Humidity in Night Box

KatJ

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Hello all!! Our night box has been finished- I may be able to post pictures later, but our two sulcatas seem to be enjoying it. They stopped fighting too, so we'll see if we need to throw a divider up in the box. I think for now they are okay.

Anyway, I am wondering how you all keep the humidity up in your night boxes. I have a few tubs of water sitting on shelves, but that doesn't do much. We have hay as bedding in there. The ambient temperature gets to about 80 at night, and they have a focused heat lamp on one side. We've been spraying them and the box down a few times a day, but the humidity never gets above 30%. The sensor has sat on the floor, raised above about a foot, and then also close to ceiling, and it has still never read above that.

I will not be able to put a humidifier in there.. There's nothing to put it on that will protect it from getting shoved around by the torts.

As always, I appreciate all of the help.
 

Blakem

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All I've ever done is use some water tubs like you do. I've seen many others do the same. Maybe some others have some tricks. I'm curious to see
 

Tom

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My climate is extremely dry here. With just plain old water tubs on shelves, I am easily able to maintain 50-60% humidity. If you are half that in your humid climate, then something is wrong somewhere. My guesses are:
1. Too much ventilation.
2. Inaccurate hygrometer.
3. Too much electric heat drying everything up.

Can we see a pic of the box? Maybe we'll see a clue.

Also, they are not okay as a pair, even if you don't see overt hostility. It is very stressful for them to live that way. That stress, coupled with your cold weather and tight confines is enough to make one or both of them sick. They need to be separated, before you have to learn what I'm telling you the hard way.
 

Yvonne G

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I think the hay is your problem. Add several inches of some sort of substrate you can moisten and get rid of the hay. If you want something they can bury in, get sphagnum moss.
 

KatJ

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Should I line the box if I put moist substrate down? I'm afraid of rot.
 

KatJ

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My climate is extremely dry here. With just plain old water tubs on shelves, I am easily able to maintain 50-60% humidity. If you are half that in your humid climate, then something is wrong somewhere. My guesses are:
1. Too much ventilation.
2. Inaccurate hygrometer.
3. Too much electric heat drying everything up.

Can we see a pic of the box? Maybe we'll see a clue.

Also, they are not okay as a pair, even if you don't see overt hostility. It is very stressful for them to live that way. That stress, coupled with your cold weather and tight confines is enough to make one or both of them sick. They need to be separated, before you have to learn what I'm telling you the hard way.

I will post pictures when I get home tonight. I can't imagine it would be too much ventilation, as the outside air is more humid than inside. I guess it could be all of the electric heat. We have a radiator and the heat bulb.

As for separating them, we plan to build a second 4x8 box next year, but right now, the only separation we'd be able to do is a divider in the box we have (which would make each area 4x4 ish), and they'll share the fenced yard. Would that be okay?? They have always been housed together, and we'd definitely like to separate them, but the set up we have for them now is at least LEAGUES better than the 2x4 tortoise table they were in when we took them.
 

Yvonne G

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Yes. I line my wooden tort tables with sheet plastic. You can just buy a shower curtain liner and use that. Make sure to fold the corners neatly because if the tortoise can find anything sticking up he'll dig and tear it.
 

Tom

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As for separating them, we plan to build a second 4x8 box next year, but right now, the only separation we'd be able to do is a divider in the box we have (which would make each area 4x4 ish), and they'll share the fenced yard. Would that be okay??

No. That would not be okay in my opinion. They should not be able to see each other or have any contact inside or outside in the yard. Its easy to divide up a yard. I do it all the time. You can use plywood strips and stakes, 2x12's, cinder or slumpstone block, etc…

Here is an example that would work perfectly for you:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/double-door-night-box.129054/
 

KatJ

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Here is an example that would work perfectly for you:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/double-door-night-box.129054/

Yeah, you posted this on a previous thread of mine, but since we are planning two boxes, we had already built the first with one door!! =( The second will be built next year and the yard will be partitioned asap... Thanks for the help. Although I am wondering why you say they shouldn't be able to see each other at all, as I've seen in some of yours together in some of your posts.

I'll get the pictures up tonight!

And thank you also, Yvonne. I'll be trying that.
 

Tom

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Although I am wondering why you say they shouldn't be able to see each other at all, as I've seen in some of yours together in some of your posts.
Juveniles in groups will usually work. Not pairs.

As adults, they will usually be oaky with one male and a few females, but then you have a baby making factory and you will constantly be dealing with eggs and babies. Again, no pairs. Groups of females usually work fine too.

They should never live in pairs. Its too personal. One is always the dominant and one the submissive. Group dynamics are different and usually they are okay that way, unless you have multiple adult males.

I have also seen some instances where large mixed groups of several dozen tortoises can work. There is still some occasional fighting, but it seems dissipated enough to not cause major issues, but at every compound where I've seen this, there are stories of some individuals that just could or would not get along and had to be separated. We're talking about acres of land here and dozens of tortoises, not a few in a back yard.

Its funny you mention this, because I just had to break up my trio of young sudan sulcatas because one of the juveniles that I thought was a female has turned out to be male. The two males began pushing and shoving and a change had to be made. In the time it took me to move the one male to his new enclosure and walk back, the remaining lone male was already ardently harassing the remaining female. Now, the female has joined the adult herd of 1.3, making it 1.4, and each of the two males is now living alone.

Want to buy a nice subadult sudan male? :)
 

KatJ

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ImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1479940433.765644.jpgImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1479940449.846710.jpg
ImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1479940463.580402.jpg
Here are some I got the other day. And the one I could get tonight. There is a UVB light on the left side. Radiator in the middle, heat bulb on the right.
We shingled the whole thing for extra rain protection and insulation.. Plus we had extra shingles laying around waiting to rot..
Any hints?
 

Levi the Leopard

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I lined the bottom of my night box with vinyl floor tiles. I also lined the bottom 6" of the walls. I use damp coco coir and coco husk as the substrate and can maintain any level of humidity I want. It works great and I don't worry about ruining the bottom wood ;)
 

Dizisdalife

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Vinyl strips covering the door opening would help hold the humidity in. Also, turn off the heat bulb and see if the humidity rises. I think heat bulbs dry out the air more than we sometimes realize.

Like Tom's, the humidity in my night box stays around 60% with only a few water dishes in there.
 

Tom

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I also think the door opening is too tall. It only needs to be a little taller than the top of the tortoises shell. Having it taller than it needs to be only lets out your heat and humidity. It will be easy to screw on a piece of plywood on the inside.
 

KatJ

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I will be installing vinyl and some plywood to the door. We are lining the floor with plastic this week and we'll see what that does! Thank you all for the help.
 
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