Star Torts Humidity/Enclosure Topic

[TortoiseRN]

Hey guys and gals any opinions/personal experiences people want to share about humidity levels they keep for their torts and how they fluctuate throughout the seasons. Or pics/descriptions of enclosures you want to share are all welcome too. Just tryin to get a little discussion started in our little Star community.


Thanks for layin down those funky beets!

 

[Tom]

Not enough experience to comment, but I will read with interest.

 

[shanu303]

i have adult star already fully grown 8+ inches so i don't provide any external humidity, just the natural humidity in india.....i have him in outdoor enclosure.....and to keep the hydration... i soak him twice a day for 10-15 minutes and spray or wet shell several times a day in summers....well i'm not experienced with hatchlings or juveniles i am not really sure about there humidity requirements.... but i can say that they do require humidity but not as much as the red foots or such species.....

 

[TortoiseRN]

Thanks for sharing Shanu. How old was your tort when you got him/her and does he have much pyramiding?


1.0 Sulcata
1.0 Russian
2.0 Sri Lankan Star
1.0 African Side Neck
1.0 Yellow Bellied Slider
1.0 Ferret
2.0 Cats

 

[shanu303]

it has not been long since i got him....... couple of month with the new one and almost a year with the old..... actually i haven't raised them from hatchling ... i got them from some friend of my relatives who weren't able to take care properly..... they both are 8-10 years old.... and first one max has slightly more pyramiding compared to Ben who has almost smooth shell.... they both are wild specimens......

 

[TortoiseRN]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEmCPkiJOqM&feature=em-upload_owner#action=share

This is a video of a couple outdoor enclosures I just built. I bring the babies in to a enclosed chamber at night which ranges from 78-85% at about 75-95 degrees from one end to the other.


1.0 Sulcata
1.0 Russian
2.0 Sri Lankan Star
1.0 African Side Neck
1.0 Yellow Bellied Slider
1.0 Ferret
2.0 Cats

 

[AnnV]

That is a fabulous enclosure for your babies. I like the hinged top. I could use something like that. Inside and out!
I have dogs and cats, and a myriad of wild predators outside.
Thanks for sharing.
Ann from CT

 

[TortoiseRN]

Thanks Ann!! I actually just installed EZ-Lift automotive struts on each side yesterday so now when I unlatch the top it opens nice and easy and stays open I'll post newer pics and video with the struts this afternoon.


1.0 Sulcata
1.0 Russian
2.0 Sri Lankan Star
1.0 African Side Neck
1.0 Yellow Bellied Slider
1.0 Ferret
2.0 Cats

 

[Ansh]

This is something I've been thinking about for quite a while.

I live in the UK. I have two stars that are almost 12 months old. I got them when they were about 2 months old (39/44g). At that time they had smooth shells. I had them in an open indoor enclosure with UVB and hides for a good 4-5 months. I couldn't control the humidity in the open enclosure and this would drop to 30-40%. One of them would borrow deep into the substrate under the hide and the other would pretty much sleep 'uncovered' often very close to the basking light. The one that burrowed remained smooth whilst the other one very quickly developed pyramiding. I was devastated and tried everything I could (including frequent spraying) but the pyramiding continued. Finally I ditched the open enclosure and got them a large vivarium (3x2.5). This is completely closed from all sides apart from a few vents. I continued the daily soaks and spraying of their shells. The humidity in the enclosure remains 80+ at all times. They've been in their new enclosure for almost 4 months now and I do believe the pyramiding has slowed. I also find that they eat a lot more and their weight this morning was 143/153g almost 4 times their weight since when I got the in Oct. I do think high humidity, closed chamber enclosure work for star hatchlings, but this is just my opinion.

I'll attach a few photos of Tootsie and Charlie in their enclosure soon. Thanks for getting this discussion going!

 

[Tom]

Ansh, your experience mirrors mine with sulcatas and leopards. Especially in regard to the smoothness of the hider vs. the one who slept out in the open, and also the appetite and smooth growth increase brought on by the closed chamber.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Ansh, thank you for your input. I was glad to read your story.

Heather
Sent from my Android TFO app

 

[Neal]

I haven't raised any star hatchlings specifically in a couple of years, so the majority of my experience comes from the pre-humidity days. I did not maintain any records really, so the details are hard to remember, but I'll try my best. I got my first star in '04 and from all the research I did the most repeated point was that stars are far more susceptible to respiratory infections than most other tortoises. So they needed to be raised bone dry to prevent any issues. Like a lot of us, that's what I did...but for whatever reason I ended up with fairly good results. Over the years that followed, I had several come and go but always had good results that I was proud of with the stars.

