how to keep my tortoise cage humid?

[CharlieS2020]

good morning guys i was wondering if you could help me out with humidity in my one year old Herman cage. ive read that you should have a closed area but there is one problem most of the top f my tortoise encloser in chicken wire. so i dont know how to keep humidity in the cage. im worried my encloser is to dry. please help me out all help in appreciated. Charlie

 

[wellington]

Build a proper enclosure. Cages dont work.
In the mean time you must cover the wire or you will never get humidity up. Try tinfoil.

 

[CharlieS2020]

Build a proper enclosure. Cages dont work.
In the mean time you must cover the wire or you will never get humidity up. Try tinfoil.

if i cover the cage with tin foil where do i put the heat lights?

 

[Tom]

With the right type of enclosure, all the heating and lighting is inside the enclosure. This is much more efficient, and much better for the tortoise.

 

[wellington]

if i cover the cage with tin foil where do i put the heat lights?

Any florescent light hang inside. Any heating elements or lights that gives off heat, cut a hole in the tin foil just big enough for the bulb/heat element to show thru.

 

[CharlieS2020]

Any florescent light hang inside. Any heating elements or lights that gives off heat, cut a hole in the tin foil just big enough for the bulb/heat element to show thru.

also the tin foil then may catch on fire. and my cage is not high enough to put the uvb light inside. also since tortosie can sometimes flip themselves over if there si tin foil on the top i wont be able to see charlie. ebcuse i cheak on her a lot to make sure she isetn fliped over. but with tin foil i wontt be able to see her. Charlie

 

[CharlieS2020]

With the right type of enclosure, all the heating and lighting is inside the enclosure. This is much more efficient, and much better for the tortoise.

my cage is around a foot high i think, i may have to doble cheak. so its not high enough to put all the lighting inside the encloser.

 

[Tom]

my cage is around a foot high i think, i may have to doble cheak. so its not high enough to put all the lighting inside the encloser.

Time for a new cage.

 

[wellington]

Tin foil would not catch fire. I used to use it to rum my holes of a plastic hatchling enclosure. It kept the plastic from melting.
However, you need to get a new enclosure. What you are using sounds all wrong for a tortoise enclosure.
Post pics of the enclosure and maybe we can give ideas of how to add onto it or whether it just needs to go.
Also post pic of the tortoise so we have an idea how big he is
Pet stores dont sell any type of tortoise enclosures that are any good for anything other then a hatchling quote maybe a year old.
A proper enclosure really needs to be built, bought from a person that makes them or if not an adult tort, then large plastic tort boxes can work for a short time.
Pop up portable green houses is another item that can be used

 

[CharlieS2020]

Tin foil would not catch fire. I used to use it to rum my holes of a plastic hatchling enclosure. It kept the plastic from melting.
However, you need to get a new enclosure. What you are using sounds all wrong for a tortoise enclosure.
Post pics of the enclosure and maybe we can give ideas of how to add onto it or whether it just needs to go.
Also post pic of the tortoise so we have an idea how big he is
Pet stores dont sell any type of tortoise enclosures that are any good for anything other then a hatchling quote maybe a year old.
A proper enclosure really needs to be built, bought from a person that makes them or if not an adult tort, then large plastic tort boxes can work for a short time.
Pop up portable green houses is another item that can be used

i dident buy mine from i pet store i biult it my self. here is a photo this is an old photo now there are also some rocks and plants.

 

[wellington]

i dident buy mine from i pet store i biult it my self. here is a photo this is an old photo now there are also some rocks and plants.View attachment 318594

Great then you can easily fix this. It does need to be bigger. Without enough room to walk they can't build up their muscle tone and soon will not be able to walk.
So add to the length and if it's not that tall then add the height and a lid.
As an adult it should be a minimum of a 4x8 foot. If this is only his winter home and he spends summers outside then it can be a little small but not too much.
You could cut a hole in the end that doesnt have the hide and attach another whole section cutting a hole to match and he would walk thru that whole to get into the other half. You could make the new section the higher section to fit lights etc and with a top to hold humidity and the section you have now as a cooler end. Herman's russians and a few others can have a cooler end with no heat for night time. Just put a light over the cooler section.

 

[wellington]

Nice job on the enclosure just not big enough.

