Humidity at night

[MeImNot]

Hi Guys,

what are your views on humidity for Hermanns, especially at night while asleep. I'm misting the soil where mine sleeps and found it to be 80% humidity with a temp of 24C....am I overdoing it with the misting? I sometimes see a watery eye in the morning and wanted to make sure there's no dust while she's asleep.

[paulus]

I always wet one of the house areas down quite well then just spray the other lightly and let the torts decided where they want to go. I believe from what I've read that humidity is important in the early stages of development to help with keeping smooth shells but the tortoise must have somewhere it can go that is dry. I also lightly spray the soil at night after they have bedded down to stop it getting too dry throughout the day! Never really measured the humidity in the sleeping bit so can't really help there !

[Shelled Lady]

I think their sleeping temps are too high. It should be just room temperature over night. As long as you spray the soil twice a day and the area where your tortoise sleeps, it should be OK.

[Shellystells]

Just from wot ive learnt here, u mustn't get th soil too damp however as this could case shell rot just a light spritz will do fine and I wud say bedtime temps a little lower than that xx

[MeImNot]

Thanks for yr experiences, they are as always much appreciated. I'll try what Paul is doing and let her decide. The temp is a little high but I'm in Malta...and its hot here The temp outside will go down to around 18C and since she had 2 bouts of RI this year I'm still getting her inside for the night and going for higher rather then lower temps (I may be wrong so feel free to fry me on this

Also, since I live in the Mediterranean I'll be measuring the actual humidity at night on a patch of soil I have outside...it might give me some insight of their natural conditions. Yesterday it was 85% humidity.

[paulus]

Tonight all my hatchlings have decided they want a night out and not dug down in any of the normall spots so I guess they do choose where they fancy and not just the same spot damp dry or otherwise

[Easter Bunny]

I have Hermanns and I never spray their enclosure at night, they sleep in dry soil. I've never measured the humidity at all. My night temps are usually between 16c and 19c

I spray their enclosure during the day very, very occasionally. All growing nicely too x

[Ozric Jonathan]

I think it sounds fine to mist the area at bedtime. Given your high temperatures there is no chance of chilling the tortoise. During the daytime your tortoise is most likely in arid hot conditions. Personally I don't think that 85% humidity at night is too high given your temp.

24C at night seems high to us because we are in the UK.

Is there hours of warm sunshine every day in Malta this time of year?

[MeImNot]

I think that misting her sleeping area has done good for her eyes, I've also put only soil (not soil/sand mix) which may have helped too...I'm trying to find some space to create another sleeping area for her (with more/less humidity) but her table is full of stones and she really doesnt like me changing their positions

Soil needs to be misted a little over here, or its dusty in 1 day...today its around 29C in the shade so you can imagine. In Malta it gets hot around May till October...and yes it is HOT everyday. I think I'll start letting her sleep outside from next week

[Ozric Jonathan]

If you have a safe place, sleeping outside would be better. Apart from other reasons, it's usually more humid outside at night than it is indoors.