- Joined
- Oct 10, 2011
- Messages
- 18
Hi everyone!
We wanted to share our Dimitri's enclosure with you all so that we can get some assistance. We are open to any suggestions as far as to how we have our set up, and if there is any way to improve it. We just want to make sure that he is happy and that there are no issues with his new home.
Just some background, we got Dimitri (Russian Tortoise) from a friend last Saturday (10/8/2011). We initially had him in a glass enclosure but found out that this might stress him out and it seemed a bit small.
He is about 4.5 inches long (not sure of his age)
We live in Pasadena CA. US
His current layout is:
45 gallon rubbermaid tub (hazy-clear plastic)
We have a Zilla slimline Desert 50 UVB (T8 Flourescant bulb) 4 inches above the enclosure
Zoo-med basking spot lamp (holds two bulbs) (about 7.25 inches above the enclosure, and set up to the far left of the enclosure)
Exo Terra 100w infrared Heat glo lamp (for night)
75w basking spot bulb for day
In the enclosure we have:
2 thermometers. 1 near the basking area to check how hot the temp can get, and 1 opposite the basking area to check how cool the temp can get.
On the basking site, the temp is usually between 85 - 95 degrees (can go up to 100 on a hot day, but we will turn off the lamp to let it cool a few degrees) and the cooler side usually stays between 80 - 85 degrees (90 on a hot day). We read that the cooler side should be around 75 degrees, but the weather has been unusally hot here (which should cool down in the next few days).
We worry that we may have some trouble with the temprature gradiant, but hope that once the weather cools out here it will be more managable.
1 Hygrometer to measure humidity in the enclosure. So far the humidity level ranges from 40% - 60%
The substrate consists of 50/50 mix of Coconut Coir and Play sand (read that this would be an ok setup on http://www.russiantortoise.org/)
a water dish located close to the basking area
a food dish in the cooler area (dont want his food to dry out)
a piece of cuttle bone
an extra large half log hideout (loves to hide in it)
some timothy hay
We soak him every 2 - 3 days, and allow for some time out in the sun. We try to keep him out for a good half hour but he tends to explore and find new hide spots, so he may actually get more of 15 minutes of sun. We dont want to keep picking him up though for fear of stressing him.
We do let him wander around the appartment for some exercise(always supervised).
I assume that it is just him adjusting to his new home so he has a few habits that we may be over-worring about. When in his enclosure he tends to dig at the corners and we are afraid that he is not eating as much as he should. I am pretty sure that this is normal adjustment behavior and that with some more time he will eat better.
I have added a few pictures of the enclosure (it looks a litlle dark since we took them at around 7 am this morning)
Thanks for your help & I apologize for the wall of text >_<
We wanted to share our Dimitri's enclosure with you all so that we can get some assistance. We are open to any suggestions as far as to how we have our set up, and if there is any way to improve it. We just want to make sure that he is happy and that there are no issues with his new home.
Just some background, we got Dimitri (Russian Tortoise) from a friend last Saturday (10/8/2011). We initially had him in a glass enclosure but found out that this might stress him out and it seemed a bit small.
He is about 4.5 inches long (not sure of his age)
We live in Pasadena CA. US
His current layout is:
45 gallon rubbermaid tub (hazy-clear plastic)
We have a Zilla slimline Desert 50 UVB (T8 Flourescant bulb) 4 inches above the enclosure
Zoo-med basking spot lamp (holds two bulbs) (about 7.25 inches above the enclosure, and set up to the far left of the enclosure)
Exo Terra 100w infrared Heat glo lamp (for night)
75w basking spot bulb for day
In the enclosure we have:
2 thermometers. 1 near the basking area to check how hot the temp can get, and 1 opposite the basking area to check how cool the temp can get.
On the basking site, the temp is usually between 85 - 95 degrees (can go up to 100 on a hot day, but we will turn off the lamp to let it cool a few degrees) and the cooler side usually stays between 80 - 85 degrees (90 on a hot day). We read that the cooler side should be around 75 degrees, but the weather has been unusally hot here (which should cool down in the next few days).
We worry that we may have some trouble with the temprature gradiant, but hope that once the weather cools out here it will be more managable.
1 Hygrometer to measure humidity in the enclosure. So far the humidity level ranges from 40% - 60%
The substrate consists of 50/50 mix of Coconut Coir and Play sand (read that this would be an ok setup on http://www.russiantortoise.org/)
a water dish located close to the basking area
a food dish in the cooler area (dont want his food to dry out)
a piece of cuttle bone
an extra large half log hideout (loves to hide in it)
some timothy hay
We soak him every 2 - 3 days, and allow for some time out in the sun. We try to keep him out for a good half hour but he tends to explore and find new hide spots, so he may actually get more of 15 minutes of sun. We dont want to keep picking him up though for fear of stressing him.
We do let him wander around the appartment for some exercise(always supervised).
I assume that it is just him adjusting to his new home so he has a few habits that we may be over-worring about. When in his enclosure he tends to dig at the corners and we are afraid that he is not eating as much as he should. I am pretty sure that this is normal adjustment behavior and that with some more time he will eat better.
I have added a few pictures of the enclosure (it looks a litlle dark since we took them at around 7 am this morning)
Thanks for your help & I apologize for the wall of text >_<