# New Indoor Home for Redfoot



## Balboa (Oct 15, 2010)

This was built in a hurry, its occupant was a rescue who came to us in a 40 breeder that asides from being too small was impossible to keep regulated (no duh? huh?)

I poured over everything I could about enclosures to get ideas and came up with a few of my own, picked and sorted through the garage for parts, and got some more from the hardware store. Threw it in a pile, started hacking and banging and here you go.




The fit and finish isn't up to snuff, crooked cuts and such, but Rocky doesn't seem to mind that.

STATS:
36" x 60" x 18" ... technically big enough for a 6 inch... seems too small to me, but a BIG improvement over that 40. Expansions will be coming.
Bottom sits at 32", which gives just enough room for the dog kennel to fit underneath, the dogs were the only ones in the house willing to share floor space with rocky. The Fish were pretty skeptical. With the overbite on the lid lifting up and away as well, An average adult can reach most of the enclosure without straining.

Went with bioactive substrate (no cypress mulch in these parts), at least I hope I got it right and that's what we're doing. just in case I dusted the top with Orchid Bark, which Rocky promptly ground into the dirt. Looks like someone's been driving an atv around in there. It doesn't really seem to stick to him much, stays moist but not wet. Got my fingers crossed.

I knew there was NO way we'd keep good humidity and temps in our house over the winter in an open top table, so I closed it off, but left him a skylight.




There are 80mm PC fans in opposing corners. I soon realized even that was too much flow, so only the intake runs non-stop and its throttled way down. Its ducted into the intake of a Vick's Humidifer under its own cover at one end.




This way the incoming air is heated, humidified and diffused. This also seems to really improve the efficiency of the humidifier, you get less steam and condensation, and more actual humidity. Originally I was going to put it under the table, and think I'll move it there eventually, this just seemed easier at the time. I wasn't sure if this would be enough, but it does alright. On the low setting the water tank lasts a long time (all day), and it only requires occasional help from the manual mister, and as it turns out does most of the heating for the enclosure. The High setting was too much, lotsa condensation and the tank goes too quick.

I wound up turning the opposing fan around and putting it on a Cooling Mode Thermostat. If the Cool End Temps get too high it kicks in and reverses the airflow bringing in some of the cooler, humid air from above the fishtanks. When this is running, (which is seldom) is the only time there might be a perceptible breeze inside the enclosure, but it is somewhat isolated from the "forest floor" as it sits atop that shelf (the top of his hides). The Pansies get it full tilt though, but I think they may like that, really not their kinda conditions in the enclosure.

I had read about hides should be cool end, hides should be hot end, who knows? so I put Hide all along the back (with little dividers to break up the climates)




and planted the top of the hide to aid in climate control and food production.




And sure enough, hot side people you're right... and cold side people, you're right. And those that stick it in the middle, you're right too. Rocky uses the whole length throughout the day. But then sometimes he naps under the day lilly, and sometimes the palm, and frequently ON the fern. He loves to squash ferns :-(

There's a single 40W T12 Daylight Deluxe buried up in the top, mostly directed at the hide-top gardens only a little filters down to the floor, and hopefully less will soon if the palms grow before Rocky bulldozes them to death. 
It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but really I needed to make the enclosure taller to get the most benefit, the plants are pretty cramped in there.

I had bought a big ol 150 watt ceramic to heat the hot end, but turns out that was way too much. The humidifier handles most of that, and a 75 watt halogen gets it just a little too warm over there. Will wind up putting something on a thermostat eventually.

Rocky is very excited about the orchards way up top. Hopefully those will do well and more of those yummy flowers will be coming his way. No space is wasted in this small house. (and yes, not all of that is food)




Here's Rocky's favorite view, from on top of fern hill.




Any comments, questions, suggestions, what the heck ya thinging!!!s appreciated. As I said, This was my first, and threw it together in a hurry.

Say Goodbye to our guests Rocky




"Gee a little privacy please"


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## Az tortoise compound (Oct 15, 2010)

Rocky looks like a lucky little guy! great imagination with the setup.


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## PeanutbuttER (Oct 15, 2010)

Wow, I like it better than mine that I didn't throw together in a hurry. Very nice!


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## LindaF (Oct 15, 2010)

Wow Rocky should be very happy you rescued him!


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## Balboa (Oct 15, 2010)

Thanks Folks! 
Yours is very nice too Peanutbutter! Funny thing is, mine almost wound up lined with the same linoleum you used. Then I changed my mind and left it wood, thinking (hopefully not in error) that with it being exterior grade plywood, with 3 healthy coats of full exterior grade spar varnish it should hold up fine.


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## PeanutbuttER (Oct 15, 2010)

Yeah, I liked the way that the linoleum looked and it was the cheapest stuff, but I had russians on this table originally and they dug the corners and ripped up the linoleum a bit. Kiwi, my RF, has been much gentler to the linoleum. I can't speak from experience, but I think 3 coats of varnish would be enough protection for the walls after it cures.

