Yellowfoot and humidity?

[rwb]

Hello everyone. I am new here! I have kept a sulcata for about 6 years. I am getting an amazon basin Yellow foot tomorrow and I think I made a bit of an impulse buy without thinking all the way through. So I need to hurry up an rectify the situation. My Sulcata does not require such high humidity. I soak it a few times a week and offer humid areas. He often digs into the ground where it's humid or resides in a mud pit.
So my problem is obviously providing more humidity for one (and shade). I live in Illinois where the humidity is far lower than a Peruvian rainforest. My main question is if my new yellowfoot will thrive if soaked often or will i have to build a new enclosure that will hold 60-80% humidity for it to be healthy. Anyone else keeping these in lower humidity areas? This is an amazon basin locale also so it's going to get pretty large. It'll be inside for the winter and outside weather permitting during the summer.

 

[Yvonne G]

Your saying you'll have to build a new enclosure has me thinking you are planning to add the YF into the sulcata's enclosure. Please don't do that. This is wrong in so many ways!

- tortoises from different continents have diffrent microorganisms living inside them that could sicken or kill the other tortoise

- tortoises should never live in pairs. The dominant one will stress out the subordinant one causing him to not grow, maybe get sick and even die

- YF and sulcata require vastly different habitats

- The YF tortoise has different dietary requirements from the sulcata

Please don't put them together.

 

[rwb]

Your saying you'll have to build a new enclosure has me thinking you are planning to add the YF into the sulcata's enclosure. Please don't do that. This is wrong in so many ways!

- tortoises from different continents have diffrent microorganisms living inside them that could sicken or kill the other tortoise

- tortoises should never live in pairs. The dominant one will stress out the subordinant one causing him to not grow, maybe get sick and even die

- YF and sulcata require vastly different habitats

- The YF tortoise has different dietary requirements from the sulcata

Please don't put them together.

No. Absolutely not going to be anywhere near each other. Same property, yes. My question was can lower humidity be circumvented by excessive soaking, misting and humid areas presented.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

How old is the yellow foot you are getting?

 

[rwb]

How old is the yellow foot you are getting?

Not 100% sure on age but about 5 inches. Well started.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Not 100% sure on age but about 5 inches. Well started.

Fair enough, still got quite a bit of growing to do then
I think with these guys being a high humidity species, the humidity being around 80 in their enclosure is important to help prevent pyramiding, regardless of the soaks, especially one that’s still growing, I think once they’re older they can withstand lower humidities, though I guess 70-80 is still preferred
Do wait for Yvonne to reply to though, and other more experienced members to chime in, they may advise differently.
Be great to see photos of your new friend when you get them!

 

[Yvonne G]

My YF babies live in an enclosed habitat until they're big enough to go outside. Then they have an overgrown, tall grassy area with bushes and trees in the outside portion with overhead sprinkler-type drippers, and a humid area in the inside portion.

 

[rwb]

Fair enough, still got quite a bit of growing to do then
I think with these guys being a high humidity species, the humidity being around 80 in their enclosure is important to help prevent pyramiding, regardless of the soaks, especially one that’s still growing, I think once they’re older they can withstand lower humidities, though I guess 70-80 is still preferred
Do wait for Yvonne to reply to though, and other more experienced members to chime in, they may advise differently.
Be great to see photos of your new friend when you get them!

Absolutely will post many pictures very soon. Appreciate the input!

 

[rwb]

My YF babies live in an enclosed habitat until they're big enough to go outside. Then they have an overgrown, tall grassy area with bushes and trees in the outside portion with overhead sprinkler-type drippers, and a humid area in the inside portion.

This is for the heads up. I think I will plant a couple hibiscus and some extra foliage and rig up my misting system outside. Inside I will enclose the area that the YF is going into. Thank you for the insight.

