Kalkov's leopard tortoise

[kalkov]

Hi guys, this is my first tortoise. Give me an opinion on the enclosure please.

UV lamp: Exo Terra Reptile UVB 150 13w 10UVB working 6hours (11am- 4pm)
lamp: Osram Halogen 50w (8am-9pm)



Substrate(cold side) :


Substrate(hot side) :


The box preparation :


The box :


Ventilation:

 

[mikeh]

Welcome! Nice effort but number of changes to begin with.

1) Get rid of that UVB light. Spiral and compact UVBs are known to burn reptiles eyes, especially mounted vertically. Replace it with zoomed 100 watt MVB at 18-20" distance. This will take care of day time heat, light and UVB. If you can take your tortoise out in the sun while its warm few times a week for an hour you don't need any indoor UVB. Always provide available shade so the tortoise doesn't overheat with heat stroke.

2) habitat is too small. At least twice the size.

3) They need humidity and moisture at young age. You may want to mist the enclosure and the tortoise few times a day.

4) create humid hide with moist sphagnum moss. The hay will mold fast.

5) you may need night time heat with ceramic heat emitter hooked up to thermostat above the hide to keep it at 80F inside the hide at night.

6) digital temp and humidity monitor (hardware store or Walmart) to monitor temp and humidity. Temp under the basking light 95-100F. 80F on the cool end.

7) terracotta plant dish sunken into the substrate with water available at tortoises will.

Good luck. I am sure other members will post links on proper and detailed care for your leopard that are worth reading and following for happy healthy animal.

 

[Zoobythesea]

I'm new to all this also but have done a lot of reading on this site! All the information you could ever need.

I know I've heard over and over again that sand is a poor substrate to use for health reasons. It looks like you may have some in your enclosure. They have extremely affordable cypress mulch at hardware stores and less than one bag would fill your enclosure. I am finding that it holds moisture very well and I'm having no mold or mildew issues with my humidity at 80+.

 

[Zoobythesea]

Also with your ventilation you will loose the humidity that is crucial to raising a nice smooth Leo.

 

[kalkov]

Welcome! Nice effort but number of changes to begin with.

1) Get rid of that UVB light. Spiral and compact UVBs are known to burn reptiles eyes, especially mounted vertically. Replace it with zoomed 100 watt MVB at 18-20" distance. This will take care of day time heat, light and UVB. If you can take your tortoise out in the sun while its warm few times a week for an hour you don't need any indoor UVB. Always provide available shade so the tortoise doesn't overheat with heat stroke.

Thanks, I removed it. Will try to find the MVB lamp. Till then I can make her sun baths, have a huge terrace and it's pretty sunny here.

2) habitat is too small. At least twice the size.

My plan was to buy a hatching, but couldn't find. So this will be her temporary home(for a month or so). I'll make another one, much bigger from wood.

3) They need humidity and moisture at young age. You may want to mist the enclosure and the tortoise few times a day.

The humidity is between 60-75% at the cold side. In the box even higher, no sensor there yet.

4) create humid hide with moist sphagnum moss. The hay will mold fast.

Ok, will buy sphagnum moss, I guessed hay is bad idea

5) you may need night time heat with ceramic heat emitter hooked up to thermostat above the hide to keep it at 80F inside the hide at night.

It's hot here, 77F was absolute minimum at 5am. at the cold side at night. I guess in the box was higher. Can you give me a link for the heater to check it, i'll need in the autumn.

6) digital temp and humidity monitor (hardware store or Walmart) to monitor temp and humidity. Temp under the basking light 95-100F. 80F on the cool end.

Have a lot of sensors and i'm streaming the data to the web, so can check it from smartphone. Can check here: https://xively.com/feeds/699305930

7) terracotta plant dish sunken into the substrate with water available at tortoises will.

Ok

 

[kalkov]

I'm new to all this also but have done a lot of reading on this site! All the information you could ever need.

I know I've heard over and over again that sand is a poor substrate to use for health reasons. It looks like you may have some in your enclosure. They have extremely affordable cypress mulch at hardware stores and less than one bag would fill your enclosure. I am finding that it holds moisture very well and I'm having no mold or mildew issues with my humidity at 80+.

Thanks for the answer. The sand is just 1/5 of the mixture and it's a desert one. Hope won't have any problems with it. I red it here: http://africantortoise.com/substrate.htm

 

[kalkov]

Also with your ventilation you will loose the humidity that is crucial to raising a nice smooth Leo.

I can close part of it or completely at will
Above is the link to my sensors, so I'm watching the humidity constantly.

 

[kalkov]

The sensors thread : http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/realtime-environment-measurements.94505/