My tort gets the inside of enclosure wet. How to mitigate?

ChucktownTort

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I built a nice little 4x2 version of Toms night box and my 6 year old leopard has been living in it since last winter. I am in the south east US, near Atlantic coast.

The house is super secure and temps are good, but the last few months I have been noticing the inside is pretty wet. Per many forum discussions the floor isn’t sealed/treated though I did silicone all joints and cracks.

It seems that she is peeing inside and I didn’t notice over the winter with much lower humidity but now with humidity outside closer to 60-80% it isn’t evaporating. I have been propping the roof open during the day which has helped but I am wondering if there is a substrate I should lay down? I just don’t want to rot out the floor prematurely.

Thanks ahead of time for excellent advice.
 

Byron Todd

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I would definitely remove the substrate, dry thoroughly with heat lamps, then seal the enclosure. I use a fiberglass resin but others might have a better idea.

The rotting wood will harbor fungus and damage the enclosure.
 

Tim Carlisle

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Spray down the bottom with flex seal. I forget who gave me that idea, but it makes it sooooo much easier to clean, waterroofs and protects the floor, and can stand up to any abuse your leopard can put on it.
 

Maro2Bear

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I have a nice 2-3 inch layer of cypress mulch inside our Sully’s “night box”. It does a good job of adsorbing all the extra liquids. Every week or so I prop open the lid on a nice sunny day and it all drys out.
 

ChucktownTort

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I would definitely remove the substrate, dry thoroughly with heat lamps, then seal the enclosure. I use a fiberglass resin but others might have a better idea.

The rotting wood will harbor fungus and damage the enclosure.


Excellent recommendation. I believe I used the fiber roof sealer on the bottom of my chicken coop and it is still holding up years since. Problem was I had to buy a 50 gallon drum (this one was what I have used prior https://www.lowes.com/pd/BLACK-JACK-4-75-Gallon-Fibered-Waterproofer-Cement-Roof-Sealant/3009895). Do you have any smaller options you might recommend?
 

ChucktownTort

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Spray down the bottom with flex seal. I forget who gave me that idea, but it makes it sooooo much easier to clean, waterroofs and protects the floor, and can stand up to any abuse your leopard can put on it.

Really good and easy recommendation. And I can always make a boat from my screen door with the leftovers.
 

Maro2Bear

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I built a nice little 4x2 version of Toms night box and my 6 year old leopard has been living in it since last winter. I am in the south east US, near Atlantic coast.

The house is super secure and temps are good, but the last few months I have been noticing the inside is pretty wet. Per many forum discussions the floor isn’t sealed/treated though I did silicone all joints and cracks.

It seems that she is peeing inside and I didn’t notice over the winter with much lower humidity but now with humidity outside closer to 60-80% it isn’t evaporating. I have been propping the roof open during the day which has helped but I am wondering if there is a substrate I should lay down? I just don’t want to rot out the floor prematurely.

Thanks ahead of time for excellent advice.


I forgot to ask, do you have any substrate in the box, or just plywood? Like i stated above, a few inches of cypress mulch does wonders. The added b3nefit is it gives our Sully some burrowing/digging/snuggling in material.

Good luck.
 

ChucktownTort

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I forgot to ask, do you have any substrate in the box, or just plywood? Like i stated above, a few inches of cypress mulch does wonders. The added b3nefit is it gives our Sully some burrowing/digging/snuggling in material.

Good luck.

There is no substrate, just plywood. She seems cool with it but it definitely has gotten messy inside now.

How often do you change the substrate, biweekly or so?
 

Maro2Bear

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There is no substrate, just plywood. She seems cool with it but it definitely has gotten messy inside now.

How often do you change the substrate, biweekly or so?


Every now and then I’ll add a bucket of new fresh cypress mulch inside, and remove a bit of the old stuff. Our sully goes in and out throughout the day, usually drags some out every now and then. I really never take it all out and replace. The mulch really keeps the inside rather clean and dry. No wet spots. Lift the lid, scoop out any “deposits” and let some sun inside too. The last thing i also did (before adding mulch) was to add a second (removable) piece of plywood on the inside floor/bottom. If anything is getting wet it’s that piece which is easily removed and replaced if needed. Ive never had to.

Good luck.
 

Yvonne G

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Really good and easy recommendation. And I can always make a boat from my screen door with the leftovers.
Unless people have seen the commercial, they won't get this, but I had to laugh out loud at the mental picture!! Thanks for cheering me up.
 

Byron Todd

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Excellent recommendation. I believe I used the fiber roof sealer on the bottom of my chicken coop and it is still holding up years since. Problem was I had to buy a 50 gallon drum (this one was what I have used prior https://www.lowes.com/pd/BLACK-JACK-4-75-Gallon-Fibered-Waterproofer-Cement-Roof-Sealant/3009895). Do you have any smaller options you might recommend?
Sorry it took so long to get back to you. You can get gallons of fiberglass resin on ebay for fairly cheap.
 

Tom

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I have plain untreated plywood on the floors of my tortoise houses. I usually put in some dry dirt to absorb the mess and then scrape the mud out with a flat nosed shovel. My leopard girls are the worst for this. I've found that soaking them a couple times a week empties them out and greatly reduces or eliminates the waste in the boxes. After about 6 years, the floor was starting to rot in one area. I made a plywood patch, covered the area, and its still going strong years later. If need be, I'll remove the patch and replace it with a new one.
 

MIReptilian

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I'm going to try Henry tropicool roof coating in my indoor tortoise table. 100% silicone and is supposed to protect flat roofs from pooling water in tropical climates. $60.00 a gallon at home depot. Hopefully it works.
 

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