Tubs of water in the tort house, does it really make a difference?

[Tom]

Not sure if either of you have room, but have you thought about adding plants to help hold the humidity?

I don't think they'd live in a dark box.

 

[wellington]

I thought you had a light in there? Yes, a regular bulb but still light? The pony tail I use in my frogs cage does well and only has a regular bulb. Also, the pothos does good without good lighting. Well, mine did until I forgot too water it. If you are doing zero light, then, no they would not do good

 

[mike taylor]

The link is not working it says I don't have permission. Tom if she dug down you think maybe she was trying to cool down? Or maybe she did not like the humidity and tried to fine some moisture . I'm thinking I would pull up the wood and let her dig . Then check rh and temps . Im thinking they are smarter than we think . What is the temperature you have in there on average?

 

[Tom]

The link is not working it says I don't have permission. Tom if she dug down you think maybe she was trying to cool down? Or maybe she did not like the humidity and tried to fine some moisture . I'm thinking I would pull up the wood and let her dig . Then check rh and temps . Im thinking they are smarter than we think . What is the temperature you have in there on average?

There are 4 main potential problems with letting a sulcata burrow in North America:
1. The burrow can collapse.
2. The burrow can flood.
3. You have no access to the tortoise when its in its burrow.
4. Its too cold in the winter down there.

I do let mine burrow "naturally" in the summer here, but we have no rain then and temps are warm. My "man made" burrow avoids all of these potential burrow problems, but gives them all the burrow benefits. The burrow averages 80 degrees all summer long, with very little fluctuation.


As far as them knowing better, you've been listening to Andy too long. Every one of my tortoises has decided to park under a bush with an oncoming cold night instead of going back the the heated area provided for them. They do NOT necessarily know what is "best" for themselves in our artificial captive environments. There are many things that influence their decisions about what to do in a captive environment and they often choose poorly. Here's and example: Leave a pile of iceberg lettuce and a pile of grass in front of a sulcata. Which pile do you think they will choose to eat?

 

[mike taylor]

Who is this Andy you speak of? Do you have any information on normal wild sulcata borrow temps and humidity ? Here in Texas it is way to wet to let them borrow there is no doubt it would cave in . I'm was just thinking of gopher tortoise borrows out there in California . Its gotta be the closes thing here in the good ole USA .

 

[Tom]

Who is this Andy you speak of? Do you have any information on normal wild sulcata borrow temps and humidity ? Here in Texas it is way to wet to let them borrow there is no doubt it would cave in . I'm was just thinking of gopher tortoise borrows out there in California . Its gotta be the closes thing here in the good ole USA .

Yes but DTs hibernate in their cold burrows over winter. Sulcatas do not.

Tomas Diagne is supposed to be releasing a new book and its supposed to have burrow temps and humidity, along with a whole bunch of other good stuff.

 

[mike taylor]

Yes I do realize they hibernate in the winters . I'm thinking summer temperatures in the burrows . Thanks for the heads up on the book.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Barb, it's dark in my box too.

So far I really like the dirt and moss. My temps are stable with the thermostat and my digital hydrometer shows the high and lows indicating humidity is pretty stable, too.
If I still feel the same way in a few weeks I'll consider making a permanent modification (flooring instead of the plastic liner) for it.

 

[Dizisdalife]

Heather, are you still happy with the dirt and moss? And how did you run the plastic liner across the doorway? I didn't see any pictures of that area.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Hey Joe,
I liked using the dirt and moss. It held humidity in the 70's perfectly. The liner across the door way is one of the pictures. Maybe it's hard to tell. The liner went down the sides and just flat along the door opening, taped to the bottom floor. I kept the dirt away from the doorway.
The only problem I had was the tape didn't stick. Obviously this would have needed a permanent fix, like the 2x4 or staple gun Tom suggested.

However, I did decide to for-go the Leopards using this house for now. I built them a new, bigger closed chamber and have them outside in a pen all day but inside the chamber at night. The chamber has humidity in the 90's. I wasn't ready to make a permanent alteration to the tort house and they are still small enough (5"-6") to not NEED to be outside full time. I noticed some new growth on my 6"+ boy that was bumpy and I was afraid to go with higher humidity in the wood box and face mold, so I just went with another indoor chamber.

---

Timing was perfect, because about 5 days after I made this change and the tort house sat empty, I adopted a 3 legged CDT who needs to be kept awake. I cleaned the house, filled it with hay and am letting him use the house for now.

I'm going to keep the leopards in the closed chamber at nights for a few more inches at least..then go from there.

Are you thinking of trying this? Let me know if you do and how it goes In the short time I tested it, I liked it. I think it's how I will set it up again when the time comes.

 

[Cowboy_Ken]

“taped to the bottom floor." Unlike the top floor. Ha. I kill me sometimes. Sorry Heather.

 

[Dizisdalife]

Heather, the box that my sulcata sleeps in stays at 65-70% RH with just a couple trays of water. He is about 18" scl and weighs 40 pounds. I had thought about using a substrate that I could moisten, but the floor design really doesn't accommodate it very well. That is why I was curious about the doorway on yours. My guy will sometimes push most of his hay right out the door. Don't want to see that happen with dirt or coir or any other substrate I would use. Hay is easy. To use dirt I would want a couple of inches below the entry level for the dirt and it would need to be a water proofed pan. So far with the current setup the mold issues have been minimal. Fixed most of them with a tighter seal around the top. The one mold issue I haven't solved is where the condensation on the vinyl door flap drips down on the wood floor and puddles in a nearby corner. Now having a dirt floor with a water proofed pan underneath might eliminate that problem. Since I don't need the dirt to keep the humidity elevated I will stick with what I am using for now. Just something to keep in mind for the next night box.

 

[Tom]

To use dirt I would want a couple of inches below the entry level for the dirt and it would need to be a water proofed pan.

One thing I have been doing is throwing a few shovels of plain dry dirt into the corners where they sleep. This helps absorb some of the pee and it coats the poo and makes it less messy. About once a week I rake out the hay and use a flat nosed shovel to remove any wet dirt, and replace it with dry. Mixing the hay and dirt has caused me no issues, and having wet dirt hasn't been any problem either.

 

[Len B]

I run the hay a couple times thru the intake (vacuum) side of a leaf blower to shred it and it seems to work better for me in the outside houses of the smaller, younger tortoises, and it seems they like the smaller pieces to hunker down in. It is a little dusty when first set up but they take care of that in time. I haven't added dirt, so I am not sure what difference it would be.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

@Prairie Mom

 

[Prairie Mom]

Thanks for all the tags, Heather! These threads made for some great reading!