Red foot tortoise lighting

[Phern089]

Hi everyone!
I’ve barely had my tort for about a week now. I have a dual dome lamp, with 60W heat bulb and a 5.0 UVB bulb. I got a thermometer and the temp was 74-76s. So i changed my 60w heat bulb up to 100w PLUS a nano dome with a 40w CHE. And I still cant get the temp into the 80s🥲 I dont know what to do at this point. Im thinking a whole new lamp and upgrade to 150w? I’ve seen so many people with ONE heat bulb and be fine with that. I have two and still not hot enough?

Humidity levels are 75-85 throughout the day. I use forest floor substrate, he has food and water available. Although he has been refusing to eat unless its fruit/veggies. Doesn’t touch lettuce or pellets (he gets twice a week, I spray pellets with water to moisten)

I have this cage from amazon

GEGURI Tortoise Habitat Wooden Turtle House, Indoor Tortoise Enclosure Outdoor Reptile Cage for Lizards Hamster with Waterproof Tray https://a.co/d/9Qp6CVZ

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Where in Florida are you located?
I'm in area code 33322 and have extra supplies.
It looks like almost everything you have is just wrong.
I'll post more this afternoon as I have more time

 

[Phern089]

Where in Florida are you located?
I'm in area code 33322 and have extra supplies.
It looks like almost everything you have is just wrong.
I'll post more this afternoon as I have more time

Where in Florida are you located?
I'm in area code 33322 and have extra supplies.
It looks like almost everything you have is just wrong.
I'll post more this afternoon as I have more time

Thank for replying! Miami area😅 would you be able to elaborate what we are doing wrong? Trying to fix it.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Thank for replying! Miami area😅 would you be able to elaborate what we are doing wrong? Trying to fix it.

Your lighting.
You need a T5 strip florescent uvb 10.0 tube. Screw-in type uvb bulbs are just dangerous. Especially mounted straight downward in a dome.
Heating should be a CHE with a high heat housing/reflector.
The light housing "DOUBLE DOME" is wrong.
The enclosure is wrong.
Almost everything you posted is incorrect.
I have a spare T5 10.0 uvb assembly and a spare che assembly that you can have.
But you'll need to search "closed chamber enclosures" and set up something like that. Or do what I'm doing and set up a secure (for smaller RF) outdoors enclosure where he/she can live most of the time.
Then you won't need any additional uvb. Just a temperature of 80-84 and 24/7 humidity of over 70%.
See if you can return that Amazon enclosure. It's not going to work for your tropical tortoise. I
The tortoise will be sick and the wood will quickly rot and fall apart.
That same $120 will go far in assembling your closed chamber enclosure.
If your new RF only wants to eat leafy greens and fruit. That's fine for now. Keep him fed and we'll hydrated while we get his housing figured out.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Look at my old YOUTUBE videos for outside enclosure ideas.
One is for adults.
The other was for raising hatchlings outdoors in south Florida

 

[Jumpkickjohnny]

Phern can you update with your changes please?
I live in Louisville Kentucky and took possession of a 3/4 year old CHRF about a week before Christmas. The original owners bought it during Covid and now “just don’t have time for it”. Anyway they gave me everything, and it’s pretty much the exact same setup that you had. Same enclosure (I hate it) and same lighting (spiral uvb and a heat light in a double dome). I covered the screen top with a piece of glass to up the temp and humidity, but it’s not good enough.

I’ve built a few enclosures before and I’m confident I can handle that, but I’m super confused about lighting and how to get and sustain the correct humidity level. This is just for the winter months, I’ll build an outdoor enclosure for summer time.

Zeropilot, any advice or suggestions are greatly appreciated and welcome.

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

Hi!
Yep, this tables are very common and there are a few common "band-aids" to make them suitable:
1. Use the aluminium foil over the mesh. Precisely cut around light fixtures.
2. Get a portable greenhouse top. Depending on its size put it on the table or put the whole table inside.
3. Ditch the table and go with a portable greenhouse/grow tent to get spacious temporary enclosure for cheap.

