Humidity in relationship to older of sulcata tortoises

Bee62

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Good evening tortoise friends,

I have a humidity question.
I keep my sulcata babies in high temps and high humidity and they grow fine.
But when they grow to big for their closed enclosure and I have to build them a tortoise table or something else, how can I keep the humidity high ? A tortoise table I can not cover.
And up to which older they need such a high humidity ?
To soak them every day is no problem, but im worried about the humidity.

DSCN0079.JPG Thank you for answering and sharing your experience with me.

Sabine
 

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Tom

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Move to South Florida… :p

I've been struggling with this for years. I live in a very dry climate and once I move my tortoises outside full time, the growth slows way down and gets ugly. I've found some relief by humidifying their night boxes, but its super dry outside most of the year.

When your tortoise outgrow their enclosure, they are going to need an entire room to themselves. You can then heat and humidify that whole room.
 

Maro2Bear

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In the room where have our Sully for the winter, we keep a room-size humidifier and a water fountain going during daytime hours. The room is nice and toasry from the portable heater, coupled withe radiant heat panel in our Sully's night box. On most days, especially sunny warm days, it's like a tropical rain forest in sully's room. We also have our lemon, lime and other plants in this room, so we all benefit. Soon, time to think about Florida!
 

Big Charlie

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I live in a very dry climate. I don't provide any additional humidity. I didn't know he needed humidity until last year when I joined the forum. For the first 17 years of his life, other than soaks, he didn't have a humid environment, and yet he has a fairly smooth shell. I don't have room for a radiator in his night box. I think Charlie gets the humidity he needs by grazing on wet grass and sitting in a muddy area he has dug down to sit when it is hot. When he had a burrow, I think he got humidity from that. He always emerged with mud on his back.
 

Bee62

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Tom said
Move to South Florida… :p

I've been struggling with this for years. I live in a very dry climate and once I move my tortoises outside full time, the growth slows way down and gets ugly. I've found some relief by humidifying their night boxes, but its super dry outside most of the year.

When your tortoise outgrow their enclosure, they are going to need an entire room to themselves. You can then heat and humidify that whole room.

Hello Tom,

thank you for your answer.
Yes, I know : "It never rains in Southern California" ....:D.... makes a very dry climate.:D
But moving to South Florida is no possibility for me. The climate that will be good for my torts would kill me ! To hot, to humid !:)
But being serious: Heating and humifying the whole room for the torts is the only possibility I have in the future.
O.K.:tort:
 

Bee62

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Maro2Bear said
[QUOTEIn the room where have our Sully for the winter, we keep a room-size humidifier and a water fountain going during daytime hours. The room is nice and toasry from the portable heater, coupled withe radiant heat panel in our Sully's night box. On most days, especially sunny warm days, it's like a tropical rain forest in sully's room. We also have our lemon, lime and other plants in this room, so we all benefit. Soon, time to think about Florida!][/QUOTE]

Thank you for your answer. A tropical rain forest is a good thing for sullys, but are you not afraid of mold in this room ?
And no, I better not think to move to South Florida. The climate there would really kill me !
Im a northern "child", born and grown up in a mostly cold climate.... Good, (c )old Germany...:)
 

Bee62

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Big Charlie said
I live in a very dry climate. I don't provide any additional humidity. I didn't know he needed humidity until last year when I joined the forum. For the first 17 years of his life, other than soaks, he didn't have a humid environment, and yet he has a fairly smooth shell. I don't have room for a radiator in his night box. I think Charlie gets the humidity he needs by grazing on wet grass and sitting in a muddy area he has dug down to sit when it is hot. When he had a burrow, I think he got humidity from that. He always emerged with mud on his back.

Thank you for your answer too.
Yes I see that Charlie has a smooth shell.
He looks really good.
I wonder how wild living sulcatas managed it, that they get enough humidity.
I think their only chance is to have humid burrows when it is very dry and hot outside.
Having a good humid burrow mayby could be the "key" of wild sulcatas for their smooth growing shell.
Having always mud on his back might be a instinct action of Charly.
 

Tom

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I wonder how wild living sulcatas managed it, that they get enough humidity.
I think their only chance is to have humid burrows when it is very dry and hot outside.
Having a good humid burrow mayby could be the "key" of wild sulcatas for their smooth growing shell.
Having always mud on his back might be a instinct action of Charly.

Two things:
1. Wild sulcatas live 95% of their lives in their humid burrows.
2. I recently learned that the "dry" season isn't the king of "dry" we have here. In a conversation about Indian stars we were informed that in the "dry season" humidity is only 60-80%. In the monsoon season, the "wet season" so to speak, humidity jumps up to 80-100%. Of course its hot during both the dry and the wet seasons over there. I recently read something similar for the chameleons of Madagascar. Their "dry" is different than our "dry".
 

Bee62

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@Tom

Thank`s for your explanations.
It is a pity that so little is known about the sulcata tortoises living wild. I often search on the I-Net about their life but I have found very little about.
 

Markw84

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Two things:
1. Wild sulcatas live 95% of their lives in their humid burrows.
2. I recently learned that the "dry" season isn't the king of "dry" we have here. In a conversation about Indian stars we were informed that in the "dry season" humidity is only 60-80%. In the monsoon season, the "wet season" so to speak, humidity jumps up to 80-100%. Of course its hot during both the dry and the wet seasons over there. I recently read something similar for the chameleons of Madagascar. Their "dry" is different than our "dry".
Yes. The " dry" season is simply the season with much less rain. The "wet" season is the rainy, monsoon season. It is humid in both! Wet or dry refers to rainfall not humidity.
 
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