Humidity?

[Lawson1000]

Hello

This is my first time posting, I got a tortoise back in December and ever since I've always struggled to get the humidity up in his table it's sitting at about 30% I wet the bedding everyday with a small watering can. The bedding is coir. Hope you guys can help!

Lawson

[Suze65]

Hi and welcome, firstly what sort of tortoise have you got, and are you keeping it in an open top table or a viv? For Meditterranean tortoises you only really need to keep a humid hide and that only needs to be about 65-70% which easy to achieve under a hide, the rest of the table really doesn't matter, just keep the substrate moist ( not wet) and don't let it dry out. Obviously if your tort is a tropical species it will need more humidity, but I personally can't help you with that. I will leave that to keepers of tropical species.

Is your tort still quite small, because they do like to bury themselves , and this creates and humid micro climate, so keep the substrate deep enough for your tort to bury it's self.

[Suze65]

Coco coir is perfect for the whole table and the hide, you don't need anything else. You can mix this with top soil if you want , but you don't need to. You can add things like pebbles and slate, for interest and environment enrichment .

[Lawson1000]

It's a marinated tortoise and yes he's still pretty small and he's in a table I have included a few pebbles in there and I think maybe I should put some other things in there to keep him interested. So this may be a stupid question but what's a humid hide ? I do have a hide which he uses all the time. The coir seems to work well the only thing is I moisten it in the morning but I'm not always there in the day to keep it moist but I suppose there isn't much I can do about that

[Ozric Jonathan]

I mostly agree with Suze! Having much of an impact on the humidity of the air above an open table is basically impossible unless you plan to change the humidity in the entire room.

Enclosed things are another matter (the water can't escape) but I wouldn't recommend it.

As Suze said, none of this applies with tropical species, which I know nothing about.

If you put a plastic container covering part of the coir the humidity under there will be increased especially if the coir is not dry.

One point where I differ a bit from Suze is about the watering. What I do (indoors) is to use quite a bit of water but only every few days. What happens is that the top dries out quickly but further down your coir stays dampish which is what you want for a hide with more humidity.

[CherryBrandy]

Lawson , Welcome ! please do share about your tortoise/s and what they are .

Try spraying - watering can is ok I am sure but spray should make an immediate difference. Good quality small garden centre sprayer for misting plants or B&Q. I put warm water in every day and spray soil and torts - they seem to love it. You should see the humidity creep up actually while you are spraying - bit like a Turkish bath! I spray till I get to 65% and let it dry out throughout the day and do a 2nd in evening (sometimes). CB

[Suze65]

Originally Posted by Ozric Jonathan

I mostly agree with Suze! Having much of an impact on the humidity of the air above an open table is basically impossible unless you plan to change the humidity in the entire room.

Enclosed things are another matter (the water can't escape) but I wouldn't recommend it.

As Suze said, none of this applies with tropical species, which I know nothing about.

If you put a plastic container covering part of the coir the humidity under there will be increased especially if the coir is not dry.

One point where I differ a bit from Suze is about the watering. What I do (indoors) is to use quite a bit of water but only every few days. What happens is that the top dries out quickly but further down your coir stays dampish which is what you want for a hide with more humidity.

I agree Jonathan , drying out on the top is fine. Dampish further down is good, for when they dig down and bury themselves, and under the hide.

[Splinter]

Humid hides are not much use if they like to sleep out in the open like mine though.

[Suze65]

Originally Posted by Splinter

Humid hides are not much use if they like to sleep out in the open like mine though.

True, but if you keep the substrate damp and they bury themselves, they will create a humid micro climate . All of mine use their hides, occasionally one of them might not go in the hide and fall asleep where they are !

[JerryMaffz]

Originally Posted by Splinter

Humid hides are not much use if they like to sleep out in the open like mine though.

..but it is important to give them the option..Some parts of my Jerry's table are left arid but he does have one of those resin cave type things that I keep slightly damp..He often sleeps there. I guess it's all about giving them choices.