Intro

[ShellShock13]

My name is Damon, I am a first time turtle owner and I have a baby Eastern box turtle. His name is Raphael. I live in upstate South Carolina and have had my little guy for almost two months now. I have him in a 30 gallon Rubbermaid tote with about 5 inches of sphagnum peat moss and perlite-free soil as substrate. He has a flower pot cave, a hut, a tunnel, a flat warm rock, and nice shady plant in his enclosure. I had a difficult time keeping his humidity levels up, and I eventually rigged up a humidifier into a fogger that is really doing the trick. Now that the colder months are coming, the past couple of nights have been especially chilly, and my 100 watt heat bulb and UVB lamps just haven't kept it warm enough (daytime temp around 65-70°, nighttime around 60°). So I bought a ceramic heat emmitter and that really seems to be doing the trick. Again, I am new to the turtle owning life, so if anyone has any tips or suggestions, I'm all ears.

 

[tortadise]

Welcome. Those temps are a bit low. A ceramic heat emitter will work great. So will adding a lid to the top of the enclosure, you can also put the CHE on a thermostat to help regulate it.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Damon, and welcome to the Forum!

I have an evaporative cooler (it physically blows cool air out of the vent into the house - sort of like wind), so it doesn't do for me to have open-topped containers in the house for turtles. I have to cover all of them.

 

[Carol S]

Welcome to the Forum!

 

[ShellShock13]

Thank you all for the welcomes and advice. One thing I have done is lay a warm, damp towel over the top across the enclosure at night and that seems to help keep a lot of the warmth and humidity in.

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

Hello Damon welcome to the TFO from AZ. Where are the Picts of your box turtle and its enclosure ? We like Picts . Box turtles rule !


Sent from my iPhone using TortForum

 

[ShellShock13]

Grandpa I can't figure out how to upload them. I click on upload a file, and when I try to upload or browse it doesn't do anything. I have tons of pictures on my phone, I'd love to share them if I could figure out how.

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Welcome Damon!

 

[pam]

Welcome

 

[ShellShock13]

gphoto2://[usb:003,009]/store_00020001/Pictures/Camera%20Roll/WP_20141016_008.jpg

 

[ShellShock13]

 

[ShellShock13]

 

[ShellShock13]

 

[Alaskamike]

I think allot of times folks are hesitant to cover their enclosure thinking perhaps the baby won't get enough air. If you think of the shear volume of air in your enclosure com paired to the size of the tort it's not a problem.
As long as you open it for air exchange at least once a day.
If you covered the top of that tote with a piece of plexiglass and install the lights & heat bulb in it with a thermostats regulated switch , dampen the substrata daily, it will stay much more humid. The top doesn't have to be air tight, you can just lay it on there.
A smaller watt bulb - like a 65 then is more than enough , and the thermostat controller will shut it off so temps don't get too high. Some have cut a hole in the plexiglass run cord through it an hung the ceramic bulb under the plexiglass in a shield that way.

You have to play with this , but it can solve the humidity issues.