A Newbie needs a lot of advise for his sulcata enclosure

[Fredkas]

(I am sorry for my bad english, please ignore if i have a lot of grammatical error.)

A little environment background. I'm from Indonesia, where this country only have summer and rainy seasons. The climate all year would be around "77F - 82F at the night", "84F - 88F daylight rainy season", and "86F - 97F daylight summer season". The humidity at night reach to 70% and up. Daylight humidity should be 50% - 70%.

My indoor enclosure is set at a room with daylight temp around 89F at summer and 84F at rainy. The humidity always around 60%.

So i read Tom's "how to setup an enclosure for a baby sulcata" thread. I try to fullfil all of it. Still, i need a lot of advise from all of you because maybe i am still making a mistake. So feel free and i am really gratefull if people hop in and point at me what is wrong. Thank a lot.

My enclosure would be beside the window where it would never benefit from uvb (can't open the window, it is sealed.) This sunlight also just raise 2 or 3 F to my enclosure temp. So basicly, it just help for the baby to know day and night.

The enclosure is 2.6' x 6.6' x 1'. Closed one. Made from pvc rigid because i have it for sell, so easy for me to have this rather than other things. Here it is

The humid hide ceiling is attached with sponge. It is broken water tank. The substrate will be pure coco coir. I use CHE 50W attached to 82F - 92F thermostat, and exoterra intense basking incandescent bulb 50W attached to 5.30 A.M - 7.00 P.M timer. Very below, there will be pic showing where i place all the temp probe.
This is pic with coco coir..

You can see i make "fun" thing there for the baby sulcata. It is like tunnel. Why i make this? People here advise to spray the sulcata shell 3 4 times a day, but i am going to work from 8 a.m to 7 p.m. i would not be able to do that, so i use this tunnel, attached the ceiling with sponge. Adjust the height, hopefully the baby will walk through it, and its shell will touch the sponge, and get wet . This works? LOL..

I will throw some coco fiber inside the humid hide.

This is the enclosure cover

I left it in the morning, closed. Went back from work and it always foggy. My coco coir, i just squeeze it from water using my hand, so the condition is all damp but not dripping wet. My entire enclosure rated 99% humidity, which make me worry whether it is too wet? This is crucial. Please help. Ah yes, the coco coir height is 3 to 4 inches.

Somehow i am worry about my light, just about 5inches height from bask stone to light dome. I browse.. yes, mine is ridiculously close! So, lazily, i changed it. Now it is 9inches from the stone to the dome. I let the CHE like that, 6 inches to the coco coir, it is very unlikely to switch on anyway lol. My temp seldom drop to 82F.

So this is the temp probe location..

A: humidity 99% temp 86F - 89F. Night 84F - 85F
B: humidity 99% temp 82F - 87F. Night 79F - 81F
C: humidity 99% temp 87F - 90F. Night 84F - 87F
D: humidity 99% temp 84F - 88F. Night 84F - 85F (use temp gun, i havent buy the thermometer. This thermometer should be able to record max min temp.)
E: temp when light on 107F
F: this in thermostat temp probe. temp when light on 87F - 90F. Night 83F - 86F

I glued the temp probe to the basking stone. Is it ok?

Tell me when you spot error. Thank a lot.
I will soak the baby daily for 1hour and direct sun also 1 hour every day for every year except sunday, will be more outdoor activity. That is the only time i can spare.. no uvb light bulb. I need supplement or not? What supplement?

 

[Yvonne G]

All I can say is WOW! What a nice, big enclosure. The only thing missing are some plants and a picture of the tortoise.

 

[Gillian M]

All I can say is WOW! What a nice, big enclosure. The only thing missing are some plants and a picture of the tortoise.

What plants would you suggest? Am also planning to get more and more plants for OLI's new enclosure.

 

[Rue]

Ditto! Wow!

That's going to be one lucky tortoise!

 

[Fredkas]

Thanks Yvonne G and Rue, i havent adopt one lol. Think to make everthing ok first. And yes, what plant is the best inside indoor enclosure? I havent think of it yet.

 

[Sara G.]

You put an amazing amount of effort into that. I am absolutely in awe!!! It's beautiful!!!
You are going to make one tort SUPER HAPPY!!!!

Does the basking light provide UVB as well?

 

[Sara G.]

Spider plants are awesome indoor plants.
They're cheap too.
Just make sure you get chemical free ones (free from pesticides and stuff like that), or wait 6 months before allowing your tort to much on them.

You might be able to get small hostas (I don't know if they have dwarf ones but that would be nice). And if they get too big you can always keep it outdoors and give your tort a couple leaves every now and then for food.

Snake plant can work too. These can get really tall though.
And I think if you get any opituna cactus you could try planting one in there but I don't know if the enclosure would be tall enough or not.

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

Hi

 

[TortoiseWarrior]

Welcome.

 

[Fredkas]

Thanks all.
@Sara G. I am not using any uvb lamp. I will give the baby sulcata 1hour a day direct sun at around 8. A.M. that is max i can do. Sunday is exception, maybe i will able to give more and give the baby some outdoor walk. A bit information already written too above . Thanks for the plant suggestion. Huntingg... LOL.

Btw, for everyone. I am worrying about my humidity level. Please assist. The information is in the first post along with the pic.

Thanks for Grandpa Turtle 144 and TortoiseWarrior for the warm welcome .

 

[Jodie]

This is amazing! Your temps and humidity are great. It won't hurt to let it dry just a little, but it is good. Great even.

 

[Fredkas]

This is amazing! Your temps and humidity are great. It won't hurt to let it dry just a little, but it is good. Great even.