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

Hello everyone. I am new here! I have kept a sulcata for about 6 years. I am getting an amazon basin Yellow foot tomorrow and I think I made a bit of an impulse buy without thinking all the way through. So I need to hurry up an rectify the situation. My Sulcata does not require such high humidity. I soak it a few times a week and offer humid areas. He often digs into the ground where it's humid or resides in a mud pit.
So my problem is obviously providing more humidity for one (and shade). I live in Illinois where the humidity is far lower than a Peruvian rainforest. My main question is if my new yellowfoot will thrive if soaked often or will i have to build a new enclosure that will hold 60-80% humidity for it to be healthy. Anyone else keeping these in lower humidity areas? This is an amazon basin locale also so it's going to get pretty large. It'll be inside for the winter and outside weather permitting during the summer.

Hello!
Yellowfoots are primarily found in the dense rainforest, not on the forest edges and savannah like redfoots. So they need fairly constant high temperatures day/night (in middle 80ties), lots of shade (they are shy species) and very high humidity. Soaking along as mentioned above is not enough.

The trouble is, perhaps, that without direct sun it will be too cold and direct sun is not what they like and environment will be too dry.

You may opt to build him a large greenhouse/polytunnel outside to extend the time he can be outside and keep humidity high. Using UV-open (UV transparent) plastics for building a greenhouse maybe a good choice to to provide him natural UVB.

I keep a redfoot in an unsuitable climate (moderately cold winters, extremely hot summers and low humidity of 40-50% all year round). As much time as I can I keep her in the "closed chamber" inside (nights, day heat peaks). Still learning how to manage humidity, though. This summer I plan to move her in the deep shaded area, partially covered and augmented with mister/sprinkler. Depending on results I might resort to a large insulated HDPE shed with a small outside pen.

 

[rwb]

Hello!
Yellowfoots are primarily found in the dense rainforest, not on the forest edges and savannah like redfoots. So they need fairly constant high temperatures day/night (in middle 80ties), lots of shade (they are shy species) and very high humidity. Soaking along as mentioned above is not enough.

The trouble is, perhaps, that without direct sun it will be too cold and direct sun is not what they like and environment will be too dry.

You may opt to build him a large greenhouse/polytunnel outside to extend the time he can be outside and keep humidity high. Using UV-open (UV transparent) plastics for building a greenhouse maybe a good choice to to provide him natural UVB.

I keep a redfoot in an unsuitable climate (moderately cold winters, extremely hot summers and low humidity of 40-50% all year round). As much time as I can I keep her in the "closed chamber" inside (nights, day heat peaks). Still learning how to manage humidity, though. This summer I plan to move her in the deep shaded area, partially covered and augmented with mister/sprinkler. Depending on results I might resort to a large insulated HDPE shed with a small outside pen.

I like your ideas. I think for now I will lay a grow tent on its side with a liner and wood frame so the animal doesn't dig through. They can be vented and hold whatever humidity and heat you need. For outside I'm still not entirely sure. I can rig up a misting system easily and I do enjoy hibiscus so I will likely plant some of those for shade in my small enclosed area(while it's still tiny). It arrived right before I left for work so I took a quick picture. I love it so much. Not at all skittish.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

I like your ideas. I think for now I will lay a grow tent on its side with a liner and wood frame so the animal doesn't dig through. They can be vented and hold whatever humidity and heat you need. For outside I'm still not entirely sure. I can rig up a misting system easily and I do enjoy hibiscus so I will likely plant some of those for shade in my small enclosed area(while it's still tiny). It arrived right before I left for work so I took a quick picture. I love it so much. Not at all skittish.

Yellow foots have such stunning colour!! Beautiful tort

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

I like your ideas. I think for now I will lay a grow tent on its side with a liner and wood frame so the animal doesn't dig through. They can be vented and hold whatever humidity and heat you need. For outside I'm still not entirely sure. I can rig up a misting system easily and I do enjoy hibiscus so I will likely plant some of those for shade in my small enclosed area(while it's still tiny). It arrived right before I left for work so I took a quick picture. I love it so much. Not at all skittish.

What a cute little guy!

As of now I would not put him outside. Maybe little by a little from the next season. For the indoors enclosures you can also check out hydroponic grow tents (made of Mylar).