Chamber Makeover

[Levi the Leopard]

Long story made short:
One of my chambers had a huge infestation of fungus mites. I'm talking thousands of them in just weeks and crawling over everything including the baby leopards. After changing out all of the top soil TWICE from different bags and still dealing with it, I made the switch to coco coir. I bought some bricks and baked them at 250F for 3 hours. I also cleaned everything from the enclosure with either diluted bleach or vinegar.

No one told me coco coir smelled so good! :shy:

I'm going to finally attempt to "live my dream" of keeping live plants in the chamber, too. I'm starting with 2 potted ferns but still with some fake plants.

I also added a lot of green sphagnum moss.

Three bricks of coir weren't enough for the 40gallon tank so I'm going to buy 3 more. It will look much nicer and the clay pot hides will be deeper once I do.

Here are the first day photos before it gets messy, right?
Ignore the thermometer and hydrometer readings. I had just put it back in.

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For the record, I'm not against the bugs. I intentionally put pill bugs and earthworms in the substrate. I don't mind the occasional knat or small fly. But these fungus mites were out of control! All over!! It was my first time in almost 2 years having a problem like this.

 

[mike taylor]

Lookin good like always.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Thanks mike

The split scute girl, Flower is cruising around.
And now the numbers are accurate hehe

 

[mike taylor]

She looks like she likes it to.

 

[Sh3wulf]

Lovely. That is bound to lead to some happy healthy baby torts

 

[wellington]

Looks great Heather. I had good luck keeping plants and growing weeds from seeds. Okay, I had good luck growing these things, until Tatum found them and ate them. The point is, they do good in the coir, until eaten.

 

[lynnedit]

Looks fantastic. Your tortoise is going to have a perfect shell!

 

[kathyth]

Looks wonderful, Heather!
Nice job! The mites sound terrible. [DIZZY FACE]

 

[happyjoyjoy]

Looks awesome!
Very cute leopard baby
I just cleaned out my babies 40 gal chamber today as well......BUGS!
Great minds think alike

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Bought my additional bricks. Baking them now

My infestation was so bad. So far, I have killed 8 that were crawling on the outside of the glass. And I've seen 4 more crawling inside the chamber. Some must have slipped past me, how?? I do not know. Maybe some were in the covered screen top?? I didn't clean that. oy....

I'm also hunting for pill bugs tonight. It's cold but I think I'll find a least a dozen. I've always had lots of these guys and they kept everything else in check. I've had them breed for me, too.
Plus, since the coir doesn't mold I'm assuming there wont be "fungus" for the fungus mites to feed from. So even the few that are in there shouldn't reproduce like a breeding factory, right?

 

[bouaboua]

Long story made short:
One of my chambers had a huge infestation of fungus mites. I'm talking thousands of them in just weeks and crawling over everything including the baby leopards. After changing out all of the top soil TWICE from different bags and still dealing with it, I made the switch to coco coir. I bought some bricks and baked them at 250F for 3 hours. I also cleaned everything from the enclosure with either diluted bleach or vinegar.

No one told me coco coir smelled so good! :shy:

I'm going to finally attempt to "live my dream" of keeping live plants in the chamber, too. I'm starting with 2 potted ferns but still with some fake plants.

I also added a lot of green sphagnum moss.

Three bricks of coir weren't enough for the 40gallon tank so I'm going to buy 3 more. It will look much nicer and the clay pot hides will be deeper once I do.

Here are the first day photos before it gets messy, right?
Ignore the thermometer and hydrometer readings. I had just put it back in.

---

For the record, I'm not against the bugs. I intentionally put pill bugs and earthworms in the substrate. I don't mind the occasional knat or small fly. But these fungus mites were out of control! All over!! It was my first time in almost 2 years having a problem like this.

---

Looks so lovely. May I ask what you will do with the pee from the tortoise? I been thinking changing into the coco coir but don't know what to do when they pee, we can pick-up the poop but pee..........Please help!!!!! Thanks.

 

[lkwagner]

That's a beautiful enclosure!

 

[Moozillion]

Wonderful enclosure!!!

 

[stinax182]

it looks great!! if those flower pots are plastic you might wanna consider cutting them in half. we all know tortoises love to be snug and cozy and in my experience usually go for the hides they barely fit in. also, it would keep the humidity inside the hides up. just a suggestion!

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Added the other 3 bricks. Nice and deep now

The pots are clay not plastic. Now they are buried well and stuffed with coir and sphagnum.
I like it much more now. The pics don't do it justice!

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Thanks for the compliments everyone. I like it to be pretty :shy:

I kept asking myself....how would Terryo do it? Lol

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[Levi the Leopard]

They love it in here. One of the babies will fully bury itself in the moss each night. First time I've seen a Leopard do that.
I have a hard time finding them in here at times!

 

[StarSapphire22]

That is absolutely GORGEOUS! We're cleaning out my 75g this week for Littlefoot... I'm inspired now. Where'd you get that background? And is the moss living or dried?

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Thank you. I sit on the floor and look at it for hours! Lol

The background is aquarium wallpaper from Petsmart. They sell different sizes, double sided. just pick one you like!

The moss is the green sphagnum moss by Flukers $4. Got that at Petsmart, too.

 

[mcory]

Wow that's beautiful set up how big are your babies? I'm new to the group and love learning as much as possible!!! We have a 50gallon tank not being used at the time but I'm not sure it would be big enough for a 5 inch Leo.

 

[julietteq]

Wow, looks great. So much "interesting" stuff happening in there for the leo's. Nice job and thank you for sharing it gives me a lot of inspiration to improve my table!