Elephant humidifier--what tubing??

[pawsplus]

So in a search I figured out that a lot of people here use the Crane Elephant Humidifier and then use tubing to route the mist into the enclosure.

First, others I have spoken with recommend warm mist rather than cool mist. The elephant is cool mist. Thoughts on that?

Second, what tubing do you attach to the trunk? What size/type? Links?

Thanks!

 

[wellington]

Chances are you are not finding too many using them that are long time members but more like newer members that either don't take the advice given or you have not found their responses when they were advised against them. Before I knew better, I used one, years ago. Without a closed chamber they didn't help much if at all anyway. Cool mist should not be used and really the warm mist isn't recommended either. No Humidifiers are. Closed chamber will keep humidity up. If you insist on using one anyway it should be warm mist or you risk getting your tortoise sick.

 

[pawsplus]

Well, my tortoise is too large to be in an enclosed chamber (and I am not convinced that is the best way anyway). I want to raise the humidity in her room. I have used a reptile fogger in the past and just bought a new warm mist humidifier that I think I can rig so I can route the mist into the enclosure as I have done previously. I just saw a LOT of posts about that elephant thing, so thought I would ask! I think I can use the warm mist humidifier I bought similarly to what I have used in the past.

When you use these, do you always use distilled water? That is what the product recommends, but that is a PITA and also $$. I didn't use distilled in the past, but the products didn't last too long either, so maybe that was my fault! So should I only use distilled?

 

[wellington]

Not using distilled will shorten the life of the machine.

 

[pawsplus]

I will do it then. At least it's just the winter LOL.

 

[Lyn W]

I believe humidifiers aren't recommended anymore because of the risk that torts are inhaling water droplets that could cause respiratory problems. They may be Ok in the larger space of a room where the tort isn't in close contact with it but I've never used one myself. Hopefully others with experience of them will be able to advise.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I use humidifiers with my Chameleons.
I only use straight tap water.
With or without distilled water, these things seem to only last a certain amount of time either way when used every day.
So I go the inexpensive and convenient route

 

[Tom]

Well, my tortoise is too large to be in an enclosed chamber (and I am not convinced that is the best way anyway).

No tortoise is too large for a closed chamber. Chamber size just needs to correspond to the tortoise size.

Your are not convinced? Have your tried raising babies of several species in open topped enclosures side-by-side with babies in closed chambers and compared the results?

Humidifiers should not be blowing directly into tortoise enclosures. They are fine to use in the room to raise humidity as long as temperatures are maintained with the additional moisture and evaporation.

 

[pawsplus]

No tortoise is too large for a closed chamber. Chamber size just needs to correspond to the tortoise size.

Your are not convinced? Have your tried raising babies of several species in open topped enclosures side-by-side with babies in closed chambers and compared the results?

Humidifiers should not be blowing directly into tortoise enclosures. They are fine to use in the room to raise humidity as long as temperatures are maintained with the additional moisture and evaporation.

No, I have not drunk the Kool-Aid here. Sorry. I don't want to get into a "X is better than Y" discussion. I still get a lot of good info here and value the forum.

Since Beasley's enclosure is half the size of the room and open, directing the humidity into the enclosure simply means getting it closer to where it needs to be. I know from experience that humidifying the whole room only raises ambient humidity to a small degree. Directing it into the open enclosure raises it more in the enclosure, without putting her at any risk. She can walk away from it. I also spray the enclosure, and her, several times a day ("rain" LOL). I've done this for a while. My old humidifier broke late last Fall and as I was moving, I did not replace it right away. Have now moved and am working on getting everything set back up. I think the new humidifier will work well, esp as, magically and surprisingly, the top outlet, with the spout removed, exactly fits the fogger attachment I already had.

 

[Tom]

No, I have not drunk the Kool-Aid here. Sorry. I don't want to get into a "X is better than Y" discussion.

This is a rude way to say this. Drunk the cool aide? As if we are peddling some sort of dreamed up falsehood to a cult of followers? That is absurd and its insulting that you would imply such a thing.

