the substrate looks like eco-earth (i think)
Amazing job on the set up!

Hello Kat,
On the right side of the enclosure, I have the compact UVB light & the heat lamp over the rocks. You really have to make sure both these lamps point to the same spot, so the tort gets all the good rays while basking.

In my case, I had to reposition the UVB closer to the basking spot since I have a ReptiGlo 5.0 wich is not that strong 8.0 or 10.0 is better for THH).

On the left side, I have the ceramic heat emitter, that basically serves as a temp. monitor. If the temps fall below 70ºF, it turns on and heats up the place back to that value. Without this the lower temps on the left side of the enclosure wouldn't encourage my hatchling to leave its den.

Since I put this setup together however, I found some shortcomings:

1) As mentioned, the 5.0 UVB wasn't strong enough to be that far from the basking spot;
2) The ceramic heat emitter was to far up, so the temps didn't "push" the tort out of the den in the cold winter mornings. I dropped it a little, and it works pretty good. The new problem was that it dried up the substrate terribly fast, so what I then did was to also turn it off at night along with the other 2 lights. I also added another den\cave on the right side of the enclosure;
3) Coco husk, by itself, can become to dusty to fast (although in my experience this can vary greatly from manufacturer to manufacturer);
4) Plant growth inside the enclosure requires clear access to the uvb bulb, so I had to move things around as they grew;
5) Torts seem to prefer complex\denser surroundings to clear open areas (maybe because my tort is a baby and thus feels more safe in denser landscape);

That said, this is the new shape of the enclosure (sorry about the "darker feel", but I took these at night - tort is sleeping on the cave below the basking spot):



The left side of the enclosure is more or less the same. The alfalfa hay is gone, and the substrate now is 100% natural Top Soil (unfertilized), wich I find holds moisture alot better, and also improved the tort's footing.



UVB bulb now has direct access to The Basking spot.



Right side alot more bushy, with another cave and some dry grape leafs on the corner for interest.



Vetch really grows fast...



Ground zero.



The new Den (if you look closely, you can actually see the pattern of the tort's shell in there)



View from left to right.



Hope I answered all your questins. If not, feel free to ask.

This post was last modified: 12-31-2007 03:11 AM by TestudoGeek.

Yes, it was eco-earth, now Top Soil.
Thanks!

this setup has inspired me to build a new setup for my torts, starting tomorrow

Yes! Thank you so very much! That is very helpful. I think growing your own plants instead of repotting is a much easier way to go about making the environment more dense I feel like Titan's area is too small and I should make it larger. How did you manage to cut out the sides?

I used a XACTO blade. Something like this.

(Be carefull with your fingers).

So I was asking this question earlier in the Greek forum, and since you know a lot about the enclosures, my baby greek sleeps A LOT. Danny mentioned it might be the diet im feeding him, which I will change come friday, but do you think it could be the enviroment? My enclosure it about the same size as one of your tubs. I have a UV and Heat light pointed on the same rock (95 deg). On the shady side (70deg) he has a little log den he loves to burry himself in at night and he burrys himself in the dirt by the heated rock durning the day.

However I am noticing he is over sleeping. I am trying to believe it is because I had to move him from my boyfriend's apartment to mine just this last weekend. He was so active at his house, but it seems all he does is sleep at mine and I'm worried When I come home from work he isn't crawling all over the place anymore but hiding in the dirt.

I set up his space the same way, with the only exception being I switched from a lid to a rock that his food sits on. What are your thoughts?

So I was asking this question earlier in the Greek forum, and since you know a lot about the enclosures, my baby greek sleeps A LOT. Danny mentioned it might be the diet im feeding him, which I will change come friday, but do you think it could be the enviroment? My enclosure it about the same size as one of your tubs. I have a UV and Heat light pointed on the same rock (95 deg). On the shady side (70deg) he has a little log den he loves to burry himself in at night and he burrys himself in the dirt by the heated rock durning the day.

However I am noticing he is over sleeping. I am trying to believe it is because I had to move him from my boyfriend's apartment to mine just this last weekend. He was so active at his house, but it seems all he does is sleep at mine and I'm worried When I come home from work he isn't crawling all over the place anymore but hiding in the dirt.

