Recent content by GardiendeKoopa

So I did testing and the 45W isn’t going to be able to get warm enough. Back to the 65W with a dimmer. Tom was right, as usual. Listen to Tom.

Isn’t 35C ok for basking? Is that after leaving it on for a few hours or all day, the peak heat?

My understanding is we want flood lamps so the whole tortoise can be in the light and not just part of the tortoise. The BR30 65W has a wider beam and is firmly in the flood category, therefore larger lit spot than the R20 45W which is borderline between the flood and spot category. Nothing is...

Do you need a basking lamp or can a radiant heat panel plus T5 UVB and LED lights work instead? For an Egyptian tortoise. If the RHP and UVB and LED can work instead, how should they be arranged? Should the UVB be closest to the RHP and LED just provide ambient light a bit further off? Or do we...

Are products marketed as coconut coir typically granular more like soil, or do they have stringy pieces mixed in? Are we supposed to sift to remove the stringy pieces if there are some? Is there a length to sift out vs leave in?

Can’t wait to see what you come up with! There is still so much to learn and explore for captive tortoise enrichment.

Thanks Tom! One more thing, you mentioned that coconut coir doesn’t mold or rot, but I’ve seen posts online about mold in coconut coir. Is that because of other organic material like food or waste being left on the coconut coir? If some food or waste gets on the coir, should I be scooping out...

Thanks Tom! How do you recommend keeping the humid hide humidity near 100%? Having deeper substrate under it and pouring water there? Or just spraying water into it regularly? For monitoring humidity, is just 1 digital hygrometer outside the hide enough, or should one also be inside the hide? Or...

There is a lot of general and vague advice about keeping high humidity with a closed top enclosure for babies and younger tortoises, but that advice is often missing specific details of how to do it. I’m planning a PVC enclosure for a baby Egyptian tortoise and a still trying to figure out the...

I don’t know if colour matters. Watch out for stickers though. They tend to leave a glue residue or stain on the saucers that can be very difficult or nearly impossible to remove.

This looks awesome! How is the humidity on the warm side vs the cool side? What about overnight humidity and temperature?

Do you think humidity of 70% and up for most of the day with coconut coir is fine for Egyptian babies? I worry about all the advice about how they need to be in a dry environment to avoid respiratory illness. I don’t want the baby to get sick, but I also don’t want it to grow up too dry...

I keep seeing references to Egyptians being more “sensitive” than other Testudos, but not a lot of explanation about what that means, which is frustrating. Does it mean they need warmer nights to not get sick? Or is 70s fine like other Testudos? Ultimately it will probably just require...

I don’t have the tortoise or enclosure yet. It will be a solid top PVC enclosure to keep in the heat and humidity, and the tortoise will probably be 2 or 3 months old. I believe I’ve also seen 80F and 80% humidity recommended for babies, so will probably target that.

What daytime and nighttime warm and cool temperatures are recommended for Egyptian tortoise babies? Does it change when they become adults? I’ve seen mixed advice, 70F at night vs 80F at night. Daytime cooler side 80F and basking spot around 100F. What have people here used successfully? I’m...