The best way to maintain humidity (obviously, when enclosure is covered):
1. Get 3-4 inches of substrate, in order of preference and messiness: fine grade fir bark (aka "orchid bark"), cypress mulch, coco coir.
2. Pour some cups of water in the corners to wet lower substrate layers. Repeat weekly or so (hygrometer will tell you). From time to time mix top/lower layers (maybe once in a two weeks or monthly) if you want to.

Lightning and heating:
1. Non-expensive LED light strip (aka under-cabinet lights) from a hardware store. Cold or neutral day light (color temperature around 6000K). Not super-bright. Set on timer for 12 hours a day.
2. T5 HO UVB lamp (long straight tube), lowest wattage/length. UVB percentage (this markings: 7%, 12%, 5.0, 10.0, Desert, Forest) depends on mounting height. Set on timer for 3-4 hours a day.
3. Heating: low to middle wattage ceramic heat emitter (e.g. 75 watt) in a wide dome. Set on a thermostat to 82-84F.

Putting all the stuff over the mesh top is not very flexible - you'll be bound by low enclosure height and have to stick with low wattage heating and low UV lamps which are hard to reuse in larger enclosures.

You may post your own thread, just in case, with photos of your tortoise and enclosure if you'd like to.

 

[Phern089]

Phern can you update with your changes please?
I live in Louisville Kentucky and took possession of a 3/4 year old CHRF about a week before Christmas. The original owners bought it during Covid and now “just don’t have time for it”. Anyway they gave me everything, and it’s pretty much the exact same setup that you had. Same enclosure (I hate it) and same lighting (spiral uvb and a heat light in a double dome). I covered the screen top with a piece of glass to up the temp and humidity, but it’s not good enough.

I’ve built a few enclosures before and I’m confident I can handle that, but I’m super confused about lighting and how to get and sustain the correct humidity level. This is just for the winter months, I’ll build an outdoor enclosure for summer time.

Zeropilot, any advice or suggestions are greatly appreciated and welcome.

Phern can you update with your changes please?
I live in Louisville Kentucky and took possession of a 3/4 year old CHRF about a week before Christmas. The original owners bought it during Covid and now “just don’t have time for it”. Anyway they gave me everything, and it’s pretty much the exact same setup that you had. Same enclosure (I hate it) and same lighting (spiral uvb and a heat light in a double dome). I covered the screen top with a piece of glass to up the temp and humidity, but it’s not good enough.

I’ve built a few enclosures before and I’m confident I can handle that, but I’m super confused about lighting and how to get and sustain the correct humidity level. This is just for the winter months, I’ll build an outdoor enclosure for summer time.

Zeropilot, any advice or suggestions are greatly appreciated and welcome.

I added a humidifier, the

Phern can you update with your changes please?
I live in Louisville Kentucky and took possession of a 3/4 year old CHRF about a week before Christmas. The original owners bought it during Covid and now “just don’t have time for it”. Anyway they gave me everything, and it’s pretty much the exact same setup that you had. Same enclosure (I hate it) and same lighting (spiral uvb and a heat light in a double dome). I covered the screen top with a piece of glass to up the temp and humidity, but it’s not good enough.

I’ve built a few enclosures before and I’m confident I can handle that, but I’m super confused about lighting and how to get and sustain the correct humidity level. This is just for the winter months, I’ll build an outdoor enclosure for summer time.

Zeropilot, any advice or suggestions are greatly appreciated and welcome.

I changed my UVB lighting to a 5.0 T5 strip, and heating to a 75W ceramic bulb. As well as a mini 40w ceramic bulb for basking. Added a humidifier and covered the top with Aluminum foil for now. Everything from amazon. I’ll probably buy those plant covers for the top. Its been overwhelming, my tort has had eye issues since I got him.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I added a humidifier, the

I changed my UVB lighting to a 5.0 T5 strip, and heating to a 75W ceramic bulb. As well as a mini 40w ceramic bulb for basking. Added a humidifier and covered the top with Aluminum foil for now. Everything from amazon. I’ll probably buy those plant covers for the top. Its been overwhelming, my tort has had eye issues since I got him.

With the correct lighting, his eyes should improve pretty fast.
Permanent damage takes a while to happen.