This MUST End Now!!!

[wellington]

I was going to buy the tortoise from Arizona tortoise compound or tortoise yard or myturtlestore

My first was from myturtlestore. I Love my tortoise, but she has a good line but it's not good info. Tortoise compound I believe is okay, tortoise yard, I don't know. Ask how they start them. Hot and dry or hot and humid. If they say hot and dry, run! I know myturtlestore doesn't start them right at all.

 

[Detach]

My Che's are 100 watt and the MVB I believe is also 100 watt. If you wanted to do a flourescent UVB, then you may need to add a third che.
My hatchling which is almost two, well in November has been raised in a 4x4 greenhouse in my basement. Because of it being square, I have one MVB, one regular flourescent and 3 Che's all on timer or thermostat. The thermostats do the adjusting during the four seasons.

Alright as I already have a 100 watt heat emitter and mercury vapor balb already I just ordered one more 100 watt heat emitter. My last question is should I build it like a tortoise table, and then just put a greenhouse cover over it or should I build a wooden wall and roof around the whole bookshelf and put a sliding glass door on the front for maintenance? I didn't really know how he would like it as he got older since they become less reliant on humidity

 

[Tom]

I was going to buy the tortoise from Arizona tortoise compound or tortoise yard or myturtlestore

Ask each one of those sellers if they hatched the baby, what substrate the babies were started on, how often the babies are soaked, and how much time the babies spend outside.

Answers should be:
Yes.
Damp coir or orchid bark.
Every day.
No more than an hour.

If the answers are different than above, buy directly from one of the many breeders here on TFO that gives you the answers you want. Why do you want to buy from an online company instead of directly from the person who bred and started the tortoise?

 

[Tom]

Alright as I already have a 100 watt heat emitter and mercury vapor balb already I just ordered one more 100 watt heat emitter. My last question is should I build it like a tortoise table, and then just put a greenhouse cover over it or should I build a wooden wall and roof around the whole bookshelf and put a sliding glass door on the front for maintenance? I didn't really know how he would like it as he got older since they become less reliant on humidity

Be sure to run those heat emitters on a thermostat so they don't over heat the enclosure.

Also, MVBs tend to run too hot and they can over heat a closed chamber. That is one reason why I prefer lower wattage regular flood bulbs. The other reason is that MVBs really dry out the carapace and I think they contribute to more pyramiding.

 

[Jbrez]

You came to the right forum. The people on here have been through it all good and bad. So they know the right way to do things. I'm glad I found this forum before I bought my tortoise, it saved me lots of money and headaches.

 

[Jodie]

Alright as I already have a 100 watt heat emitter and mercury vapor balb already I just ordered one more 100 watt heat emitter. My last question is should I build it like a tortoise table, and then just put a greenhouse cover over it or should I build a wooden wall and roof around the whole bookshelf and put a sliding glass door on the front for maintenance? I didn't really know how he would like it as he got older since they become less reliant on humidity

Where you are keeping the enclosure will help you answer what is best for you. I use the greenhouse method, but my enclosures are in a tortoise room that is kept hot and humid. If the room is a normal room in a house, then the plastic will not be as insulating. A built closed chamber will work better.

 

[Detach]

Where you are keeping the enclosure will help you answer what is best for you. I use the greenhouse method, but my enclosures are in a tortoise room that is kept hot and humid. If the room is a normal room in a house, then the plastic will not be as insulating. A built closed chamber will work better.

They are staying in my bedroom so my question would be can he stay in a closed chamber until he outgrows it? Since they become less reliant on the humidity as they get older.

 

[Alaskamike]

This is " Elder" at 7lbs, & 6 yo.

JMO -
Just my opinion ,
I've raised a few Leopards. Only kept one older (6 yo ) now. Age certainly has much to do with it. As you probably know from the resources here - during the rapid growth years the shell formation is heavily influence by hydration.

So it would depend on the size of your closed chamber and how large one could get before being out of room.

In an open tortoise table , the temps & humidity of you environment make a big difference. Plus , to have the warmth they need for digestion & basking they need a heat emitter. Personally , I used a ceramic heat emitter - put out no light. With a fluorescent UV. And the frustration is , the heat just dissipates into the room. To get enough heat to the tortoise , I think it's tempting to put the heat source down, too close to the tortoise , & the heat directly on the top of the caprice can be very dessicating , drying the shell out to the point where the keratin has trouble with too much moisture loss. To mitigate this , the shell pyramids

My explanation may be a bit flawed scientifically , but the consequences are the same.

So .... the question then becomes , how old / big does a leopard tortoise need to be before a closed humid chamber is no longer needed.

It's tricky. But in general , I think I'd try to provide a closed humid environment for the first 3 years. And once in an open table , be sure to soak him often. Provide variant temps , & be careful with the temp directly on shell when sitting under the heat source.

There is no perfect answer. All anyone can do is provide the principles , & you have to adapt those to your particular situation.

Good fortune to you.

 

[Jodie]

They are staying in my bedroom so my question would be can he stay in a closed chamber until he outgrows it? Since they become less reliant on the humidity as they get older.

Humidity is always going to be important for hydration. When they are mostly grown, 10 to 12 inches, pyramiding is no longer as big an issue. So to answer your question, yes, you can keep them in closed chamber until they are too big to keep that way. Then provide a night box, humid hide for them.