Thanks, but my table doesn't do that great of a job keeping humidity in. As winter comes and we turn on the heat I'm going to have build a lid to keep the humidity in. I like what you did with your skylight. I will probably incorporate that into my own.

I'm always jealous of people that can keep plants growing in their enclosures. Plants just don't like me I guess 

Let us know how you like the bioactive substrate. I'm very seriously considering switching to it in my hatchling enclosure to give it a shot, but honestly it seems like a lot of work to get set up and I want to know that it works before I put forth the effort of finding the rolly pollys, worms, etc.

How did you attach the lights to the top?


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## terryo (Oct 15, 2010)

That is absolutely ...GREAT!!


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## Balboa (Oct 15, 2010)

Hehe, the lights are just screwed to the top, nothin fancy. The 40 watt is built-in much like I do for my fish tank hoods, but I'm an electrician by trade, so sometimes I do things I wouldn't suggest others try. I've read about people who probably had never even replaced a wall socket trying to overdrive flourescents, scary stuff.

The Bio-Active wasn't hard at all to set-up, but time will tell if it was setup right. 40% play sand, 40% the most "dirt-like", "natural" bagged soil I could find (mostly I think its compost with a little dirt in it), but no ferts or vermiculite or nasties like that. The remaining 20% Peat and healthy chemical free garden dirt from my own yard and my neighbors. I mixed and mixed and mixed... took a while to get it consistant. I gathered the worms when I gathered the weeds, and check nightly for roly polies under a couple rocks in the yard. Hopefully some of them are making it past Rocky to establish themselves.

and we'll see about keeping the plants growing  hopefully. They all did get a very rough treatment from me (the storeboughts anyways). Pretty much bare rooted and soaked to hopefully rid them of any nasties and chemicals.


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## Madkins007 (Oct 15, 2010)

Bioactives are pretty easy to set-up- there is no real science to the mixture, just try to find one that has enough sand or clay kitty litter to hold the micro-organisms you are trying to grow, and a ratio that supports the humidity/dampness level you are aiming for. You can always add more of something or dig some out.

It helps to stir it every so often, like you would most substrates. Go ahead and mix the top dressing stuff in, then just add new when the time comes.

In a couple weeks to a month, you should notice that there is no odor, that the dirt has a more silky/less sticky texture, and that you have not seen any pests in a while. That is the sign that the micro-organisms are colonized and the worms and rolly pollys are feeding on wastes and pest eggs.

Good luck!


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## Balboa (Oct 15, 2010)

Thanks Terry and Mark!
You two are largely to thank for this. Terry's awesome habitats really inspired me and Mark's great ideas and information.

So far so good, still fine tuning things but Rocky seems happy.

The Wife is a bit jealous. I've stolen her long wanted tort from her. He's grown quite used to me as I wind up doing most of the care. While treating his shell rot, which looks to be healing nicely, I can calm him with my voice if he gets upset. I can fiddle with things in the enclosure right next to him and he doesn't mind at all. Everyone else seems to spook him :-(


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## Balboa (Mar 31, 2011)

Updates:

Most of the original plants died. Not too big a surprise, they were temperate plants, not rainforest, or near rainforest or whatever. The palms are making a comeback now that they are protected from Bulldozer Rocky. I finally found some prayer plants a while back and they're doing great. Now everything is starting to grow in and give me the "canopy effect" I was looking for.



























What the poor torts see when "The Big Scary Thing" comes after them


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## Candy (Mar 31, 2011)

Very, very nice enclosure.


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## ALDABRAMAN (Mar 31, 2011)

Very nice, looks like alot of work.


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## terryo (Mar 31, 2011)

Your enclosure looks great and I love the prayer plants too, but I'd be scared too if I saw that big scary thing looking in at me. LOL


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## luke (Apr 1, 2011)

nice work balboa.

mine has take me months.


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## DaveTheDadHaileeTheDaughter (Apr 1, 2011)

That looks fantastic !!!!!! Nice work......I like the idea of the fans, I had thought about trying something like that on the humid end of our one enclosure for air circulation


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## Balboa (Apr 1, 2011)

Thanks Folks!

I really like the "fan" concept Dave, in theory at least, it gaves a way to regulate the heat and/or humidity without the trial and error of passive means. I've found that amazingly little airflow is needed to maintain "fresh" air, so its actually somewhat difficult to seal things up tight enough and throttle air flow down enough to impact conditions. In otherwords you don't need much of an opening to get good air exchange even on a passive set up. The "common practice" vivs that have been popular for a few years with the large screen openings will do little to maintain humidity, they allow for massive air exchange.


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## Paige Lewis (Apr 4, 2011)

I can't believe you made this in a hurry what a beautiful enclosure and a lovely tort to!


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## TebowHammer (Apr 4, 2011)

Wow!

This enclosure looks great, Balboa!! Not much more I can say than that.

If only my garage had the materials laying in it to do something like that. 

Cheers,

Tyler


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