This is kind of a "P.S" regarding my other thread.

I've been getting a lot of comments from other people that keeping a Russian Tortoise in a large tote with a top, even temporarily, is a bad idea because of the lack of ventilation.

It's going to be a screen top, but I can understand that in a container like a Rubbermaid humidity would get trapped easily and air wouldn't flow that well.

Would making more vents be beneficial, of would it more likely just cause the enclosure to be too dry? Is it worse to be too dry, or more humid than necessary? I have a low powered computer fan that I could use if I can figure out how to attach it that might work.

Have any of you done anything like this?

Hah, if there was some kind of forum award for asking the most questions in the least amount of time, I bet I'd get it. And I've got quite a few more, but I don't want to swarm you guys to the point of putting online hits out on me or something, lol.

The best kind of Rubbermaid containers are the ones that have more circumference and less depth. At Christmas time, they make ones for storing wrapping paper that is great, but unfortunately this time of year they are a bit harder to find.

The stock tank I was telling you I use, is made for sheep so it is only like 12" high...a nice safe height to keep torts from climbing out and yet gets air circulation going.

I could see where drilling vents might work not as good as a lower tank, but not as bad as a high one. Could also buy you sometime to find what your really needing. Seems like your preparation time was getting cut shorter than expected...right?


Besides the air circulation problem ones too high also cuts down (depending on their height) on the benefits of the UV lights/heat source...just another thing to think about.

Hey, don't worry about how many questions you ask, it's all good. Just a side note: Your nowhere near the highest amount of questions in the shortest time.

The best kind of Rubbermaid containers are the ones that have more circumference and less depth. At Christmas time, they make ones for storing wrapping paper that is great, but unfortunately this time of year they are a bit harder to find.

The stock tank I was telling you I use, is made for sheep so it is only like 12" high...a nice safe height to keep torts from climbing out and yet gets air circulation going.

I could see where drilling vents might work not as good as a lower tank, but not as bad as a high one. Could also buy you sometime to find what your really needing. Seems like your preparation time was getting cut shorter than expected...right?


Besides the air circulation problem ones too high also cuts down (depending on their height) on the benefits of the UV lights/heat source...just another thing to think about.

Hey, don't worry about how many questions you ask, it's all good. Just a side note: Your nowhere near the highest amount of questions in the shortest time.

REALLY?! Not even close? Wow...

Yeah, my preparation time has been cut to about a month. I talked to the girl who owns the tortoise yesterday to ask what kind of diet she has had her on, and the heating/lighting and enclosure she's using; peas, carrots, strawberries, a "40 gallon fish tank"(I think she was just guessing), and UV light with an unsupervised "light that gets pretty warm."

After I got those disturbing details, I asked her when a good time would be for me to come see her, before I picked her up. She told me "whenever," and that I "need to take her by the beginning of March if I want her" because she's planning on using the space for "either a hermit crab colony or," and I was slack-jawed already, "a green iguana."

I THINK I persuaded her out of the idea of an iguana, but she asked at the end of the conversation, "How long did you say it would take to get all big and stuff?" So I'm going to talk to her boyfriend about it so that maybe I can stop her.

Ugh, this person...

But ANYWAYS, lol. The UV light... Hm. I think I can mount a strip light inside the tote pretty easily, on the side of it. How close should it be, or does that mostly depend on the make of the light bulb, the UV level and everything?

If I did that, I'd probably need to go with a CHE as the heat source, because until summer time it's going to be too cold at night to just shut off everything. But I'm sure I can figure something out.

I plan on getting a night time drop accessory for my thermostat, so that I can set it and the thermostat will bring the temperatures down to the night time setting when I shut-off the lights. With that I may be able to get both a spot light and a CHE and just shut-off the lights at night, leaving the CHE to keep it above 65F.

One option you could look into is a mercury vapor lamp. These are combination uvB/heat lamp. A 100watt flood is mounted a minimum of 12 inches above and the 100watt spot is mounted a minimum of 18 inches above. These used in combo with the CHE should work well. As far as the owner is concerned, perhaps telling her that iguanas react aggressively to a women's monthly pheromones levels will discourage her.

With the mercury vapor lamps, if I went with a flood, would it be enough to provide the basking temp., or would I still need a separate basking light? The spot light would be awesome, but would it be able to cover the majority of a 3 1/2' tote with uvB? Is that even needed, to cover the entire enclosure in the uv light?

Iguanas reacting to those pheromone levels is something that would probably be greatly discouraging, as she is one of three young women living in the home. I'm definitely throwing that in there!

This post was last modified: 02-09-2008 01:02 PM by Jamberry.

The uv flood I have would cover the enclosure (or a majority of it) with intensity of uvB decreasing with distance from fixture. I have mounted it over my Bluetongues and they bask directly under lamp and move off to thermoregulate. The 100watt flood lights about 8 square feet well. The instruction sheet says that herps can get their requirements in as little as 1 hour a day, so if used in combo with other lights you may be able to extend the life of the bulb. As far as the pheromone level and iguana thing, I've used that argument and it does work (especially in combo with a 6 ft adult male iggie)

The floods would work great in a tub. If you wanted to go with a tube, you don't have to mount it to the container. I took a thin board a bit longer than the container and mount it to the board then lay the board across the container. Then you can move it to where you want it. Just another suggestion. I am switching to the uvb/basking lights though as you do not need to have so many things plugged in.