Tortoise on Tuesday

[kaTeeTort]

Good morning everybody! We are getting our new baby sulcata hatchling on Tuesday from Arizona Sulcata and we are so excited! So today is the day we set up enclosures so we can make sure all the temperatures are correct on arrival day. This is my first post, but I have been reading all the care sheets and information for about a year so that we would be knowledgeable owners. We will have an indoor enclosure and an outdoor enclosure. We live in Santa Barbara, CA so we almost always have a little sunshine for short excursions outside. My indoor enclosure for about the first year will be a 55 gallon aquarium (I will post pictures when it's all set up). However, what material do you all use to create a closed chamber to contain the heat and humidity. I was going to use plexi glass with all the lights inside, but I'm worried the heat may be a problem. That you all for all the information you have placed on this site. I am so happy to be here and meet our new little one soon!

 

[Careym13]

Welcome to TFO!! The best way to find out what your temps will be is just to go ahead and set it up before your baby comes so that you can make adjustments if needed. There is nothing wrong with Plexiglass, but like you said, you need to know how hot it is going to get. You may have to adjust the lights/CHEs up or down to get the desired temps.

 

[Yvonne G]

Welcome!

 

[kaTeeTort]

Thank you! I am getting it set up today so that everything is perfect I just want sure if the basking lamp heat would have a bad effect on the plexi glass? Or if I should get regular glass cut or go a different route entirely haha! I've been planning it for a while, but my go to contractor/ handyman aka my dad, expressed some concerns over the heat possibly melting the plexi glass. So I thought I'd get some opinions

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

Hi

 

[RosemaryDW]

Can't help you on enclosures builds but welcome to the forum!

 

[mike taylor]

I installed all my lights inside the enclosure. This way you can use lower wattage lamps and keep the heat . The top is glass . Don't know what you've got but this worked for me .

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Hello, and a very warm welcome to Tortoise Forum.

 

[kaTeeTort]

Thank you everyone! There was a little delay on our torts arrival due to the recent storms, but tomorrow's the day! I finally got the enclosure all set up (with the seedlings we have started for tortoise food on top eventually they will go in the tank). Waiting for it to even out as I just turned everything on tonight but the overall temp is around 80 with humidity levels in the 90s. I've been dehydrating wheat grass, hibiscus leaves and flowers, squash blossoms and strawberry leaves to supplement the green grasses and spring mix(what she has been eating and I will continue to feed while weaning her onto fresh weeds and grasses). Overall, we have been doing a lot of prep work and are super excited for our baby tort to get here!
Here is our enclosure! Hard to get good pictures through the condensation haha

 

[kaTeeTort]

She arrived safe and sound! (It's a she until proven otherwise ) she arrived, had a nice soak, and proceeded to explore the whole enclosure and munch down on some greens. I was told she is about 5-7 weeks old and was just starting to eat grass so I'll keep trying that. We are totally in love with her! And the name hunt continues!

 

[kaTeeTort]

Also, I'm not sure if it is scarred or if the seam on the plastron is not fully closed. Is there anything special I need to do if it is not?