New enclosure

[kbroadway2]

I just finished Pickle's new enclosure. It's two 40 gallon Rubbermaid tubs with the sides cut out and taped together with weather proof duct tape. I used 50% topsoil and 50% coconut coir for substrate. I've got three clay pots as hides and some moist miss around them for him to hide in. I'm looking in to putting small ferns like the ones people use for fairy gardens in there. I've got one more large clay pot that I'm going to put in there as well. I'm using a mvb that is hanging about 18 inches from the substrate. The temperature in the warm side stays around 85 degrees and its 75 on the cool side. Humidity is staying at 80% since I moved him in.

When I first moved him in he was really active and exploring his new digs but he finally just buried himself under the moss until I fed him today. This is his winter home. It's not really cold out in Georgia right now so I still take him outside a few times a week. He really enjoys the sun. He always gets more active outside. Next summer I'm building him an outside enclosure to use while it's warm and he will winter inside again.

 

[Angel Carrion]

Red bulb needs to go. Colored bulbs disorient them and can possibly hurt their eyes, and it can make them eat their substrate because it makes the substrate look like food, which can lead to impaction.

 

[kbroadway2]

I took it out. I was reading about it the other day and saw that. I just haven't taken any more pictures.

 

[Angel Carrion]

I took it out. I was reading about it the other day and saw that. I just haven't taken any more pictures.

Oh okay.
If you need night time heat, or more heat to maintain proper temps, a ceramic heat emitter attached to a thermostat is perfect.

 

[kbroadway2]

My temps are 85 under the mvb and 75 on the cool side. I don't really need the che. Night time temps don't go below 70 without lights and heat. I initially thought I'd need more heat because the enclosure is so much bigger than his old one but I don't.

 

[Angel Carrion]

Basking under the MVB should be 90

 

[lisa127]

85 basking temp is fine. How old/big is your turtle?

 

[kbroadway2]

Pickle is 11 months old. He is 2.5 inches long and 2 inches wide. I don't have a weight because I don't have a kitchen scale.

 

[PistachioTurtle]

Love the name!

 

[kbroadway2]

Pickle has petunias now! I put them in clay pots buried in the substrate. I didn't plant them directly in the substrate because I want to be able to clean the enclosure. Now just waiting on my pill bugs!

 

[CanadianTestudo]

I see a lot of open space. Try putting in some larger rocks, pieces of wood, cork rounds, etc to break the sight barriers and give the turtle something more exciting to explore. You can also create some slopes and valleys by piling the substrate on top of some extra hides to make the enclosure more interesting for the tort and to give it a better workout