Hi! My names Jade. I have a 18month old Marginated tortoise. Sheldon, is currently in a vivarium ( I know there not advised :() we have had him 4 months; I've had him checked over at vets and he's doing great! I'm monitoring his weight weekly and constantly checking on him :) my question is, we have recently changed his substrate to pro rep sybstrate which is a 50/50 mix for mediteranin tortoises. My problem is, since changing to this ( not sure what we had before) the humidity seems to have risen. Is there a limit to what we should keep the humidity to before its to dangerous? Usually between 45-60 but appears to have shot up to 70-80 will check again in morning though.
The substrate you are now using probably has a greater water content. This is evaporating into the air and cannot escape because he's in a vivarium. There isn't a set danger level as such, but tortoises that come from drier more arid climates will find it highly unpleasant to be in a higher humidity environment and it may even cause respiratory problems. You really need to get him into a tortoise table, as you have already said it isn't suitable for this species of tortoise. Best not to use fancy substrates from pet shops, Homebase topsoil (for eg) is absolutely fine and far cheaper. It's quite sandy anyway so no need to add sand at all. Please do get him out of the vivarium - it's not suitable at all. If you've been given tortoise pellets, please throw these away and if the lighting was supplied with the vivarium, I would really check it is adequate.
