Best to buy a large closed chamber made of expanded PVC. Contact @Markw84 for one, or look to Reptile Basic or Animal Plastics. I don't have any experience with grow tents, but that would be better than nothing.Wrong terminology my bad!
yeah the house is...cute I guess? But I most certainly agree temps and humidity are not gonna work in it. My fiancé is happy to build them something superior but the grow tents look very appealing from what I’ve seen. Wed also be able to get a growtent set up more quickly.
Theyre currently munching on a large pile of torn up spring mix, is dried food fine to offer in addition? The old owner did a shredded Timothy hay on top of their food but I feel like the shredded weeds and grass offers more nutritional verity.
I will take beak photos momentarily, watching them eat it seems like their beak really doesnt cut like it should.
Ive got 65w floods on hand and an appropriate uvb on the way! I also have an uth and thermosta I could use to attempt to warm the covered section of the house until we get something better.
Hay is for older larger tortoises. Not babies. You can wet the greens and mix in a small amount of the crumbled up dry stuff. Better to just feed fresh weeds and leaves.
I still don't see what the issue is with the beak.
UTH heaters should never be used with tortoises. It is not safe. You definitely need night heat. Use a CHE or a radiant heat panel. All of that is explained in the care sheet, but here is more on that:
There are four elements to heating and lighting:
- Basking bulb. I use 65 watt incandescent floods from the hardware store. Some people will need bigger, or smaller wattage bulbs. Let your thermometer be your guide. I run them on a timer for about 12 hours and adjust the height to get the correct basking temp under them. I also like to use a flat rock of some sort directly under the bulb.
- Ambient heat maintenance. I use ceramic heating elements or radiant heat panels set on thermostats to maintain ambient above 80 degrees day and night for tropical species. You'd only need day heat for a temperate species like Testudo or DT.
- Light. I use LEDs for this purpose. Something in the 5000-6500K color range will look the best. Most bulbs at the store are in the 2500K range and they look yellowish. Strip or screw-in bulb types are both fine.
- UV. If you can get your tortoise outside for an hour 2 or 3 times a week, you won't need indoor UV. If you want it anyway, get one of the newer HO type fluorescent tubes. Which type will depend on mounting height. 5.0 bulbs make almost no UV. You need a meter to check this: https://www.solarmeter.com/model65.html