Humidity

[karleyreed]

How do you guys keep your tort enclosure humid? Is there any specific things you are putting in to maintain this? ATM I am spraying my enclosure a few times a day but unsure as to the humidity level as I'm waiting on a thermometer to be delivered.

 

[Tortus]

Substrate: 50/50 coconut coir and peat moss.

Keep moist.

Humidity lately has been around 60% with the lights on, 80% with the lights off. It depends on how moist I keep the substrate.

I've found that spraying is a waste of time. You're only coating the surface and it evaporates quickly. You need to saturate the substrate. Not to the point where it's a swamp, but just keep it evenly moist. I also have a heat pad under mine with a hydrofarm thermostat set at 85 degrees which helps the water evaporate.

 

[StudentoftheReptile]

Heat ropes under the substrate to keep it warm and humid. A substrate predominate with coconut coir. Closed-in enclosure (not open top!)
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Spraying down everything in an open top enclosure is futile for maintaining humidity. Think about it...if you want to raise the humidity in a room in your house, do you start watering the walls? No...you install a humidifier. Some keepers do this for their tortoises. But still...of the enclosure is not set-up right, all the humid air will escape.

 

[karleyreed]

It's a closed top enclosure. Do you think putting moss in will help?

 

[wellington]

I only ever use coir. Pour some water on it. It usually will sink to the bottom and dampen the bottom of the coir. Moss will mold. Coir won't. You can use both, np don't need to.

 

[karleyreed]

What is coir and where can I find it? Is it a plant lol? I sound so dumb haha

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What's coir and where cAn I find it? Is it a plant? Lol. I sound so dumb.

 

[StudentoftheReptile]

It is the exact same stuff often sold in pet stores as Plantation Soil (Exo-Terra), Bed-a-Beast, Eco-Earth, etc. It is just ground-up, shredded coconut husks.

 

[Tortus]

As of now I have peat moss and the more intact sphagnum moss with the coir and there is no mold at all. These are used in terrariums (which are very wet usually), so I don't worry about mold. My house is very humid from aquariums and things mold easily, but none has sprang up here. I first learned of this substrate combination on a poison dart frog forum. I never got darts though...didn't feel like breeding fruit flies.

The tort also likes to eat the sphagnum and I need to put a new layer down.

 

[karleyreed]

Is this the stuff you mean?? Where do you put it in you enclosure? Do you just use a little bit of use it as a substrate to cover the enclosure? The substrate I'm using is tortoise life ATM.

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Eco earth

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Or would this forest moss be any good??

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Also, which end do you keep moist? Cold or warm?

 

[GBtortoises]

A more ideal combination would be about 60-70% soil based substrate (organic top or potting soil) with the rest being coconut coir. This combination is very easy to keep moist without having to be wet and is solid enough to provide good footing for muscle development. Coconut coir alone is not firm enough. There is no need to heat the soil to produce moisture if it is sprayed twice daily and the ambient air humdity is within range for your species.

 

[Tortus]

Is this the stuff you mean?? Where do you put it in you enclosure? Do you just use a little bit of use it as a substrate to cover the enclosure? The substrate I'm using is tortoise life ATM.

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Eco earth

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Or would this forest moss be any good??

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Also, which end do you keep moist? Cold or warm?

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That is coconut fiber which is more coarse. It's not ground as fine as coconut coir. I believe that forest moss is sphagnum, and that's what I put on top. The tort likes to hide in it like it would grass in the wild and sometimes munch a little. But you can get a 500 gram brick of it relatively cheap. Just google 500 grams New Zealand sphagnum. I paid around $25 for mine and it's a lot. The main substrate underneath is coir and peat moss though. Peat moss looks just like regular potting soil. It's just decomposed sphagnum. It doesn't have any "dirt" or sand in it. I did add some sand I had just to get rid of it but I won't next time.

Personally, I keep the whole thing moist. But I mainly dump water on the areas where the heat pad and lights are so it will evaporate more quickly. Then just sprinkle the rest of the area with water. The tort is thriving and growing like a weed, so I'm not changing my routine any time soon.

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Also, if you decide to add potting soil to the substrate rather than peat, make sure it's organic. Many commercial potting soils have fertilizer, perilte, and vermiculite. It will look like little white balls. Vermiculite is used for aeration of the soil. Tort doesn't need that.

Can't be good.

 

[LongislandPhan]

I've really enjoyed using Coconut Coir in brick form for my Redfoot's table but recently i've also added Cyprus Mulch just to give the floor some more depth. The mulch gets in his eyes sometimes and he tried to eat it initially but the mix has helped out alot with keeping humidity especially since i'm from the northeast US and its getting cold this time of year.

 

[karleyreed]

Yeah I live in northeast England and its very cold here in winter. Can any of you upload some Piks of that part of your tort enclosure? Just to give me more of an idea. Thanks.

 

[Tortus]

I have pics of mine on the leopard forum in my "month old leopard hatchling" thread. I didn't design it to be pretty, just functional during its first year of life. From all I've heard this time is crucial for development.

When it gets bigger I'll build a nice tortoise table. But as of now it's in a 39" x 20" under bed storage container.

 

[karleyreed]

I'm sticking to using tortoise life substrate as he has been coping well with this, but need to make a humid patch within the enclosure, these are the only two coir products I have came across, can any1 give me some opinions?

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?????

 

[marcy4hope]

i also use the coco coir, but i have a humidifier hooked to my set up while my sulcata is a baby. i'm getting ready to move him to a bigger enclosure, but will still use this same humidifier set up. it helps keep his enclosure heated up nicely.