Value of Consistency?

[Balboa]

Its something I've been thinking about lately with my Torts.

I'm coming at this with a Tropical Fishkeeping background. In my Experience the single most important thing in keeping fish is consistency. Consistantly ok is worlds better than either consistantly bad or occasionally great.

For example a common error made by new fishkeepers is to chemically alter the ph of their tap water. What invariably happens is the ph becomes unstable and variable which stresses the fish and they die. Except for the most delicate of species, the majority of commonly kept fish (even discus) will readily adapt to an "improper" ph, as long as its stable and not insanely off-base for them.

Now I came at Tortoisekeeping with this same mind set. I felt that my temps and humidity had to be solid. My red foots come from the same general area as many of my fish, I know the rainforest to provide a stable environment. As such I whig-out if Rocky's humidity drops 10%. (Well, I did at first, I've relaxed a bit on that now).

I suspect it may also be species dependant, but is consistency important to Torts? Are they better off with a constant 75% humidity, or 50% most of the time with occasional bursts to 90% when you spray them? Obviously, we strive to allow them to self-regulate temps, but does it hurt for their mean enclosure temps to fluctuate day to day?

any thoughts?

 

[coreyc]

You have a good point in the wild temp's an humidity are not steady I guess if it's not to extreme they should be alright

 

[GBtortoises]

I've never been concerned about keeping temperatures dead on consistent, just within normal ranges of what is tolerable for the species that it applied to. I've never seen any adverse effects of doing so. Mine spend a good part of the year outdoors and I live at a high altitude in the Northeast U.S. where the temperatures and humdity often change drastically within a 24 hour period. In those conditions I have kept tropical, forest and Mediterranean tortoises very successfully for years. Only tortoises from arid climates aren't suitable to keep here outdoors for long periods. Indoors I am more concerned about them getting too hot due to lights and being in a specific room. The conditions indoors are more stable by virtue of the situation than by design. I've never felt that extreme consistency was absolutely necessary for successfully keeping tortoises healthy based on the same reasons as the above posts, in most cases tortoises live in and therefore are "designed" for, environmental variations.

 

[Brutha]

I was just thinking about this, but the other way around. We know that daylight/night is important to their health. I wonder if some of the other natural daily/seasonal changes also provide them a benefit. There's probably some benefit to stability in the hide for the burrowing variety. Burrows (like large bodies of water) are more stable than the open wild.

Of course, that's based on my week (though a quite obsessively research-filled week) of tortoise experience.

 

[Balboa]

I suspect if it is important at all, it is for the young Torts. Like Brutha said, burrows are consistant, and baby/juveniile Torts live in fairly stable micro climates, like burrows, under logs, whatever.

These are exactly the torts that probably wind up with the least stable captive environments, due to small size, and frequently, keeper error.

I imagine gradual swings would be even beneficial for adults, but I suspect drastic swings (with out sufficient micro-climate availability) will stress even adults. I know if my local weather shifts too fast from hot to cold, I get a cold, almost every time.

 

[PeanutbuttER]

I don't worry about feeding schedule consistency. They're opportunistic feeders, they eat when they can. Plus, most keepers feed them more often than they always eat in the wild anyhow.

I do think environmental/habitat consistency is important. Imagine if you came home every day and your entire house was rearranged. Your TV was in the kitchen, your bed in the front living room, etc. It would get frustrating. I believe they like to know where things are and that they would do best when their environment is stable.

I don't know about how consistent humidity needs to be. Temperature is super easy to be consistent on though. All you have to do is put your lights on a timer. Done. I let the humidity on tables fluctuate more than 10% at a time, but I am very good about spraying their shells daily now. Plus by providing a humid hide I have provided a consistently humid retreat should they feel things are getting too dry right?

 

[Madkins007]

I'd like to add two opposing concepts to the discussion.

STRESS in captive animals is defined by vets/zoo professionals as the difference between the climate/environment/diet the animal needs and what it gets. If temps, humidity, etc. is fluctuating- then it is only at the levels they want on occasion rather than all of the time- introducing stress.

This is one reason I advocate using timers and thermostats- consistency in environment.

ENRICHMENTS are things added to an environment or routine to challenge or entertain the animals. Without enrichments, the brain does not develop correctly and you begin to see abnormal behaviors.

Varying the diet, using different feeding stations, some variation in environment or climate, etc. would all count as enrichments- giving the animal things to think about and deal with- WITHOUT adding undue stress.

 

[Balboa]

Leave it to Mark to make me feel better about being anal, thank you!

That is an excellent point though. One of the benefits of Rocky's covered enclosure, is a gradual drop in temperature at night of a couple degrees after the lights go off, followed by a gradual warm up in the morning. To me this is more characteristic of nature than absolute constant temps, and I imagine temp changes to be far quicker and more drastic on an open table. So yes I guess I'd view this as enrichment, as both the night time low, and daytime high are "in range" thanks to thermostats moderating the min/max threshhold. It is still an example of my "anal-ousity" because of those thermostats, lol.

I may go ahead and procure a humidistat after all now, LOL