Easy red foot enclosure .

Hotsause

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Ok so I think I’m done allocating all the equipment. Getting the the fogger and the thermostat that can control both the temp and the humidity definitely blew up the budget, but I do like the idea of the having total control. Idk maybe if someone talks me out of it I’ll 86 it. I’m just gunna stew on this for a few days before I place the order. Any thoughts or concerns are greatly appreciated !
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tortkief

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Ok so I think I’m done allocating all the equipment. Getting the the fogger and the thermostat that can control both the temp and the humidity definitely blew up the budget, but I do like the idea of the having total control. Idk maybe if someone talks me out of it I’ll 86 it. I’m just gunna stew on this for a few days before I place the order. Any thoughts or concerns are greatly appreciated !
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I have nearly the exact setup. I have a heating pad on a thermostat in their hide-side. I have the fogger and uvb on smart outlets. UVB is scheduled and the humidifier is on for a few minutes every 3 hours. The CHE lamp I just moved from a smart outlet to a thermostat set at 88 degrees.
 

mike taylor

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Ok so I think I’m done allocating all the equipment. Getting the the fogger and the thermostat that can control both the temp and the humidity definitely blew up the budget, but I do like the idea of the having total control. Idk maybe if someone talks me out of it I’ll 86 it. I’m just gunna stew on this for a few days before I place the order. Any thoughts or concerns are greatly appreciated !
View attachment 319909
You shouldn't need the fogger . The key to this setup is to keep humidity without over wetting substrate . The top layer of substrate need to stay dry to avoid shell fungus. With the closed enclosure it will hold all the humidity needed.
 

willee638

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This is how I do it . This small setup will keep a few hatchlings for the first year or so . I paid a little over one hundred dollars for everything .
One t5 5.0 uvb/ uva fixture.
One ceramic Dome fixture.
One thermostat.
One timer.
Two terracotta bowls.
One hide.
One digital thermometer.
One 50 watt ceramic heat emitter.
One plastic box with lid.
Set timer to five hours for the uvb fixture .Set thermostat for 80/85 degrees Fahrenheit . Add mulch and Coco chor bedding. Run the setup for a few days to dial everything in. The hole for the plugs will give the setup the right air flow to hold humidity without over wetting the substrate.View attachment 222665View attachment 222666View attachment 222667View attachment 222668View attachment 222669
This is fabulous, my experiences was only learn as I go with my first baby & made small improvements along the way when I acquired more baby red foots. I was even able to save money the more experience I get with enclosures & husbandry....
 

mike taylor

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Wish I had the help when I first started . But I had to fumble around the web for a few days too long . Then I found this forum . It was a god send for sure .Met awesome people from all around Texas .
 

Bjones6686

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I set up one of these tote closed chambers for my Cherry Head. Man I'm glad I found this post in the forum because I was trying to think of a way to store a hatchling and have proper heat, humidity, and UVB in a tote.
 

willee638

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I set up one of these tote closed chambers for my Cherry Head. Man I'm glad I found this post in the forum because I was trying to think of a way to store a hatchling and have proper heat, humidity, and UVB in a tote.
For those who live in very cold climates providing sufficient heat source, UV lighting & humidity is a challenge, my baby red foot didn't eat much & was hiding for most of the day during winter months. Cherry heads, Yellow foot & red foot I think prefer to stay active throughout, I still take them to parks year round when the sun is warm.
 

Bjones6686

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For those who live in very cold climates providing sufficient heat source, UV lighting & humidity is a challenge, my baby red foot didn't eat much & was hiding for most of the day during winter months. Cherry heads, Yellow foot & red foot I think prefer to stay active throughout, I still take them to parks year round when the sun is warm.
I'm in Indiana so we get good weather 6 month's and crappy weather the other 6 month's. The closed chamber tote is doing great at holding heat and humidity. I did buy a slightly larger tote so I had to do a 100w CHE. I also spent the extra money on a Herpstat 1 thermostat and have it set to dimming mode so the heat is always on and the thermostat just reduces the power to the CHE to maintain the temperature instead of turning on and off like most of the thermostats you'd find at the local pet stores.
 

willee638

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I'm in Indiana so we get good weather 6 month's and crappy weather the other 6 month's. The closed chamber tote is doing great at holding heat and humidity. I did buy a slightly larger tote so I had to do a 100w CHE. I also spent the extra money on a Herpstat 1 thermostat and have it set to dimming mode so the heat is always on and the thermostat just reduces the power to the CHE to maintain the temperature instead of turning on and off like most of the thermostats you'd find at the local pet stores.
Yes, I think buy the thermostat is a smart move because by turning the heat lamps on & off might reduce it's lifespan. but I don't know anything about regulating energy by electrical flow to reduce these CHE or ceramic heat emitters out puts though, I keep live plants & grass in moist soil to get a little humidity in their enclosure.
 