I set up his space the same way, with the only exception being I switched from a lid to a rock that his food sits on. What are your thoughts?

Kat, Danny is usually right, so the first thing i'd do would be - like he said - to change the diet.

But since you used the same diet before, and he was active, i'm wondering if your house could be colder than your boyfriend's. What are the temps on the rest of the enclosure (away from the basking light)? The 70ºF you mention is just fine. Just make sure you're measuring at ground level. I had an issue with low temps during the day on the the cool end of my enclosure when I added the 2nd tub. If the overall temps don´t rise in the morning the tort tends to slow down or not move at all. But when my enclosure was smaller, I had no such problem, because the average temps on the cold side would always be above 70ºF.

I also find that my tort gets stressed when I move alot of stuff around inside the enclosure. How long ago was the move? Is it a shy tort?

blackTITAN Wrote:

So I was asking this question earlier in the Greek forum, and since you know a lot about the enclosures, my baby greek sleeps A LOT. Danny mentioned it might be the diet im feeding him, which I will change come friday, but do you think it could be the enviroment? My enclosure it about the same size as one of your tubs. I have a UV and Heat light pointed on the same rock (95 deg). On the shady side (70deg) he has a little log den he loves to burry himself in at night and he burrys himself in the dirt by the heated rock durning the day.

However I am noticing he is over sleeping. I am trying to believe it is because I had to move him from my boyfriend's apartment to mine just this last weekend. He was so active at his house, but it seems all he does is sleep at mine and I'm worried When I come home from work he isn't crawling all over the place anymore but hiding in the dirt.

I set up his space the same way, with the only exception being I switched from a lid to a rock that his food sits on. What are your thoughts?

Kat, Danny is usually right, so the first thing i'd do would be - like he said - to change the diet.

But since you used the same diet before, and he was active, i'm wondering if your house could be colder than your boyfriend's. What are the temps on the rest of the enclosure (away from the basking light)? The 70ºF you mention is just fine. Just make sure you're measuring at ground level. I had an issue with low temps during the day on the the cool end of my enclosure when I added the 2nd tub. If the overall temps don´t rise in the morning the tort tends to slow down or not move at all. But when my enclosure was smaller, I had no such problem, because the average temps on the cold side would always be above 70ºF.

I also find that my tort gets stressed when I move alot of stuff around inside the enclosure. How long ago was the move? Is it a shy tort?

I put the temperature gauge at the far end of the shady side, and put it on the ground like a rock. I re-checked it this morning and it stays for the most part at 70deg. So do you think I need another light that maybe keeps it around 75deg?

The move was last week, and I have been changing his plants out probably more frequently then I should and then I just took them out altogether because I'm going to put seeds in them instaed of keep repotting fresh herbs, etc... That probably caused him some stress, like you mentioned.

As for shyness, yesterday I woke him up after work and gave him a bath. He usually hiccups so much (last bath was about 4 days ago), but I was able to brush his shell and put some water on his head while he walked around the dish without him hiccuping or hiding in his shell. yey! I'm hoping that means he is relaxing a lot more Also while he was drying off, I held him for the second time in about a week, and he was calm and even munched on kale and carrots; he seemed really relaxed. When he got back in his cage he was crusing around- munching on more food and then sat on his sunny rock for a bit. When I checked back on him a few hours later he was back sleeping under his log lol. >_<

I´d say 70ºF is just fine for the cool end.

The move was last week, and I have been changing his plants out probably more frequently then I should and then I just took them out altogether because I'm going to put seeds in them instaed of keep repotting fresh herbs, etc... That probably caused him some stress, like you mentioned.

As for shyness, yesterday I woke him up after work and gave him a bath. He usually hiccups so much (last bath was about 4 days ago), but I was able to brush his shell and put some water on his head while he walked around the dish without him hiccuping or hiding in his shell. yey! I'm hoping that means he is relaxing a lot more Also while he was drying off, I held him for the second time in about a week, and he was calm and even munched on kale and carrots; he seemed really relaxed. When he got back in his cage he was crusing around- munching on more food and then sat on his sunny rock for a bit. When I checked back on him a few hours later he was back sleeping under his log lol. >_<

Sounds like your care is just fine. Try to change the diet to what Danny suggested and see what happens.