Can your leopard tortoises cage be too wet?

[cesktw0]

Hello, I am concerned with keeping my leopard tortoises cage too moist. I understand that leopard tortoises need to have between 50-80% humidity which can be done by soaking and keeping their coco coir bedding damp, but how often? Spraying the turtle with a spray bottle but how often? Soaking in a shallow luke warm tub of water for 15-20 mins but how often. Can a tortoise get foot root from having moist substrate all the time, should I leave areas dry, or cover some areas with moss or some dry substrate? I feel like I really need these questions answered before I purchase my new tortoise.
Thank you!

 

[jtrux]

I was a little concerned with keeping mine too moist so I bought a humidifier, now the substrate stays pretty dry and the humidity stays around 75%-95% depending on the temp. He seems to be more active since i've increased the humidity. I also soak mine twice a day, once in the morning then a really long soak (hour) in the afternoon out in the sunshine then after the soak I let him hang out outside for a bit and just relax. His hide is always pretty moist and he hangs in there all night and several hours a day.

 

[TortoiseBoy1999]

I think as long as the temps are above 75°-80° he'll be fine Who are you getting your Leopard from? Post pictures when he/she arrives!

 

[jtrux]

Oh yea I forgot about temp. I keep mine around 110 in the hottest side and 85 in the coolest side. He never goes in the cool side. At night it's 80-90 depending and once again, he stays in the hot side. Oh and about the soaks, I feed right after each soak and he just goes nuts eating a ton. So in my experience soo far with mine my recommendation is high humidity (80%+), high temps, two soaks a day, and fresh food twice a day.

 

[Tom]

To answer your original question, yes, I suppose at some point it could become to wet. You'd have to go pretty far outside anything conventional to get to that point though. The more closed in your top is the easier it will be to maintain the humidity you seek. A closed chamber is best case scenario in my opinion. The substrate in my closed chambers is relatively dry and it takes little to no effort to maintain 80% humidity. It also takes a lot less electricity to heat the whole thing and maintain optimal temps.

For practical purposes, I would no worry too much about wet substrate. The key elements are daily soaks for hatchlings, a mostly covered top (or closed chamber) and a humid hid box to sleep and hang out in.

 

[jtrux]

No Tom its much more complicated than that, you see if I were to tell my girlfriend what you just said theres no way I can justify the several hours a day I spend "playing" with my tortoise so I have to keep telling her that the humidity has be be maintained at exactly 84% and getting up in the middle of the night to check temps is completely normal lol

 

[Neal]

Hello, I am concerned with keeping my leopard tortoises cage too moist. I understand that leopard tortoises need to have between 50-80% humidity which can be done by soaking and keeping their coco coir bedding damp, but how often? Spraying the turtle with a spray bottle but how often? Soaking in a shallow luke warm tub of water for 15-20 mins but how often. Can a tortoise get foot root from having moist substrate all the time, should I leave areas dry, or cover some areas with moss or some dry substrate? I feel like I really need these questions answered before I purchase my new tortoise.
Thank you!

How often you need to spray and dump water in your enclosure is going to be different for all of us. For me in the Desert southwest, the ambient humidity in my house is in the single digits almost year round, so I have to dump a bunch of water in there every other day or so to maintain high humidity...it's a lot of work, even with a closed chamber. The important thing is to keep the humidity in the range you want it no matter how often you have to spray or dump water in your enclosure.

For soaking, if it's a hatchling I usually soak daily until the tortoise is about 4 inches. Then it's every other day or every two days at the most.

My current set up, the only damp substrate I have is in my humid hide. I run a humidifier to keep the humidity high, but the substrate is kept dry.

 

[jtrux]

My current set up, the only damp substrate I have is in my humid hide. I run a humidifier to keep the humidity high, but the substrate is kept dry.

I've been doing the same recently and really like it, I never cared for having to soak the substrate.

 

[Tom]

No Tom its much more complicated than that, you see if I were to tell my girlfriend what you just said theres no way I can justify the several hours a day I spend "playing" with my tortoise so I have to keep telling her that the humidity has be be maintained at exactly 84% and getting up in the middle of the night to check temps is completely normal lol

Oh sorry... What was I thinking? Er.. uhhh, (cough, cough. Very serious tone now...), Yes. Its VERY difficult to maintain perfect conditions, and critical too. Things must be monitored, verified, and adjustments made almost constantly, round the clock...



Better?

 

[TortoiseBoy1999]

Oh sorry... What was I thinking? Er.. uhhh, (cough, cough. Very serious tone now...), Yes. Its VERY difficult to maintain perfect conditions, and critical too. Things must be monitored, verified, and adjustments made almost constantly, round the clock...

Better?

Haha, this made me laugh

 

[cesktw0]

I am going to try the closed system to keep the humidity up. Also when you say humidifier, you mean just have a humidifier in the room with the tortoise enclosure? I am getting him from woody's reptiles,I am not familiar with him as a seller be he has great looking tortoises, they are at a reasonable price, on his website he has a lot of pictures of his breeders and setups. He has replied promptly to all my questions, and sent me numerous pics so I could handpick out my new tortoise. I am going to make payment today and he will be shipped out Tuesday evening and arrive Wednesday at noon. Thanks for all the great replies and feedback! I will post pics this week of setup and my new tortoise.

 

[Neal]

The humidifier sits outside of the aquarium, and the outflow is connected with pipes that run into the aquarium. Reptifogger is basically the same thing and readily available, I just chose to do my own thing for a little less $.