Really? The humidity rated 99% which i believe is 100% because the reading can't show 100 value. And that 99% is for the entire enclosure and all day. Already a week and no sign of turning down. The C probe down to 90 when i open the cover for a long time. Some surface of coco coir do dry out as u can see the color become light brown. But the humidity 99% all the way until today.

 

[Alexio]

Your humidity is rather high. I had a similar issue when I built my first closed chamber. I broke 3 hydrometers before someone finally keyed me in that since the entirety of the windows were filled with condensation there is not enough circulating air. High humidity is good 80\ 90 even 95 but when the hydrometer sits at 99 it's basically saying you have 100 % humidity which is not good . I use this on the top of my closed chambers to controller the amount of humidity. Not sure if it would work in yours but I would try to find a way to have more circulation. Think of it this way, you did such a good job enclosing your chamber that it retains all of the moisture.


This is a picture of the window as well , you can see even with the vent open all the way I have slight condensation in the bottom right corner. A little bit is okay but you don't want the entire thing covered.

 

[Fredkas]

Your humidity is rather high. I had a similar issue when I built my first closed chamber. I broke 3 hydrometers before someone finally keyed me in that since the entirety of the windows were filled with condensation there is not enough circulating air. High humidity is good 80\ 90 even 95 but when the hydrometer sits at 99 it's basically saying you have 100 % humidity which is not good . I use this on the top of my closed chambers to controller the amount of humidity. Not sure if it would work in yours but I would try to find a way to have more circulation. Think of it this way, you did such a good job enclosing your chamber that it retains all of the moisture.


This is a picture of the window as well , you can see even with the vent open all the way I have slight condensation in the bottom right corner. A little bit is okay but you don't want the entire thing covered.

I get some idea now. This is helpfull. Thanks a lot!

 

[Guzboss]

U did a really great job putting all of this together. I admire the dedication, time and effort u put into this enclosure. I like the tunnel with the sponge idea. Very clever. I might have to borrow that idea when I'm putting together my blastoise's enclosure sometime this month.

I don't know if it'll work , but maybe punching some holes on the cover to allow a bit of air circulation and dropping the humidity a bit. But other than that. Great job.

 

[Fredkas]

U did a really great job putting all of this together. I admire the dedication, time and effort u put into this enclosure. I like the tunnel with the sponge idea. Very clever. I might have to borrow that idea when I'm putting together my blastoise's enclosure sometime this month.

I don't know if it'll work , but maybe punching some holes on the cover to allow a bit of air circulation and dropping the humidity a bit. But other than that. Great job. View attachment 173889

Thank you guzboss. Glad that my idea can help you and others.
Yes i will try that. Should make a little experiment.
The passion i see in this forum make me want become a part of it. So i enjoy making all of this. And it's feel good haha..

 

[TortoiseWarrior]

You could also add another heat source to help bring down the humidity. Your enclosure is very nice, but with your cool side being that large your humidity will be higher. Maybe a CHE or another basking spot in the middle could help. You could let 1\3 of that wet\cool end be a little drier. You have some options here to play with humidity and get a balance for it including adding some vent holes. Nice job!

 

[Sara G.]

Thanks all.
@Sara G. I am not using any uvb lamp. I will give the baby sulcata 1hour a day direct sun at around 8. A.M. that is max i can do. Sunday is exception, maybe i will able to give more and give the baby some outdoor walk. A bit information already written too above . Thanks for the plant suggestion. Huntingg... LOL.
:.

I think that should be sufficient UVB for your baby, but keep a good eye on the shell. If you see any abnormal softness then you might need to get a UVB light (using an MVB works because it's both a basking light & a UVB light).
And remember that hatchlings usually have a sort of springiness to their shell, but I think usually that's gone by the time they're a year.

And I agree with other members, try to get more airflow in there (a second lamp will help for sure) to decrease humidity. The important thing is to make sure your top layer of coco coir isn't soaking wet but fairly dry. That way you won't have to worry about shell rot.

I'm still amazed at the work you put into this. It's so fantastic!!!!!

 

[Rue]

I like the idea of that air vent...

We use something similar in our chicken coop...

 

[Fredkas]

You could also add another heat source to help bring down the humidity. Your enclosure is very nice, but with your cool side being that large your humidity will be higher. Maybe a CHE or another basking spot in the middle could help. You could let 1\3 of that wet\cool end be a little drier. You have some options here to play with humidity and get a balance for it including adding some vent holes. Nice job!

I am afraid i can't add another bulb anymore. My cool side already 85F-88F. Almost touching the limit. Looks like my only option is ventilation.. I do make a little experiment. I opened the cover entirely. Left it for 5 hours until now. The humidity showing 72% now and still dropping. I think it is a good sign. Start to think the best way to make ventilation on its cover.

I think that should be sufficient UVB for your baby, but keep a good eye on the shell. If you see any abnormal softness then you might need to get a UVB light (using an MVB works because it's both a basking light & a UVB light).
And remember that hatchlings usually have a sort of springiness to their shell, but I think usually that's gone by the time they're a year.

And I agree with other members, try to get more airflow in there (a second lamp will help for sure) to decrease humidity. The important thing is to make sure your top layer of coco coir isn't soaking wet but fairly dry. That way you won't have to worry about shell rot.

I'm still amazed at the work you put into this. It's so fantastic!!!!!

That will be something that makes me worry. This will be my first time to adopt a tortoise. Entirely blind about what will be the condition when its starting showing MDB or MBD, i forget the name lol, how is the shell softness. Entirely blind.. But i'll do more research and annoy all of you a lot in the future .
Ah yes. I think i should send a pic tomorrow about the plant for the enclosure. I think i can get it easily. Hopefully it is what it is.