How to keep humidity up

[Emilyjayne2012]

I know one of the issues with having torts in tables is keeping the humidity up, but could someone please give me some ideas of what I can do to keep up the humidity in my table as its never high enough and Sheldon and Heidi's skin seems to get quite dry. I have a large water dish in their table and I spray the substrate every evening but by lunchtime the next day it's dry again and like I say he humidity is really low. What can I do to keep it more stable?

[TillyTortoise]

Spraying doesn't really do much. You need to get the watering can out and give the soil a good soak. (I suggest sealing your table though if it isn't already).

[Emilyjayne2012]

No its not sealed, how do I go about doing that?

[Suze65]

Hi Emily, I keep mine in a plastic tray, so no props, but I think you will have to varnish it and line it with a pond liner. The top soil does dry out very quickly, I spray 2 or3 times a day, but it doesn't make a lot of difference, then once or twice a week I give the soil a good soak and turn it all over ( mix ) so that it's moist, crumbly , not wet or soggy, you do have to work at keeping the soil moist enough.

[rocio]

I have a sheet of perspex completely covering my Leopards table. They are only in there while they sleep at night,under their hide and then for an hour or so in the morning then they go outside. The perspex lid does keep the humidity ( and heat) high though. I have holes cut for the lamps.

[Gordon]

Originally Posted by rocio

I have a sheet of perspex completely covering my Leopards table. They are only in there while they sleep at night,under their hide and then for an hour or so in the morning then they go outside. The perspex lid does keep the humidity ( and heat) high though. I have holes cut for the lamps.

Hmmm sounds more like a viv than a table

[Herpard]

If I'm honest since 2007 I've had nothing but trouble with getting their humidity right in tables and cages. It's always either too high or too low and always fluctuates depending on the humidity in my bedroom.

[Ozric Jonathan]

Humidity can be raised by having a shallow water dish but unless the volume of air is small the impact is limited even doing that. In my opinion watering the substrate indoors is fine and probably does have a slight temporary effect on the humidity above it until the substrate dries out but it doesn't solve the humidity problem indoors.

I've been able to increase the humidity level under plastic upturned containers like lunchboxes by watering the substrate and sitting the plastic container over it. Even with a large door cut for entry and exit, the humidity under there does stay a lot higher than in the open area. This means that typically the tortoise is getting higher humidity at night since they will mostly go into the box. I believe the night time humidity is very important and at least what is going on under the box is to some extent controllable.

The humidity in the 'open' in wild places will tend to be very low for the most part. Of course the wild tortoises don't spend a lot of time in the open when the sun is out.

[Lynnie Lou]

I use moss in my Leopards enclosure, every few days I take it out and totally submerge it in a bucket of water. Misting never seems to last too long.

[filardimarg2]

Like Ross (TillyTortoise) has already said, spraying does next to nothing, I use an indoor watering can, made to water plants, but i have taken the rose off it, i pour the water over at least half of the table inlcuding under the hide that they sleep in, i have puddles till it soaks in, but they have the option to go to the other end if they want to.

Marg.