Thomas tortoise
Well-Known Member
Quick question. Do all tortoises need 80% or more humidity?
Humidity for all tortoises?
- Thread starter Thomas tortoise
- Start date
As babies I'd say yes- all need very high humidity when young for good shell growth and to be healthy. As adults, however, it does differ among species and they do not all need 80%. With some, like Russian tortoises, you do not have to really worry about their humidity when they are adults.
No. Temperate species generally do not need high humidity. As babies, I like to offer them a humid hide and damp substrate to dig into, but ambient humidity does not need to be 80+%.
Thomas tortoise
Well-Known Member
By temperate species you mean sulcatas, leopards, pancake, and all the other ones that live in deserts right?
No sir. Those are all tropical species, meaning they come from areas that lie between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Tropic of Cancer. It can be dry or wet in these areas. It is more a reflection of warm temperatures year round and reasonably warm nights. None of the species you mentioned come from deserts. That is a persistent myth.
Temperate regions of the world lie outside of the tropics, but not into Arctic or Antarctic regions. These areas experience more distinct seasons, often with cold frozen winters and hot summers. The "Mediterranean" type climates would fall into this range. Greeks, hermanni, Russians, CA desert tortoises, South African Chersina, and South American Chacos would all be examples from this category.
