I'm new to this forum (well, I took about a 6 year break).



I recently moved to a deserty area...North/Central WA (the dry side of the mountains) from Oregon (the very wet part) a few years ago.



I just got a small redfoot tortoise. I'm not sure of the exact kind, I saw it advertised as a cherryhead, redfoot, but I'm not sure that's what it is...I will have to get some pics, later.



Anyway, I'm also unsure of the age or sex..but it is active, feeds well, and has a good shell (no pryamiding). It is currently about 4-5" from front of shell to back of shell. It is housed in a large, custom cage with coco fiber bedding that is misted a few times per day and one end has a "pit" I made using a rubber maid lid filled with drenched coco fibers and that I buried in the mulch. The tortoise also has a shallow soaking pan and access to fresh drinking water. I feed it a variety of fresh fruits and veggies every day as well as moistened tortoise diet, all of which it readily eats. I have two temp/humidity gauges in the enclosure, one at each end. The "cool" end of the enclosure is around 74 degrees with 21% humidity. The "hot" end of the enclosure is generally in the low 90's with 23% humidity. These are digital ones with probes, not the cheap-o kind. I also have two pots of water on our wood stove which evaporate (I add more water several times per day) and I have a humidifier in the same room with the tortoise. But I'm unable to raise the humidity any more in there.



What else can I do?



23% humidity certainly does NOT sound high enough for a tropical species...and I'd like to breed these guys, one day. I had to stop breeding my beardies because I was unable to maintain high enough humidity to get the eggs to hatch.
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