 

[CharlieS2020]

Great then you can easily fix this. It does need to be bigger. Without enough room to walk they can't build up their muscle tone and soon will not be able to walk.
So add to the length and if it's not that tall then add the height and a lid.
As an adult it should be a minimum of a 4x8 foot. If this is only his winter home and he spends summers outside then it can be a little small but not too much.
You could cut a hole in the end that doesnt have the hide and attach another whole section cutting a hole to match and he would walk thru that whole to get into the other half. You could make the new section the higher section to fit lights etc and with a top to hold humidity and the section you have now as a cooler end. Herman's russians and a few others can have a cooler end with no heat for night time. Just put a light over the cooler section.

Charlie stays in this year round though in the summer i let her out in a cage to get soem nice sun light. i plan to make charlie a bigger cage in like a year or two. considering charlie is only around 1 year old. i dont want to give charlie to big of a cage becuse like i said she is only one.

 

[CharlieS2020]

Great then you can easily fix this. It does need to be bigger. Without enough room to walk they can't build up their muscle tone and soon will not be able to walk.
So add to the length and if it's not that tall then add the height and a lid.
As an adult it should be a minimum of a 4x8 foot. If this is only his winter home and he spends summers outside then it can be a little small but not too much.
You could cut a hole in the end that doesnt have the hide and attach another whole section cutting a hole to match and he would walk thru that whole to get into the other half. You could make the new section the higher section to fit lights etc and with a top to hold humidity and the section you have now as a cooler end. Herman's russians and a few others can have a cooler end with no heat for night time. Just put a light over the cooler section.

and thanks for the suggestions.

 

[EchoFrost]

Nice work on the enclosure! I think in a lot of situations building one yourself is definitely the way to go, and your craftmanship seems pretty solid! Like others have mentioned it could probably use a little more space, especially since your little guy will continue to grow over the next couple years. And I don't know about you, but my Hermann's is super active and loves all the space he can get to run around and climb.

For humidity I definitely recommend buying some sort of hygrometer. You can find all sorts of options for pretty cheap on Amazon and it will help you monitor your humidity a little more closely. I have an open top enclosure too and I've had pretty good luck just misting down his substrate every day with a little spray bottle. I haven't seen my enclosure's humidity drop below 50-60% yet. I also have a little humid hide made out of a plastic dish bin that I keep very humid for him as a place to rest. I would recommend trying something like this out.

 

[wellington]

I see, if he is'only 1 then a full size 4x8 is a bit big for now.
So you could extend this enclosure by adding some height to it so you can hang all lights and heat inside and then put a top on it. You could also make a smaller hide so he has more roaming space.

 

[CharlieS2020]

Nice work on the enclosure! I think in a lot of situations building one yourself is definitely the way to go, and your craftmanship seems pretty solid! Like others have mentioned it could probably use a little more space, especially since your little guy will continue to grow over the next couple years. And I don't know about you, but my Hermann's is super active and loves all the space he can get to run around and climb.

For humidity I definitely recommend buying some sort of hygrometer. You can find all sorts of options for pretty cheap on Amazon and it will help you monitor your humidity a little more closely. I have an open top enclosure too and I've had pretty good luck just misting down his substrate every day with a little spray bottle. I haven't seen my enclosure's humidity drop below 50-60% yet. I also have a little humid hide made out of a plastic dish bin that I keep very humid for him as a place to rest. I would recommend trying something like this out.

thank you soooooo much i really aprishiate this advice. i will defenetly take your suggestions. do you think the cage is big enough for now? Charlie

 

[CharlieS2020]

I see, if he is'only 1 then a full size 4x8 is a bit big for now.
So you could extend this enclosure by adding some height to it so you can hang all lights and heat inside and then put a top on it. You could also make a smaller hide so he has more roaming space.

okay thank you! so the cage is big enough for now then when do you think i will need to make it bigger?

 

[wellington]

okay thank you! so the cage is big enough for now then when do you think i will need to make it bigger?

Likely in a year maybe 2

 

[Melymann]

My Hermann’s is also 1 year old. I had an open table but quickly realized it’s too hard to maintain the humidity. I added a greenhouse. The lights hang from the greenhouse frame.