Bjones6686

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Yes, I think buy the thermostat is a smart move because by turning the heat lamps on & off might reduce it's lifespan. but I don't know anything about regulating energy by electrical flow to reduce these CHE or ceramic heat emitters out puts though, I keep live plants & grass in moist soil to get a little humidity in their enclosure.
It's pretty awesome how it regulates the energy to the heating source. I also keeps snakes and use these exact thermostats on their enclosures. This is the first time I've used it with a CHE. I have used it with radiant heat panels and flexwatt heat tape. After seeing how well they regulate the temperature on the snakes enclosures it made my decision easy to spend the extra money on the Herpstat for the closed chamber enclosure. What live plants you keep in their enclosures?
 

willee638

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It's pretty awesome how it regulates the energy to the heating source. I also keeps snakes and use these exact thermostats on their enclosures. This is the first time I've used it with a CHE. I have used it with radiant heat panels and flexwatt heat tape. After seeing how well they regulate the temperature on the snakes enclosures it made my decision easy to spend the extra money on the Herpstat for the closed chamber enclosure. What live plants you keep in their enclosures?
That sounds pretty amazing, I keep patches of lawn grasses in a flat pan seems to work well & holds moistures longer & low maintenance. The babies enjoys getting on it too cool off & some time relief themselves there but isn't interested in chewing on them though, I rotate from different pans of grasses in & out of the enclosure to keep them alive & for natural sunlight & rejuvenate. I don't solely rely on any UVB ultraviolet indoors lambs anymore because they diminish & ineffective out puts of intensity with turning on & off frequencies, I prefer to expose my torts when the UV ray is at the highest emitted point from the sun directly overhead.
 

mike taylor

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I'm in Indiana so we get good weather 6 month's and crappy weather the other 6 month's. The closed chamber tote is doing great at holding heat and humidity. I did buy a slightly larger tote so I had to do a 100w CHE. I also spent the extra money on a Herpstat 1 thermostat and have it set to dimming mode so the heat is always on and the thermostat just reduces the power to the CHE to maintain the temperature instead of turning on and off like most of the thermostats you'd find at the local pet stores.
 

mike taylor

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I'm in Indiana so we get good weather 6 month's and crappy weather the other 6 month's. The closed chamber tote is doing great at holding heat and humidity. I did buy a slightly larger tote so I had to do a 100w CHE. I also spent the extra money on a Herpstat 1 thermostat and have it set to dimming mode so the heat is always on and the thermostat just reduces the power to the CHE to maintain the temperature instead of turning on and off like most of the thermostats you'd find at the local pet stores.
Can you post pictures of how you setup yours and the equipment used? Would be awesome to see how others do it and gives more options to other keepers to add or modify the enclosure.
 

willee638

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I'm in warmer climates so it's an open top enclosure CHE lamp although this might retain less humidity but I manually keep moistures up every several hours. Night & day heating lamps are on at they respective time periods, I keep living plants in dirt to maintain moisture levels & I also keep a 2 year old tortoise & 2 several months old together only during nights.
 

Bjones6686

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Can you post pictures of how you setup yours and the equipment used? Would be awesome to see how others do it and gives more options to other keepers to add or modify the enclosure.
So I went to Walmart and bought a Hefty Hi-Rise 113qt storage tote. The only thing I don't like about the tote is the lid is flimsy. So instead of mounting the lamp fixture through the flimsy lid I mounted it to a scrap piece of lexan I had laying around. Screwed the piece of lexan to some scrap wood and screwed the wood to the sides of the tote. I got the UVB light fixture also mounted to a scrap piece of wood over the terracotta water and food dishes. I have mounted inside digital temperature/humidity gauges on both ends of the tote so it's easy to monitor those. Running a 100w CHE on a Herpstat 1 thermostat. I have it set to 83 degress. The thermostat probe is mounted in the center of the tote a few inches away from the heat lamp dome fixture. I have the thermostat set where it only lets it give the CHE 55% of power max. Any higher then that and it creates a extremely hot basking area that I don't feel is safe for the tortoise. I am using Zilla Jungle mix and Bark Blend for substrate. I have a terracotta pot tipped on its side on the opposite end of where the UVB light is at that the tortoise likes to hide in. Only have a small slot cut in the back of the tote for the power cords and thermostat probe to go through. So this setup is easily maintaining 80-90% humidity. I know I need more sheltered areas for the tortoise to hide besides the one pot. But I've been struggling to find safe plants locally that haven't been grown in fertilized soil. I tried fake plant's but after seeing the tortoise try to eat it I took them out.
 

mike taylor

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I've found this enclosure to work well with other tortoises also. African sulcata tortoises, African leopard tortoise, yellow foots,red foots, hinge back tortoises, north America wood turtles,box turtles and probably many more. These are just the ones I keep.
 
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