Humidity and Basking Temperature for Russian Tortoise

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Carol S

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:) What should the humidity be in the cage for my 4 month old Russian tortoise?

Also what do you think is best - the single combo light for heat and UVB or two separate bulbs for light and UVB? Right now I have two separate bulbs.

Also, I have a hard time regulating the basking spot. Amazon Reptile said to keep it at 100 degrees, but it seems that other people keep it around 90-95 degrees I believe. Is 100 degrees too hot?

Thanks any information.

Carol S
 

Yvonne G

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Hi Carol: Where are you located? Is it possible for you to get your Russian outside? That's actually the very best thing for any tortoise. Hopefully someone will answer your lighting question. I don't keep any of my guys inside, so I don't have a lighting knowledge.

Yvonne
 

Carol S

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emysemys said:
Hi Carol: Where are you located? Is it possible for you to get your Russian outside? That's actually the very best thing for any tortoise. Hopefully someone will answer your lighting question. I don't keep any of my guys inside, so I don't have a lighting knowledge.

Yvonne

I live in Alta Loma which is in Southern California (North of the Ontario Airport).

I have only had my baby Russian Totoise since Mother's Day (it was a gift from my daughters). For the first week or so I let him settle in to his new home (inside the house) and basically just gave him his daily soak and feeding. After that on sunny days I have been taking him outside in his secure outside enclosure which is actually an under the bed rubbermaid container to which I have added substrate, hide and fake plants to make him feel secure. It has a wire top covering it to protect him from predators. I am going to get him a plastic pool that is for dogs that I saw at PetSmart which will give him LOTS of room to snoop and roam around.

The weather here has been really freaky. For around the last two weeks the weather has been cold and today it is raining. This year it was really hot in April and now here we are in June and it is cold and raining - such weird weather.

My baby Russian really seems to enjoy his trips outside and I will be glad when it is warm and sunny again so he can spend some time out there.

Have a great day!

Carol
 

tortoisenerd

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Either 95 or 100 as a hot spot is good. Some hatchlings prefer it hotter so that is why they may have said 100 when the care sheets for adults say 95. Yes, the temps will vary day to day a lot based on room temperature. They will get temp variations in the wild too, so as long as you don't go above 100 you are ok. You really need to check the temperature every day in my opinion as during different months of the year you will be adjusting your heating & lighting for increasing or decreasing room temperatures. The other day we had a heat wave here and my enclosure got hot...very hot. Not good.

I prefer the combined bulb. They have a stronger UVB output, and they last 12 months vs. 6. Some people still need a heat emitter for night, or if they have a very large enclosure (then they also may need additional lighting). See this site for information about UVB output of bulbs: http://www.uvguide.co.uk/

The Mega Ray, T-Rex Active Heat, and the new Powersuns are the most recommended ones. I actually wouldn't suggest to get anything but those three. All will run you about $50, and can usually only be found online unless there is a huge reptile store near you (I've been to two mom&pop pet stores and two Petcos and none of them had these bulbs). Online is cheaper too.

I would not worry about measuring the humidity. What substrate are you using? Hopefully you have a humid substrate like coconut fiber, soil, cyprus mulch, or orchid bark. With these, pour water on it and mix it around every couple days or as needed. If you really want a number, you're probably aiming for above 50% at the substrate level. If you place the guage up high on the enclosure it will only measure the air humidity. It's hard to get a good reading for the substrate anyways. You want moist but not damp. It shouldn't drop water if you wring it, if you know what I mean.

I also got my baby russian from Amazon (he's 10 months now and I got him in December). One of the better pet stores out there! I haven't seen it in person but have only heard good things.

Please do make sure your baby sees a vet and has two fecal tests, several months apart. We suspect my tort picked up a protozoa there since he didn't have a way to pick it up since there, and the first test didn't even show it due to the life cycles and such. Just a good thing to do, and you always want a vet just in case.

I like the Rubbermaid enclosure outside idea. I do the same; it's good because he gets used to the enclosure and we can also use it for travel and vet trips. As a hatchling, I wouldn't feel safe with my tort outside unless a lot of precautions were made. I'd probably wait until a couple years old anyways though. I'm overprotective. As long as its in the high 70s or so I'll try to have him out for a bit.

Best wishes!
 
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