To Humidify or Not??

[StefanieChristensen]

Hi everyone, I’m a new Sulcata owner. My baby is 2 months old. I have a book “Sulcatas” by Russ Gurley and in it he mentioned the most important thing for a Sulcata is that it’s
enclosure is warm and dry. I’ve read on here they need 80% humidity - which is correct. Russ never once mentions the need for humidity in his book, and it’s full of everything you need for their enclosure. I just want my baby to be healthy and happy so I would like to get this right. Which way do I go - and if it is humidity, why??

 

[Blackdog1714]

PLease look at the printed date on that book. That information is way old and incorrect. TFO'ers like @Tom, @Yvonne G and @Kapidolo Farms have raised hundreds if not thousands with hihg humididty and warmth. There is a thread that actually studies the nests and burrows that the babies gestate in and eventually live in to show how warm and humid they are. For the sake of your bay please read the TFO Sulcata Care Guide that is pinned in the SUlcata thread

 

[Tony the Tort42]

PLease look at the printed date on that book. That information is way old and incorrect. TFO'ers like @Tom, @Yvonne G and @Kapidolo Farms have raised hundreds if not thousands with hihg humididty and warmth. There is a thread that actually studies the nests and burrows that the babies gestate in and eventually live in to show how warm and humid they are. For the sake of your bay please read the TFO Sulcata Care Guide that is pinned in the SUlcata thread

Exactly. Babies live in borrows for most of the year, and they have a monsoon season where their enviroment turns into a kinda swampy place. Keeping sullies dry leads to internal desiccation, which leads to pyramiding. They also need daily soaks. I would ignore everything you see on that book, everything. here there is all you need to know, as people like Tom and Yvonne and Kapidolo Farms have researched, experimented and discovered how babies actually live in nature. Previous care guides were based off one fact: they live in a desert. Humidity is the ONLY way to go if you want your sully to be healthy and happy. Good luck, its good your trying to find whats best for him!

 

[Toddrickfl1]

Hi everyone, I’m a new Sulcata owner. My baby is 2 months old. I have a book “Sulcatas” by Russ Gurley and in it he mentioned the most important thing for a Sulcata is that it’s
enclosure is warm and dry. I’ve read on here they need 80% humidity - which is correct. Russ never once mentions the need for humidity in his book, and it’s full of everything you need for their enclosure. I just want my baby to be healthy and happy so I would like to get this right. Which way do I go - and if it is humidity, why??

Definitely humidity, we've learned quite a bit since that book came out 15 years ago.

 

[Tom]

The pics are long gone, but read the text of this old thread:

The End Of Pyramiding

I thought a lot about what to name this thread. I intend for it to go on for several years, so I had to pick something fitting. So be careful how you reply to this thread, as it will be read by many for a long time to come. One way or another, the following will be one more nail in the coffin...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[StefanieChristensen]

Thanks everyone! I bought a fogger and am trying to keep her humidity at 80%, although that’s kind of tough - it’s usually at 99%, so I’m trying to work that out.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Hi everyone, I’m a new Sulcata owner. My baby is 2 months old. I have a book “Sulcatas” by Russ Gurley and in it he mentioned the most important thing for a Sulcata is that it’s
enclosure is warm and dry. I’ve read on here they need 80% humidity - which is correct. Russ never once mentions the need for humidity in his book, and it’s full of everything you need for their enclosure. I just want my baby to be healthy and happy so I would like to get this right. Which way do I go - and if it is humidity, why??

Got a fireplace?
Throw that book in there.

Seriously, what we now know about tortoise keeping is growing so fast that it is sometimes old news before it gets printed.
Here, on this forum, you get up to the moment information from keepers from all over this planet keeping every sort of turtle or tortoise.
And it's all free for the asking.
You've already found the only source of information that you'll ever need.
Read, share and learn.
Soon, you'll also be giving information to others from what you've discovered here and first hand with your own tortoise.

 

[StefanieChristensen]

Thanks!

 

[ZEROPILOT]

He can just let his tortoise outside for an hour every other day.

The OP says he's from "Elizabeth".
I have no idea where that is or if its sunny or freezing cold.

 

[Tony the Tort42]

The OP says he's from "Elizabeth".
I have no idea where that is or if its sunny or freezing cold.

Oh I think I checked to wrong guys location... fair point. Somehow I had the sense he was from Arizona. Op, is where you live warm or cold?

 

[Yvonne G]

Oh I think I checked to wrong guys location... fair point. Somehow I had the sense he was from Arizona. Op, is where you live warm or cold?

Elizabeth is in Colorado

 

[Yvonne G]

Oh I think I checked to wrong guys location... fair point. Somehow I had the sense he was from Arizona. Op, is where you live warm or cold?

I moved that other guy's posts to his own thread.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I moved that other guy's posts to his own thread.

Thanks