Substrate ideas and humidity help

I picked up my little one year old tort (Berty) on the weekend the shop seem to of have me some naff advise on substrate, Iv currently got play sand mixed with top soil.. He also told me it wouldn't need spraying with water and just to change it every 3 weeks and spot clean, after reading some really helpful threads it seems I am doing things wrong.

I'm looking at ordering some coco coir, which I will hand pack down and spray to dampen once a day? Correct me if I am wrong.. To get the correct humidity.

My set up had a UVB tube the length of the set up and a basking lamp in one corner which keeps the temp at around 32degrees, these are kept on 12 hours through the day and turned off at night.

Also after reading some posts on here I am going to get a thermo plug and CHE for night times so if the temp drops belowlow 70f (I'm reading) it turns on to keep the encloser warm.

With both of these and trying to get my humidity level right am I ok to just spray and moisten substrate once a day? Or would I have to do it fairly often.. I spray all the substrate even in Bertys cave he likes to chill in.

Any help would be great thanks

What are you using to measure humidity? How old is Berty? Depending on Berty's age, humidity requirements vary.

Get the coco coir, but you shouldn't need to pay down and dampen daily. Your enclosure won't hold humidity well because it's an open top. I used plexiglass to cover my top and the other half was covered by a heavy towel. I would spray or pour water over the coco coir, primarily on the hotter side, and mix it around. You don't want it to be wet. It usually lasted me a few days, with the occasional spraying the substrate. I would determine if I needed to spray the substrate or if water needed to be added by how humid it felt in the tank, and if it looked even remotely dry.

Get your enclosure covered, then get a thermostat to connect your heat lamps. The thermostat will turn off when it reaches the desired temperature in the area.

Your Russian tortoise looks to have the start of pyramid shell. What's the diet like? How often are you soaking?

Welcome to the forum! I'm glad you're educating yourself on the forum.

Yelloweyed said:

What are you using to measure humidity? How old is Berty? Depending on Berty's age, humidity requirements vary.

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Hi I have a humidity reader, Berty I was told but the shop is about a year old

Thanks

Blake m said:

Get the coco coir, but you shouldn't need to pay down and dampen daily. Your enclosure won't hold humidity well because it's an open top. I used plexiglass to cover my top and the other half was covered by a heavy towel. I would spray or pour water over the coco coir, primarily on the hotter side, and mix it around. You don't want it to be wet. It usually lasted me a few days, with the occasional spraying the substrate. I would determine if I needed to spray the substrate or if water needed to be added by how humid it felt in the tank, and if it looked even remotely dry.

Get your enclosure covered, then get a thermostat to connect your heat lamps. The thermostat will turn off when it reaches the desired temperature in the area.

Your Russian tortoise looks to have the start of pyramid shell. What's the diet like? How often are you soaking?

Welcome to the forum! I'm glad you're educating yourself on the forum.

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I've order the coco coir and will get something to cover the enclosure, the diet is mainly grass and different weeds, the occasional treat but he doesn't seem to eat much of his treat, it only had him 2-3 weeks and I'm not too sure what the shop diet was, looked to be weed and carrots when I picked him up, I soak him 1 maybe 2 times a week, I think he soaks himself in his water bowl then basks under his heat lamp in the day as iv often come home to substrate in his water bowl and him chilling under his lamp

Thank you

Looks like you are on the right track now Ben. A few suggestions:
1. Temp directly under the basking bulb should be closer to 36.
2. Russians don't need night heat unless you live in a refrigerator. Save your money.
3. Those florescent tubes are safe, but you have to mount them at the right height for them to be effective. What type do you have, and does your tortoise ever get outside for sunshine?
4. You need a better water bowl. Terra cotta plant saucers sunk into the substrate work best and are safer.
5. Weeds are great, but russians are really grass eaters. More weeds leaves and possibly some succulents. Occasional flowers of the right type too.
6. That open top and accompanying low humidity is part of the cause of your pyramiding.

