My 1st set up, post advice please

[tortdad]

Okay so here is my 1st set up for my 3 month old Redfoot. He's my first tort and I've already gotten some great advice on here so I'm looking for some more for Raphael's first home.

Per advice on here he's already got:
Zoo med 100w CHE on 24/7
Zoo med 100w sun power basking light and UVB combo runs 12 hrs a day on a timer
Long fiber Sphagnum moss

I cut a ceramic pot in half for his hide and use (2) ceramic saucers for his food and water. The larger one is plenty big enough for him to get into and soak.

Redfoots need high humidity and with this open top I'm not getting the 80-90% he needs so I need some ideas. I've tilted his enclosure towards the side where the wet moss is. I'm thinking about getting a clear piece of plexi glass and putting over the right half of his enclosure to hold the humidity in. I still need to find some plants to out in there for shade and snacking.

What else should I do or get?

 

[Yellow Turtle01]

Some edible plants would be nice, and you need a UVB. Tube lights are best, and don't ever get a coil.

 

[tortdad]

I ordered a temp gun the other day but I don't have it yet. I had his hide spot in the moist end of the enclosure and I put my hand in there and it felt cold so I'm switched his house to the warm side.

 

[tortdad]

Some edible plants would be nice, and you need a UVB. Tube lights are best, and don't ever get a coil.

That basking bulb I have doubles as a UVB too. I has a coil type and someone here clouded me in to that last night. Why would anyone even make those

 

[NicoleB26]

Definitely cover the top to hold the humidity in. Just a tip I learned the hard way: when you are ready for a larger enclosure make it a closed chamber. I battled with an open top enclosure for quite some time before I built my closed chamber now I barely have to worry about humidity it's a piece of cake BTW adorable redfoot!

 

[tortdad]

Woud it hold humidity if I only covered half? If I cover it can I leave the lights on the outside of the plexi glass?

 

[naturalman91]

heavily planted real or fake and with reds it best to get a tube uvb if it's the coil types can cause eye damage and blindness they make them because they're cheap and they're mostly for fish mounted horizontally

 

[Yellow Turtle01]

That basking bulb I have doubles as a UVB too. I has a coil type and someone here clouded me in to that last night. Why would anyone even make those

That's great then! Looks nice.

 

[tortdad]

Doing a little experimenting this morning. I put some clear cling wrap over the wet half to see how much it helps. I don't want to cover the entire thing because I don't know what to do with the lights.

 

[NicoleB26]

Some people cut holes out the top of plexiglass and sit the lights on top I have never done that myself but If you look through the enclosure area of this forum you will see all kinds of ideas. I had a large enclosure mostly covered with only about 12" uncovered along the back for lighting and I still battled with humidity. My redfoot I raised from a hatchling has some mild pyramiding because it. I highly recommend finding something that will work as a closed chamber to prevent the same thing happening to your hatchling. I don't think your setup will hold enough humidity as it is now. Sorry don't mean to be a downer I used a large rubber tote when my sulcata was a hatchling I hung lights from a board I mounted across the tote by drilling hole and securing it with zip ties and covered the whole thing with plexiglass that worked well. I even attached 2 totes together as he grew to give him more room. Hope this helps

 

[Turtlepete]

Personally, I think you need to just build a tortoise table or get another enclosure you can cover entirely. That container is only going to last him a couple months tops before he needs something bigger, and it's obviously not very suitable. I would suggest just building a tortoise table, or finding a better solution. You need something with a lid. What would be ideal is say, just build a box, line it with pond liner to water-proof it (or you could paint it, perhaps), and get a piece of plexiglass for the top. Just cut a whole in them and put the lights through there. You can un-screw the light fixture of the heat lamps from the hood, so they will fit snugly in the lid.

 

[tortdad]

This enclosure was only meant to last him 3 months. Right now he's 3 months old and I wanted to keep him in a smaller controlled environment while I found a table design that will work for him.

The controlled part is where I'm coming up short. It's obvious to me now that anything other than a 100% enclosure is going to come up short so I will be getting some plexi glass for the top. I need to dig into the enclosure section and get some ideas.

Having a smaller experimental enclosure is going to help me in my table design. The last thing I want to do now is build a table only to find out it won't work. I want to build my little guy a penthouse house table with multiple levels in it.