Many of us here are working daily to better understand tortoise care, what works best, and why. We share our findings, other people around the world learn it, apply it, and tortoises are healthier and happier for it. There is no poisoned kool aide here. Just good, sound, evidence based tortoise care info. It does, however, appear that you've drunk some cool aide you found somewhere else.

 

[pawsplus]

I'm sorry. But the zeitgeist on this forum tends to be very pushy about certain things. Plenty of experts disagree with some of the opinions on this forum--as with most things on this planet, opinions and experiences vary. But there tends to be only one opinion valued here. I appreciate many things about the forum, but I do not march in lockstep on everything, and I should not have to defend myself constantly.

 

[Tom]

I'm sorry. But the zeitgeist on this forum tends to be very pushy about certain things. Plenty of experts disagree with some of the opinions on this forum...

That is EXACTLY the point. Tortoise care advice has been wrong for decades, and most of the world is still following and promoting that same old wrong info. That old info was based on incorrect assumptions of how they live in the wild, and it has been parroted by generation after generation. I know this because I learned all that old wrong info back in the 80s and 90s, and parroted what I was taught many times. The people still repeating that old wrong info haven't done what we have done here and have no idea what we are talking about. WE have done the work. Over a decade of experimentation and trial and error that has been repeated with the same positive results thousands of times all over the world. We KNOW better now, but most info sources that are available to the public do not. We are trying to get the word out and end the needless suffering caused by the old info. Its not Kool Aide. Its advancing knowledge and improving a situation.

But there tends to be only one opinion valued here.

If you are referring to me, you are dead wrong. There are at least half a dozen experienced keepers here who shut me down and put me in my place, and also educate me, on a regular basis. If my opinion is not the one you are referring to, well then I apologize for misunderstanding who or what you are referring to here.

...but I do not march in lockstep on everything, and I should not have to defend myself constantly.

Why the vitriolic hyperbole? We aren't forcing a communist agenda on anyone here. We are trying to better the lives of tortoises through research, experimentation, and the sharing of results and information with keepers across the whole globe. You are not being attacked. You are the one who made the offensive remark, and I am the one who reacted defensively to it. This whole conversation started because you repeated one of the old incorrect myths of tortoise keeping, and I corrected that wrong information for your benefit and for the benefit of the 100's of people who read these posts. Your statement was made based on your one tortoise with no opposing care method to compare your results to. Yes, your tortoise is still alive, but that doesn't make the way you did it the "best" way to do it. We now know through mountains of data what works best, and the experts of yesteryear had it wrong, and that includes ME. This is not an "expert opinion", we now have facts. Side-by-side experiments with groups of clutch mates, changing one variable at a time.

The goal is not to make you feel attacked or uncomfortable. The goal is to stop the spread of that old wrong info (your original comment that I addressed) and instead spread the correct care info, all for the benefit of the tortoises that we here all know and love. I would be happy to share with what we have learned over the years and how we learned it. I expect no one to just take my word for it because I said so. No kool aide here and no lockstep marching. Just sharing research and experiment results with the intention of helping people around the world raise and keep healthier tortoises.

 

[pawsplus]

Not sure why you think this is about you?? I don't know you. But there is very much a "my way or the highway" culture on this forum. True, that happens on fora generally. <shrug>

I do not agree that the "old ways" are all wrong. I am not going to name names here, but there are people I respect who do not agree with this forum. I have the right to my opinion. I did not state it here to start a fight--only to make it clear that I am not about to create a closed chamber, and to explain what my reasoning was for asking my question.

I have now set up again a good humidifer system like I had before, using a very nice, high-end warm air humidifier with tubes that pipe the humidity into the enclosure. The humidity in the room is only about 60% but in one half of the large enclosure, it is 95%. So I think we are good until spring, when Beasley will be outside and Tennessee's miserable humidity will take over.

I hope you can understand that none of this was personal--since I do not know you, how could it be? And the Kool-Aid comment was made tongue-in-cheek.