Optimal humidity

[teneb]

Watson's tank is usually 50-60% humidity at night. I've noticed recently that he's blowing a lot of bubbles out of his nose and I'm worried about respiratory infection. The liquid is clear. He's eating normally and acting pretty much normal, although he seems to stay in his "house" (overturned log) a little more often.

I'm probably being paranoid, but I want to make sure I'm giving him the optimal environment to do well and be happy.

 

[Isa]

Hello
What are you temps in the cold and the hot side?
Do you see the bubbles comming out of his nose after he drank water? If yes, it is normal that you see bubbles,
if not, If I would be you, I could call the vet AS SOON AS POSSIBLE for a check up.

 

[Clementine_3]

I'm still new to all of this but from everything I've read and been told Greeks should have low humidity. 50% would be pushing the max limit, somewhere in the 30-40% range is good. The humidity for my guy hangs around 35%, the light really keeps things nice and arid for him.

 

[teneb]

Hello
What are you temps in the cold and the hot side?
Do you see the bubbles comming out of his nose after he drank water? If yes, it is normal that you see bubbles,
if not, If I would be you, I could call the vet AS SOON AS POSSIBLE for a check up.

I don't have water in his tank; I soak him twice a week and spray his food. The temp is around 70 at night on the cool side; 90 during the day on the hot side.

 

[Isa]

I don't have water in his tank; I soak him twice a week and spray his food. The temp is around 70 at night on the cool side; 90 during the day on the hot side.

My Hermann has a bowl of water (not more than 1CM) in his enclosure. I think it is always good for a tortoise to have acces to water in his enclosure. But since you know the bubbles were not caused by the water, If I were you, I would call the vet as soon as possible just to be sure.
What substrate do you use, my Hermann is allergic to dust, I used to put some timothy hay in his house, but he had bubbles comming out of his nose, so I had to remove all the timothy hay, the substrate I use is Aspen, Reptile carpet, and on a little part of his tort table organic soil & play sand.
Good luck and keep us updated please

---

Where do you put your humidity gauge, in the cold side or in the hot side?

 

[teneb]

Where do you put your humidity gauge, in the cold side or in the hot side?

Cold side.

 

[Isa]

Where do you put your humidity gauge, in the cold side or in the hot side?

Cold side.

I have 2 humidity gauges, one in the cold side and one in the hot side. Today, put it in the hot side and let us know what it says but do not forget to call the vet for a check up or talk to him on the phone and tell him your tort symptoms.

 

[teneb]

Watson seems fine this morning - no bubbles. One thing that may have exacerbated the situation is that I think I woke him up when I took him out yesterday, and I believe I've read that stress can cause them to bubble sometimes. I'll definitely closely monitor him over the next few days.

I think a big part of the problem seems to be that the baseline humidity for my house is ~60%. Any thoughts on how to decrease that for the tort table? I was thinking of putting an infrared heat bulb on the hot end and keep it on all the time; the ambient temp would be higher but Watson can move around to where he's comfortable. Any other thoughts on reducing humidity?