Questions about glass for enclosures for redfoots..

[Emily Deshar]

I've heard that glass sides are a no no, but no one has really expanded on why.. I tried googling it because I want to know before we build my baby her forever enclosure. So when I was researching, there were different opinions.. some say it's ok and others said no. The reason why not to was because not enough air can get through, but we were gonna have a wood top so we would put wholes in for air to go through.. and other said it is hard to have varying temperatures. We are making it 4x6.5 so we would have the che lamp on one side so the other side wont be so hot..
Is there other reasons why we should get acrylic or something instead? We got 2 show cases that we are going to put together and lower the base of it so there can be deep dirt for plants and so she wont be so close to the lights. And the top we would have a wood frame to hang the lights, but plexi glass or something to cover the lid. Would this be ok with the wholes in the side of the wood frame and glass only on the sides?? I want what is best for my girl. Right now she is in a plastic tub, but she is getting bigger so this summer my hubby was going to build it. I keep getting different opinions from people on Facebook so I was seeing if anyone on here had thoughts and experience with redfoots in glass.
Thanks!!
*Picture of the show cases included*

 

[xMario]

I've heard that glass sides are a no no, but no one has really expanded on why.. I tried googling it because I want to know before we build my baby her forever enclosure. So when I was researching, there were different opinions.. some say it's ok and others said no. The reason why not to was because not enough air can get through, but we were gonna have a wood top so we would put wholes in for air to go through.. and other said it is hard to have varying temperatures. We are making it 4x6.5 so we would have the che lamp on one side so the other side wont be so hot..
Is there other reasons why we should get acrylic or something instead? We got 2 show cases that we are going to put together and lower the base of it so there can be deep dirt for plants and so she wont be so close to the lights. And the top we would have a wood frame to hang the lights, but plexi glass or something to cover the lid. Would this be ok with the wholes in the side of the wood frame and glass only on the sides?? I want what is best for my girl. Right now she is in a plastic tub, but she is getting bigger so this summer my hubby was going to build it. I keep getting different opinions from people on Facebook so I was seeing if anyone on here had thoughts and experience with redfoots in glass.
Thanks!!
*Picture of the show cases included*

Im No expert but I'm sure more experienced members will shine in and give u really good advice [emoji16] for now I can only give u my opinion about glass:

I'm not a big fan of glass cause tortoises seem to try all day to get through it they don't seem to really understand glass what is no suprise cause in the wild there are no invisible barriers so u may end up with a tortoise constantly walking against the glass.

Then ofc u will need more heat to remain ur desired temperatures cause big glass walls don't save the warmth good so higher energy costs.

I don't think u will have a problem with not enough air no one builds an air tight enclosure plus opening it for the daily routine would definitely exchange enough air. I also think ur tortoise would benefit from higher humidity what is way easier to accomplish with a almost complete closed setup.

Personally I had no luck with Facebook groups the advice they gave me was mostly outdated and wrong so i joined this forum and the advice given here has actually improved the life of my tortoise.

 

[Emily Deshar]

Im No expert but I'm sure more experienced members will shine in and give u really good advice [emoji16] for now I can only give u my opinion about glass:

I'm not a big fan of glass cause tortoises seem to try all day to get through it they don't seem to really understand glass what is no suprise cause in the wild there are no invisible barriers so u may end up with a tortoise constantly walking against the glass.

Then ofc u will need more heat to remain ur desired temperatures cause big glass walls don't save the warmth good so higher energy costs.

I don't think u will have a problem with not enough air no one builds an air tight enclosure plus opening it for the daily routine would definitely exchange enough air. I also think ur tortoise would benefit from higher humidity what is way easier to accomplish with a almost complete closed setup.

Personally I had no luck with Facebook groups the advice they gave me was mostly outdated and wrong so i joined this forum and the advice given here has actually improved the life of my tortoise.

Yes. I figured if I noticed my tortoise walking around the sides I would have a sticker or paper around so she couldnt see out. She does that now sometimes and she is in a blue plastic tub and cant see out.. it's rare she does it, but sometimes she does. Specially when it's been nice so I let her outside for a little while every day. So I think she just would rather be outside lol
Yes! Facebook seems to have a lot of varying opinions and not many can agree.. here I know there are more experienced breeders and owners. That's why for the big things like setting up an enclosure I wanted to ask here Haha. Trust it more.
Thank you for your input though

 

[jsheffield]

I started my redfoot out in a 75g aquarium, and now he lives in an enclosure with one long side in glass and he never seems to notice, much less be bothered by it.

Some of the "common knowledge" of the tortoise world seems to just be stuff that's been passed along long enough to be canonized.

Jamie

 

[Kent B.]

I think it’s usually because of the reflection and because they try to get out, but I’m not to experienced.

 

[Relic]

I would be more worried about the flooring in those glass cases - they look like wood or fiberboard. You're going to want to create a humid environment (80% or more) and that wood will have to be protected with some type of moisture barrier. I think the glass side conundrum really depends on the individual tortoise, some seem to forever focus on the "other side" and some seem indifferent. I think those display cases, combined somehow, could make a splendid enclosure. You just might have to obscure the lower 6" of the glass if the tortoise becomes transfixed with the other world. You could easily paint the outside of the glass to block the view...

