Tom- these are my thoughts, for what they are worth.
1.) You say that even with all this you are only getting 50% humidity generally and 70% in the enclosed habitats. Since most homes are 30-50% relative humidity to start with, I would suggest that this would be evidence that your 'over-the-top' approach IS INDEED 'balancing'. Your natural temps and humidity need heroic efforts to provide what might be considered to be a reasonable ambient humidity.
2.) The side effects I would watch for in your set-up would be in the actual scute development, as Andy suggested (thin, weak scutes). In other settings, where the method you describe would result in much higher humidity levels, I would be concerned about environmental shell rot, mold and mildew formation, lung/respiratory issues, etc.- but these would be because of the high ambient humidity for tortoise species unused to it.
3.) Over-hydration would be 'water intoxication', which can be fatal in some circumstances. Not that this will happen to the tortoises in your situation, just pointing out that there are consequences to too much of something just as there are consequences to too little.
4.) I am still wondering about Andy's concerns about bone density. He can be annoying sometimes, but the guy usually knows what he is talking about. If torts are not pyramided, but still have spongy bones, I would still say they have a form of MBD.
1.) You say that even with all this you are only getting 50% humidity generally and 70% in the enclosed habitats. Since most homes are 30-50% relative humidity to start with, I would suggest that this would be evidence that your 'over-the-top' approach IS INDEED 'balancing'. Your natural temps and humidity need heroic efforts to provide what might be considered to be a reasonable ambient humidity.
2.) The side effects I would watch for in your set-up would be in the actual scute development, as Andy suggested (thin, weak scutes). In other settings, where the method you describe would result in much higher humidity levels, I would be concerned about environmental shell rot, mold and mildew formation, lung/respiratory issues, etc.- but these would be because of the high ambient humidity for tortoise species unused to it.
3.) Over-hydration would be 'water intoxication', which can be fatal in some circumstances. Not that this will happen to the tortoises in your situation, just pointing out that there are consequences to too much of something just as there are consequences to too little.
4.) I am still wondering about Andy's concerns about bone density. He can be annoying sometimes, but the guy usually knows what he is talking about. If torts are not pyramided, but still have spongy bones, I would still say they have a form of MBD.