boomertort
New Member
Hello everyone! So, as I can see domesticated tortoise care has an assortment of opinions on how it should be done via google and YouTube. This makes it very troubling for me and I was hoping I can get advice from some experienced tortoise owners about my current enclosure I have set up for my Leopard tortoise hatchling named Boomer.
I currently have Boomer in a 40 gallon terrarium bedded with Forest floor bedding (moist mulch like bedding). I have the standard hollowed out log for the little buddy to take cover in. A medium sized food and water dish. I have two deep dome small lamps: one has an infrared basking bulb (100 w) and one has an uvb 100 bulb (26 w).
I have been feeding him organic spring mix that is high in calcium and giving him a warm soak every other day for at least 5 mins. I also spray his bedding with a mist spray bottle daily and sometimes at night if the humidity is low. Boom seems to love his enclosure as I can see from his high activity level, eating all his greens daily and having consistent bowel movements. Recently he has been pooing in his water dish lol.
Now getting to what I’m questioning. During the day, I see that his enclosure is usually around 82 degrees F during the day with a 70% or so humidity and during the night the lights go off (I have a timer switch that keeps his lights on from 8:30 am to 8:30 pm) and his enclosure gets to be around 72 degrees with a similar humidity when I get home from work around 2 am. I’m wondering if I need bigger lamps or if these temps are good to keep Boomer healthy? He seems to be healthy but I’m not an expert by any means.
For more background on his behavior, he usually wakes up a hour or so after his lights turn on, goes to eat, naps, soaks in his water, naps, eats a little more, and sleeps. He also likes to nest which I find to be cute. He uses the bedding as a pillow lol. Just trying to see what you guys think. Sorry for the long post but thanks for reading!
I currently have Boomer in a 40 gallon terrarium bedded with Forest floor bedding (moist mulch like bedding). I have the standard hollowed out log for the little buddy to take cover in. A medium sized food and water dish. I have two deep dome small lamps: one has an infrared basking bulb (100 w) and one has an uvb 100 bulb (26 w).
I have been feeding him organic spring mix that is high in calcium and giving him a warm soak every other day for at least 5 mins. I also spray his bedding with a mist spray bottle daily and sometimes at night if the humidity is low. Boom seems to love his enclosure as I can see from his high activity level, eating all his greens daily and having consistent bowel movements. Recently he has been pooing in his water dish lol.
Now getting to what I’m questioning. During the day, I see that his enclosure is usually around 82 degrees F during the day with a 70% or so humidity and during the night the lights go off (I have a timer switch that keeps his lights on from 8:30 am to 8:30 pm) and his enclosure gets to be around 72 degrees with a similar humidity when I get home from work around 2 am. I’m wondering if I need bigger lamps or if these temps are good to keep Boomer healthy? He seems to be healthy but I’m not an expert by any means.
For more background on his behavior, he usually wakes up a hour or so after his lights turn on, goes to eat, naps, soaks in his water, naps, eats a little more, and sleeps. He also likes to nest which I find to be cute. He uses the bedding as a pillow lol. Just trying to see what you guys think. Sorry for the long post but thanks for reading!