Here is a picture of my first one at between 5 and 6 inches just before I sold him off. He's not absolutely perfect, but I think most would agree that he's well in the 90% range if we were to grade him.

One of the current males I have, hatched in '02 and also raised in Arizona. Again, before the "humidity era". This one came from a friend of mine who raised him and from how he described his care, it was raised in a similar manner as the one pictured above. He had also raised a female that I now have and she is just as smooth.

To this day I can't determine exactly why I had better results than many others. The most probable solution I've been able to come up with is that perhaps my tortoises were kept more hydrated than others. Even back then, though not so long ago, there were still a lot of people who believed that tortoises receive all the hydration they need from the food that they eat, or they would caution that too much water would flush out all the nutrients they need to thrive. Instead, I took the advice of my vet and made sure that mine were kept well hydrated. He had a nice visual in his office...a softball sized bladder stone that he removed from an adult leopard tortoise and that was enough to scare me straight.

We do have a good summer monsoon season, and perhaps that played a roll as well. Even at a young age, my tortoises spent some time outside, but mainly they were indoors so I don't think it would have influenced the results I saw as much as simply hydrating them...maybe the higher humidity for the duration of time they were outside was enough though. I wish I kept better records.

Since then I've had a hand in raising several others. I had a couple of sri lankan stars that I bought just before joining the forum. After some time I ended up changing to a high humid, closed chamber environment and they did very well. The specifics of humidity and other care were based on Tom's parameters in his pyramiding thread.

Unfortunately, one was stolen from me while it was still young so I never got to see how he would have turned out. After that I was a bit bitter and really didn't want to invest any more in my Sri Lanka project so I sold the other one off and haven't really raised any stars since then. When I get hatchlings I usually sell them off shortly after hatching out, but if my circumstances in life improve a little I might hang on to a few.

Now a days my adults are outside 24/7 all throughout the year. Winters are bone dry as are spring and fall for the most part. We get the nice monsoon in the summer, similar to parts of India, and they do very well here. I am sorry I don't have any specifics in terms of humidity levels, but I hope the general overview of my experience provided some insight.

 

[TortoiseRN]

Thanks for your insight Neal. I'm basically using Tom's hot and humid method I'm also keeping a pretty accurate weekly journal of weights, outdoor temps, and foods both offered and eaten/snubbed. They do go out for about 5-6hrs a day when temps are in the 80s. I have a sprinkler setup to spray down the outdoor enclosures every 2hrs. I think I'm getting pretty positive results so far but it's pretty early. I am a firm believer in Tom's husbandry methods. We'll see how it plays out with Sri Lankan Stars.


1.0 Sulcata
1.0 Russian
2.0 Sri Lankan Star
1.0 African Side Neck
1.0 Yellow Bellied Slider
1.0 Ferret
2.0 Cats

 

[Baoh]

Neal, every animal you posted looks great. Your descriptions are very humble for excellence.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Neal, did you use Vitashell on any of the stars? (I am asking this because I believe it to still be on topic)

Do I remember correctly that it is you who has used vitashell on leopards?

 

[Neal]

Neal, did you use Vitashell on any of the stars? (I am asking this because I believe it to still be on topic)

Do I remember correctly that it is you who has used vitashell on leopards?

Yes I did actually, on both the stars and the leopards. Back then though I wasn't as consistent as in recent years. There were probably periods of several months where I didn't keep up with it. And even when I did, it was maybe every other week. More like once a month probably.

I was a lot more consistent with it when I was raising the two Sri Lankans. I was good about applying it every other week.

I'm glad you brought that up. Perhaps another piece to the puzzle.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

I think so...
I briefly talked with Tom about this and decided to apply vitashell on my new hatchling leopards with using humid chambers.

Thanks for adding that last bit of info.

Heather
Sent from my Android TFO app

 

[Neal]

I would be interested to see how it works out for you.

 

[Tom]

Me too.

 

[TortoiseRN]

Me three!


1.0 Sulcata
1.0 Russian
2.0 Sri Lankan Star
1.0 African Side Neck
1.0 Yellow Bellied Slider
1.0 Ferret
2.0 Cats