So without much forethought Wife and daughters brought home a beautiful redfoot tortoise (Turbo) to our family, from the reptile show. That's left me scrambling to get him set up, at least temporarily until I can create a more permanent habitat.
He is small and we are getting our first bit of "cool" weather in Tampa, FL. Eventually I will build an outdoor enclosure, but because of his youth and the cold he will be indoors for the near future. I read as much info as I could as quickly as I could and have put together a habitat with some things that were donated to us, stuff we had on hand, as well as a few things we could get next day shipped from amazon, lol.
He came home Sunday evening and hasn't seemed to be too interested in eating all that much. If placed in front of his food he'll eat a few bites then pretty quickly heads to a hiding spot.
Here is a pic of current set up:
Heating and Lighting
The lamp on the left has a ceramic heater in it. It is getting about 85° directly under it. The cool side is room temp, which is typically 75° during the day, but with current weather will get down to 70° at night. The tube bulb is a 22" T5 HO 10.0 uvb, https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/zoo-med-reptisun-100-uvb-t5-ho-lamp-24-watts. It is 18" away from the surface. I feel like I've read different things now about having a hot and cool side.
1. Should i try to have one consistent temperature? 80°-85°?
2. I've been turning off light and heat at night. Should I leave heat on all night? Or perhaps just cool it down some with a thermostat?
3. Can anyone recommend a good thermostat?
Any other thoughts.
Humidity
I'm definitely struggling maintaining a consistent humidity. From reading I need to be between 80-90. I have cypress mulch and the sphagnum moss. I've just been spraying it down as often as i can but it fluctuates quite a bit, from 80 right after a spray down to 50% after several hours. I'm currently only measuring with the cheapo analog unit but plan to replace that asap. From reading, the best solution is going to involve a cover.
4. Given the current levels and swings in humidity how important is it to get the humidity constantly dialed in? Do i need to get this squared away with a covered habitat in the next day or two? Or will he be Ok for a couple weeks until I can create a better habitat?
5. Any ideas how I can maintain more consistent humidity with this open top set up for now?
I probably have a million more questions but this post is probably already too long.
Thanks so much for any and all thoughts and advice.
He is small and we are getting our first bit of "cool" weather in Tampa, FL. Eventually I will build an outdoor enclosure, but because of his youth and the cold he will be indoors for the near future. I read as much info as I could as quickly as I could and have put together a habitat with some things that were donated to us, stuff we had on hand, as well as a few things we could get next day shipped from amazon, lol.
He came home Sunday evening and hasn't seemed to be too interested in eating all that much. If placed in front of his food he'll eat a few bites then pretty quickly heads to a hiding spot.
Here is a pic of current set up:
Heating and Lighting
The lamp on the left has a ceramic heater in it. It is getting about 85° directly under it. The cool side is room temp, which is typically 75° during the day, but with current weather will get down to 70° at night. The tube bulb is a 22" T5 HO 10.0 uvb, https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/zoo-med-reptisun-100-uvb-t5-ho-lamp-24-watts. It is 18" away from the surface. I feel like I've read different things now about having a hot and cool side.
1. Should i try to have one consistent temperature? 80°-85°?
2. I've been turning off light and heat at night. Should I leave heat on all night? Or perhaps just cool it down some with a thermostat?
3. Can anyone recommend a good thermostat?
Any other thoughts.
Humidity
I'm definitely struggling maintaining a consistent humidity. From reading I need to be between 80-90. I have cypress mulch and the sphagnum moss. I've just been spraying it down as often as i can but it fluctuates quite a bit, from 80 right after a spray down to 50% after several hours. I'm currently only measuring with the cheapo analog unit but plan to replace that asap. From reading, the best solution is going to involve a cover.
4. Given the current levels and swings in humidity how important is it to get the humidity constantly dialed in? Do i need to get this squared away with a covered habitat in the next day or two? Or will he be Ok for a couple weeks until I can create a better habitat?
5. Any ideas how I can maintain more consistent humidity with this open top set up for now?
I probably have a million more questions but this post is probably already too long.
Thanks so much for any and all thoughts and advice.