Night time indoors enclosure perfected?

[ZEROPILOT]

I have a nine week old baby R/F tortoise and I have concerns about leaving him in his outdoors pen over night. (There have been free range rats sighted and there have been very heavy rains.) I've been going crazy trying to get the indoor tank temps higher than 74 degrees and the humidity up over 50%. My house has a very healthy air conditioner! I purchased a 20 gallon "long" tank. It's about 30"x12.5" roughly. I taped a 15 watt, 6 foot heat "rope" to the bottom of the tank and placed plastic feet on the bottom to raise it up a little. Then added a bag of orchid bark first. Then a bag of garden soil. A Dragons Tongue plant. A hollow log type decoration with moistened moss for sleeping and in the corner, A Crystal Light drink mix container with half the top cut off and full of water with an air stone and a pump. The Crystal Light container is cylindrical and stands up in the corner. It takes up little room. I refill it about every other day. Just top it off. On top, I placed a standard 29 gallon aquarium top. It still has the standard tube in it as this is only for sleeping/night time use. I also bought a Home Depot digital thermometer and humidity meter. (It is FAR SUPERIOR to my old dial type!.) After four nights......Temperature inside is a low of 78 and a high of 81. Humidity is a low of 85 and a high of 99. The substrate is dry except around the plant and in the orchid bark. I tried so many things before and now, this simple arrangement has my numbers looking good.

 

[wellington]

Sounds nice, but you forgot something. The pics

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Just misted. Can you make out the gauge?

 

[wellington]

Looks good and yes I can see the gauge. One suggestion, I would remove the ramp/bridge, unless you know,he can right himself. Tortosies sometimes flip or fall on their backs. Beside this not being really good for them, if they can't right themselves they can and most likely will die unless you are right there when it happens to slowly right him. Or you could put sides on it so he can't fall off it.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

He sleeps inside, but is mostly unattended. I'll remove it. Thank you.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Pics. And new night box.

 

[Earth Mama]

Looks great. I bought that same digital therm/humidity gauge. I lasted one week then broke. Let me know how yours holds up after a few weeks. Hopefully mine was just defective. Love the air stone idea.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

So far so good. I ground the back flat and use VELCRO to attach it to the glass.