Hello! My name is Nathan and I recently bought a Sulcata hatchling and made the newbie mistake of listening to the pet store I got it from. They told me that they get most of their moisture from the food they eat and all he needs is a chunk of repticarpet for substrate and a heat lamp. After doing a lot of research and finding out that this information was flawed. I have replaced his substrate with coconut coir added a water dish to his enclosure as well as soak him for roughly twenty minutes each day. The enclosure I have him in now I feel is WAY too small to last much longer (a 10 gallon aquarium) and I plan on upgrading in the coming weeks. Right now, the temps never fall below 80 degrees at night and he has a basking spot that gets into the high 90s. My only question is. I live in upstate New York where we have very dry winters. I am having some trouble keeping his tank above 30% humidity so I bought a Zoo Med Repti Fogger to try and bring it up but, the only way for me to keep it at 80% is to have the fogger blowing so hard that you can barely see through it... I know I wouldn't like to live in an environment like that so I was wondering if anyone had any better suggestions for raising the humidity. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
New Sulcata Hatchling Owner
- Thread starter Nathan.
- Start date
Hi Nathan, and welcome to the Forum!
I cover my baby habitats to keep the warm, moist air inside.
I cover my baby habitats to keep the warm, moist air inside.
To keep the humidity high you will need to cover the top of your tank to keep the moisture in. For best results the lights and heating sources should be inside the enclosure. When you do that you will also be keeping the heat in. So, monitor the temperature to be sure that it doesn't get too hot. A thermostat can be used with a CHE to maintain the ambient temp in your tank. The basking lamp might need to be moved up some, or turned off occasionally, to avoid over heating the tank.
Here is a link to a thread that can give you some ideas: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/closed-chambers.32333/
Here is a link to a thread that can give you some ideas: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/closed-chambers.32333/
Hello and welcome. In addition to the thread Joe gave you, check these out:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/
You've got to get something bigger ASAP. A large closed chamber will make your life easy, and your tortoises life better.
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/
You've got to get something bigger ASAP. A large closed chamber will make your life easy, and your tortoises life better.
Thank you so much for all of the advice. Temporarily I have covered the top in foil and I can already see the difference it is making. I am moving shortly and plan on building one of the closed chamber enclosures. I have read all of the threads you posted tom and have been trying to make my little guys living quarters more suitable. Once again thank you for the advice and ill be sure to post pics and ask any questions that come up while building.
