking up stuff this morning, I'm wondering if anyone had tried a setup like a veggie steamer, with a layer of water separated from the substrate by netting/mesh to keep a reservoir underneath to prevent drying. It should evaporate naturally with the heat and keep the air humid without the need to keep the substrate too wet. If I were to set it up, I'd probably have a layer of gravel, water to cover, a layer of mesh, and then substrate above. Thoughts?

My thought is that even a small sulcata will have all your layers mixed together in a short amount of time. And it just doesn't seem necessary. I don't mean to pee on your parade. Just trying to save you a bunch of time and trouble.

 

[Cre8ruckas]

just found this ... is it just as good as the zoo meds power sun, this one is made by flukers...

http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog.../fluker-sun-spot-100-watt-mercury-vapor-bulb/

 

[Yvonne G]

I don't have any experience with the Flukers light, but there's gotta' be a reason its half the price of the Power Sun.

 

[Bartjuan]

With all that humidity does anyone have mold problems?

 

[Yvonne G]

Not if you use the correct type of substrate and pick up left over food in a timely manner.

 

[Cre8ruckas]

Congrats on your new little one and welcome to the forum! I have seen your getting asking all the right questions and have a neat little set up going. The only thing I would add is you need to add greens to your diet and as for the humidity i daily pour about a liter of water all around the set up and still daily spray about 5 -6 times. It really helps to keep the numbers up and if you can cover some of the aquarium it will bring the numbers up even more. Again welcome and good luck

thanks. im working on building a plexigalss/acrylic hood/lid for the aquarium hopefully that will help keep in that humidity!