Pyramiding or just growing ?

[Samantha hoffman]

Well i have a 30 gallon long. Eco earth bedding for him thats from cocoanut shells. He has a log hideout in the corner away from te lights and he has a pile of hay he always sleeps in and i do hnoe have a lid on top what kinda lid should i get

 

[Alexio]

There is unfortunately no pre-made lid that you can buy. I recommend using either one or more pieces of plexiglass cut to size( your local Lowe's will cut it to size for you for free) you just have to make a space for the light. I personally like to use reflectix. (Also sold at Lowe's) it can be cut and framed around the top of the tank. It holds in heat and humidity well.












I also used foil tape and metal screen window frames on the top for support to make the lids more sturdy.

 

[Tom]

This thread explains what to do:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/

You need a closed top and damp substrate. Your open ended hide is not adequate as a humid hide, and there should be no hay in the enclosure.

Here is another explanation of all the heating and lighting, but you need to close the top or make a closed chamber:
"Let me break down the heating and lighting thing. You need three or four elements:
1. Heat. During the day this is best accomplished with 65 watt flood bulbs from the hardware store set on digital timers. These also give some light. Move them higher or lower to get the basking temp under them correct. I buy them in 6 packs, so if they burn out I always have a spare on hand.
2. Light. Sometimes the basking bulb and ambient room light are enough. If not, use a tube style florescent strip light form the hardware store. Run it on the same timer as the heat lamps. Try to get a bulb in the 5000-6500K color range. The more common 2500K color range bulbs look yellowish.
3. Ambient temp maintenance and night heat. Tortoises need it dark at night, but still warm. This is best accomplished with the use of a CHE in a ceramic based fixture. Get the 11" ceramic based domes from Home Depot for all your heat lamps.
4. UV. Best to sun them for an hour two or more times a week. Its okay to skip a few weeks over winter and this will do no harm. If your tortoise will remain indoors for several months of each year during winter you will need to provide some artificial UV. Several options for this:
a. Use a mercury vapor bulb, like the power sun for your basking bulb. Use this in the Home Depot fixture I mentioned, not in a small pet store dome or deep dome. Replace it every fall.
b. Use a long tube type 10.0 florescent bulb. These MUST be mounted no more than 10-12" from the tortoise to be effective.
c. Get an Arcadia 12% HO bulb from lightyourreptiles.com. These are great, but they make a lot of UV. Mount it at least 18" and as much as 26" away from the tortoise and put it on its own timer for only about 4 hours a day."

 

[Fredkas]

Follow what alexio said and buy a a digital thermometer that can measure humidity, it is called hygrometer. It is cheap. You can find it online.

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]