 

[Yvonne G]

I see the potential in those cases. Like Relic says, waterproof the flooring and it should work out fine. You won't know if your tortoise is bothered by the glass until you put him in there. It's an easy fix if it bothers him.

 

[Emily Deshar]

I would be more worried about the flooring in those glass cases - they look like wood or fiberboard. You're going to want to create a humid environment (80% or more) and that wood will have to be protected with some type of moisture barrier. I think the glass side conundrum really depends on the individual tortoise, some seem to forever focus on the "other side" and some seem indifferent. I think those display cases, combined somehow, could make a splendid enclosure. You just might have to obscure the lower 6" of the glass if the tortoise becomes transfixed with the other world. You could easily paint the outside of the glass to block the view...

Yes we are cutting the bottom and lowering it and will add some wood then put pond liner over it or paint it. Yes. I figured if she runs the sides I will paint or put some paper around the sides. Thank you for your input.

 

[TammyJ]

Yes we are cutting the bottom and lowering it and will add some wood then put pond liner over it or paint it. Yes. I figured if she runs the sides I will paint or put some paper around the sides. Thank you for your input.

Keep us posted on the progress. If you can manage to provide the correct lights, temperature and humidity levels then it seems OK to me. For now.

 

[willee638]

These are beautiful show cases for a pet shop as displays are usually made of glass, the reason because pet stores use glass sides so the tortoises appears much more active by walking along the sides of the displays from every direction probably trying to get out & doesn't stop to hide or rest in anything that's not visible for potential customers to see. That's nice for a pet shop but is it good your tortoises tries all day looking throught the other side wanting to get out in vain? I heard this will give your pet torts lots of unwanted stress & another argument is humidity is better with glass to keep moistures in, I recently built my own wooden enclosure laying down the right & proper substrates in an entire wooden enclosure is fine & my red foot tort seems happy as she was in a glass fish aquarium previously & was pacing around & bumping her head into the glass walls.

 

[Tom]

There is nothing wrong with glass or see through enclosures. It doesn't stress them anymore than opaque walls. I, and several other keepers here, have been using glass tanks to start 100s of babies for decades with no issues. This is a persistent myth, and it sounds so logical when explained, except that it just isn't true.

I think this fallacy started because people would buy a wild caught tortoise from a pet store and keep it in a small tank. Of course the thing paced the walls all day, but not because it was see through. Its because the enclosure was too small and because the tortoise is trying like hell to get back to its home territory.

 

[willee638]

There is nothing wrong with glass or see through enclosures. It doesn't stress them anymore than opaque walls. I, and several other keepers here, have been using glass tanks to start 100s of babies for decades with no issues. This is a persistent myth, and it sounds so logical when explained, except that it just isn't true.

I think this fallacy started because people would buy a wild caught tortoise from a pet store and keep it in a small tank. Of course the thing paced the walls all day, but not because it was see through. Its because the enclosure was too small and because the tortoise is trying like hell to get back to its home territory.

Thank you, that makes sense because my tortoise saw her shadow reflected on the wooden enclosure walls & pressed her head against it maybe also wanting to go throught it. I think in the wild there're almost no barrier that tortoises couldn't climb over or walk throught, my tortoise always tries to push away stones to get between them so I heard adults will dig under a fence & escape.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I'm also a fan of glass as a type of enclosure. Easy to clean. Doesn't absorb smells or bacteria, it's clear, etc.
My issue is with the form... usually it's a fish aquarium. These are mostly unnecessarily tall and narrow for the length. Not ideal when you want maximum width and length with sides no taller than 12".
With these limits, even a very large aquarium of, say 100 gallons is still a relatively small space for a growing tortoise.
So, glass? Sure!
But it might have you building a custom enclosure. And those get very expen$ive.

 

[willee638]

I'm also a fan of glass as a type of enclosure. Easy to clean. Doesn't absorb smells or bacteria, it's clear, etc.
My issue is with the form... usually it's a fish aquarium. These are mostly unnecessarily tall and narrow for the length. Not ideal when you want maximum width and length with sides no taller than 12".
With these limits, even a very large aquarium of, say 100 gallons is still a relatively small space for a growing tortoise.
So, glass? Sure!
But it might have you building a custom enclosure. And those get very expen$ive.

Yes fish aquariums are all rectangular, long, narrow & tall never square, I too at first used a small fish tank for my red foot baby & for sure it wasn't made for tortoises. I agree if you can have a custom made glass enclosure would be most ideal & might even be easier to clean, but personally I still prefer wood & wooden materials are cheaper to customize.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Yes fish aquariums are all rectangular, long, narrow & tall never square, I too at first used a small fish tank for my red foot baby & for sure it wasn't made for tortoises. I agree if you can have a custom made glass enclosure would be most ideal & might even be easier to clean, but personally I still prefer wood & wooden materials are cheaper to customize.

My hatchling closed chamber is indeed a fish tank.
But it's for hatchlings.