Heat, humdity, and overheating

[rltwaddle]

So I got a baby zagros mountain Greek the other week. I have him in an open toe box, very roomy for his size. I am having trouble keeping the humidity level up around 70-80%. I currently keep it covered with a sheet of plastic, occasionally fully covered (lately mostly at night) or half to two thirds of the way covered. I am using a 100W zoomed powersun.

The problem is that the room I keep my torts in has very little air circulation and can get very hot in there. So if it is covered it can get over a 100F on the warm side and near 90F on the cool side, Maybe an occasional 85F. And at night it might barely drop below 80F. The humidity will stay up for a little bit after I spray, but will drop down to 50-60 if I don't spray frequently.

Main problem is keeping humidity, need a new way and a new cover, without over heating him. Give daily soaks, spray often (including him), have a Tupperware container with water near the heat lamp, and a humid hid buried around 3in below the heat lamp. Can't keep it up without covering it and then it gets to hot all around? Would a house bulb and a tube UVB 10.0 light be sufficient? Any ideas on covering without overheating? I know about plexiglass but don't know if I can get ahold of some.

 

[Yvonne G]

I don't think humidity is as important for a Greek as it is for a leopard and sulcata. You might forego the cover and just provide some moist sphagnum moss for him to burrow into.

 

[rltwaddle]

I wasn't sure about the humidity, I was following a guideline that seemed very good, but it was for a sulcata or leopard.

He is a young hatchling, so I wanted to avoid the pyramiding. I do have sphagnum moss throughout his enclosure and in his hid that is right below the heat lamp.

Thank you for the advice, should make it a lot easier and less worrying.

 

[Jacob]

That can work, just dont have to humidity too high or spray it that often,

 

[rltwaddle]

Thank you for your replies, helps out tremendously, was worried that his humidty wasn't high enough, bit now lower would be better. Not desert type dry, but not rainforest humid. Semi-moderate.

 

[ShervyBaby]

Thank you for your replies, helps out tremendously, was worried that his humidty wasn't high enough, bit now lower would be better. Not desert type dry, but not rainforest humid. Semi-moderate.

I have a 9-10 month old Greek tortoise and I had the same prob with keeping the humidity high. After reading a bunch of posts on here I realized it isn't actually THAT bad if the humidity is low, because it is a Greek. I would suggest using Cypress Mulch. I switched to that and it helped raise the humidity and it is really good at staying moist.

 

[rltwaddle]

Yea that's the responses I'm getting now, lol. That it doesn't have to be that humid. I'm using a mix of cypress mulch and sphagnum moss, so it stays fairly moistened underneath, and dries out a bit on top. Do you use a humid hide?

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What do u try to keep your humidity at?

 

[lynnedit]

Mediterranean torts can get their humidity from burrowing, if needed. Thus, the sphagnum moss hides. And the Cypress mulch is great as a substrate.
The humidity in the ambient air isn't as important.

 

[rltwaddle]

Thank you thank you