Tell me what to fix or whatnot, please

[britsip]

This is my 4' x 2' closed chamber enclosure for my 3 year old Sri Lankan Star tortoise, that I will be receiving from Chris (gardenstate) on August 2nd. Please, help me out and share you opinions on what I can improve.

Information: Ignore the current temperature and humidity displayed. I was messing with things when I took the pictures.

Average daytime temperatures: 93° basking, 75-80° cool side, and
80-82 ° ambient. Humidity is ranging from 70-80%. I've been planning for a hatchling, but am not sure what a 3 year old's range should be. Help there, please.

Bedding is a base layer of coco coir topped with cypress mulch.

Hot side has a flipped terracotta pot with orchard moss and coco coir mixed in (kept damp), with the log and Spanish Moss hanging down.

Cool side has the large wood hide that is current stuffed with some coco coir and straw.

Water dish is terracotta saucer surrounded by stones.

I have a probe temperature gauge on the cool and hot side. A digital temperature and humidity gauge reading the hot side and inside the wood hide. I also have a humidity gauge in the middle of the enclosure and a probe gun.

Lighting: Reptisun 10.0 tube that is on a timer for 13 hours. 50w halogen flood light for basking above flat stone. A secondary 150w CHE is located towards the middle of the cage for nightime heat. (The CHE is 150w because it gets so cold during the winter, but is currently not in the cage pics) Both the basking light and CHE are hooked into the Herbstat 2 and are on a day/night cycle. Nightime temperature is set to 78°.

All the plants are air plants, including the spanish moss.

Please, tell me anything and everything I should adjust, change, fix, whatnot.

 

[JVBassin]

Hi, so does your tortoise like the substrate? Because my tortoise likes a mix of bark shavings, coconut fiber, and soft wood shavings. If I were you i would have an area like in his/her hide and by a non-basking area with soft fibers like coconut fiber or tortoise dirt. (Just something soft) Good Luck and happy Torting! (If that's a word lol)

 

[britsip]

Thanks JVBassin, I'll definitely make a soft spot and think about changing the bedding completely. I don't have my tortoise till Tuesday, so I have time to tweek things. And torting should definitely be a verb!

 

[Yvonne G]

I like it. I would keep the substrate as is.

 

[JVBassin]

Yvonne G the substrate is good but for little torts they need to burrow and have a soft spot for sleeping. My tortoise is 7 and he refuses to sleep on anything other than his basking tile, hay, or coconut fiber.

 

[Linhdan Nguyen]

The substrate should be fine. Not one substrate is good for all tortoises but some are more favorable. See how your tortoise likes it when he/she comes.
I use soil and coco coir with a layer or fir bark on top.

 

[mctlong]

Dont forget to post pics when you get your little star home!

 

[Speedy-1]

Looks like you have done your homework ! Looks good , leave it alone .If it ain't broke , don't fix it !

 

[Gillian M]

A great job, well done!

Look forward to seeing pics of your tort.

And a very warm welcome to the forum.

 

[Travis]

Huh. My 2 year old red foots seems fine with wood shavings. As well as both of my 2 month old hatchlings. All three of them burrow quite well in the substrate i have.

 

[wellington]

The only thing I can see that might need changing is size. A three year old may need more room. I don't know how big a 3 year old is in the stars though. It would have been small for my leopard when he was 3. I have an almost 1 year old leopard in a 2x4 now and soon will be giving him the whole enclosure which is 4x4.