Your tort's diet should be a variety leafy greens. It cannot digest sugars properly, they can make him sick, so fruit, including bell peppers and tomato, and carrot should only be fed very occasionally and in very small quantities. You don't need to achieve variety across a day. Some weeds are seasinal, so go with the flow with those. When you biy greens just huy something different each time.

You can look up plants that grow around you, and ones thatnyou can buy in the shops, in the Tortoise Table Plant Database for suitability to feed http://thetortoisetable.org.uk/site/plant_database_14.asp?v=desktop

The Tortoise Table's Plant Booklet is handy for identification http://thetortoisetable.org.uk/site/plant_database_14.asp?v=desktop

Tom said:

Looks like you are on the right track now Ben. A few suggestions:
1. Temp directly under the basking bulb should be closer to 36.
2. Russians don't need night heat unless you live in a refrigerator. Save your money.
3. Those florescent tubes are safe, but you have to mount them at the right height for them to be effective. What type do you have, and does your tortoise ever get outside for sunshine?
4. You need a better water bowl. Terra cotta plant saucers sunk into the substrate work best and are safer.
5. Weeds are great, but russians are really grass eaters. More weeds leaves and possibly some succulents. Occasional flowers of the right type too.
6. That open top and accompanying low humidity is part of the cause of your pyramiding.

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The temp under the basking lamp is about 32, the tube is a repti glo 10.0 20w 60cm uvb, yeah he goes outside when it's sunny a couple of times a week maybe more, a lot of people have said the terracotta plant saucer I will get one asap, okey will look up more for his diet, and the humidity reads around 56-62 come times abit higher.. That's without any cover on it..?? Is pyramiding a bad sign?

Thanks for the advice

JoesMum said:

Your tort's diet should be a variety leafy greens. It cannot digest sugars properly, they can make him sick, so fruit, including bell peppers and tomato, and carrot should only be fed very occasionally and in very small quantities. You don't need to achieve variety across a day. Some weeds are seasinal, so go with the flow with those. When you biy greens just huy something different each time.

You can look up plants that grow around you, and ones thatnyou can buy in the shops, in the Tortoise Table Plant Database for suitability to feed http://thetortoisetable.org.uk/site/plant_database_14.asp?v=desktop

The Tortoise Table's Plant Booklet is handy for identification http://thetortoisetable.org.uk/site/plant_database_14.asp?v=desktop

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Thank you for the links, iv order a pack of 60 different types of seeds from she'll warriors to plant, I will also study the links and see what I can find in the garden

Thanks

I'd swap the substrate with coir, or compost and coir, or compost and orchid bark...Or anything other than sand.
Sand will cause issues if enough gets eaten by accident. (And it will not hold humidity)
Even garden soil (not top soil) has far less sand in it and is what I use.
I think that plexiglass is called Perplex or something like that outside of America and it is the cheapest, easiest way to raise humidity.
Welcome and best of luck!

Ben mccabe said:

The temp under the basking lamp is about 32, the tube is a repti glo 10.0 20w 60cm uvb, yeah he goes outside when it's sunny a couple of times a week maybe more, a lot of people have said the terracotta plant saucer I will get one asap, okey will look up more for his diet, and the humidity reads around 56-62 come times abit higher.. That's without any cover on it..?? Is pyramiding a bad sign?

Thanks for the advice

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1. You can raise the basking temp by lowering your fixture a little bit, or by getting a higher wattage basking bulb. 32 is just a little too cool for a basking temp.
2. Your UV tube is fine, but it needs to be mounted within about 25-35 cm from the tortoise. Any higher and he's not getting UV benefit from it.
3. Sunshine twice a week or more is great!
4. How are you reading your humidity. Unless your house is like a swamp in summer, I seriously doubt your humidity is that high in your enclosure. Those round stick on dial type hygrometer are notoriously inaccurate and unreliable.
5. Pyramiding is a bad sign. Its a sign that your tortoise is being grown in an environment that is consistently too dry.