Beach Bum
Member
Mac is a yearling Hermanns we got 3 weeks ago. He's been in his new tortoise table that I built for 2 1/2 weeks now which is 4'x3'. The substrate I'm using is coco fiber, organic topsoil and cypress mulch, in total it's 4" deep. I put down a sheet of 1/2" exterior styrofoam insulation and covered with 30 mil shower pan liner. I made a 3'x3' PVC pipe grid with holes drilled in the piping and laid it on top of the shower pan liner and covered it with the substrate. There's a "T" with a riser that is just shy of the top of the enclosure. I take warm water and pour it into the riser and the water disperses evenly throughout the enclosure, wetting the substrate. I have a ZooMed Powersun 100 and 160 watt UV bulbs for basking which is 90-95 on the hot end and 85-90 in the warm zone. His hide is made of cedar and is placed in the cooler end of the table which is kept warm at night with a ZooMed 160 watt CHE and maintains 75-80 degrees. I keep plexiglass on 1/4 of the enclosure on both ends to keep humidity up. The soil is always damp and is typically 50% on the low end and 70%-75% humidity at night and early morning. The surface is pretty dry but I mist it several times a day lightly and the ambient humidity on the will be 40%-50% throughout the day but has gotten to 30% a few times. We've been feeding strawberry leaves, a little bit of Kale and carrot top greens. We have some dandelion weed started but no sprouts yet. Mac gets a shell size worth of food a day and finishes it off before noon. He has a shallow water dish to drink and gets a 20 min soak 4 times a week. His length is 3" and weighs 82 grams as of tonight. His bowel movements are daily or every other and is toothpaste consistency. I took some pics just after his soak tonight and want to know how his shell is looking. I noticed on his backside bottom the shell has a small, clear appearance almost like new growth but I'm not certain what it is. His shell isn't super smooth in fact I can feel some small bumps as I rub my finger across it. Take a look and let me know what you think. I'll get some pics up of his table in the next few days. We've still got to get some plants in it to spice it up a bit.
