Feedback on my Baby Cherryhead Enclosure

[VicTorres]

Hello everyone, I would appreciate any feedback on the enclosure I have set up for my baby cherryhead red foot. He’s about seven months old currently.

Topsoil under Cypress Mulch
Sphagnum Moss inside hide
10.0 UVB
75 Watt (Heat)
Plants are fake plants

Ambient temp has been at around 82 F
Humidity has been at about 83% avg.

 

[LJL1982]

I'm always nervous of sphagnum moss especially with dwtty tortoises as it's a real impaction risk if they ingest any of it.

 

[wellington]

I agree with the moss. Not only impaction but entangled on limbs or if eaten, the insides. I stopped using it years ago when it tangled around my leopards limb. Coconut coir and/or orchid/fir bark the best to use. With a CH put damp coir on bottom and fine grade bark on top. Keeps humidity up with top layer dryer preventing shell rot.

 

[Qwertyuiopgsggs]

Hello everyone, I would appreciate any feedback on the enclosure I have set up for my baby cherryhead red foot. He’s about seven months old currently.

Topsoil under Cypress Mulch
Sphagnum Moss inside hide
10.0 UVB
75 Watt (Heat)
Plants are fake plants

Ambient temp has been at around 82 F
Humidity has been at about 83% avg.

Where did you get this container? Ill definitely copy your design. Also is the side opposite to the lamp warm?

 

[Qwertyuiopgsggs]

I agree with the moss. Not only impaction but entangled on limbs or if eaten, the insides. I stopped using it years ago when it tangled around my leopards limb. Coconut coir and/or orchid/fir bark the best to use. With a CH put damp coir on bottom and fine grade bark on top. Keeps humidity up with top layer dryer preventing shell rot.

Im planning on doing this design too, what should I do to try to include a UVB tube? Can the light pierce the plastic?

 

[wellington]

Im planning on doing this design too, what should I do to try to include a UVB tube? Can the light pierce the plastic?

Best to cut hole for lights and heat and then make a frame over the whole thing and hang plastic over it to make like a greenhouses over it.

 

[Qwertyuiopgsggs]

Best to cut hole for lights and heat and then make a frame over the whole thing and hang plastic over it to make like a greenhouses over it.

Wouldn't that disturb the closed chamber?

 

[wellington]

Wouldn't that disturb the closed chamber?

Yes it does but you can't put the uvb light or heat on the lid. That's why you should build the tent over it all. If there is room to attach to the inside then that's what you can do, but those containers usually aren't tall enough for that.

 

[Qwertyuiopgsggs]

Yes it does but you can't put the uvb light or heat on the lid. That's why you should build the tent over it all. If there is room to attach to the inside then that's what you can do, but those containers usually aren't tall enough for that.

Alright, do you have any closed chamber enclosure that an amateur DIYer with basic tools like a drill can build? Im kind of struggling with closed chamber, I dont want to get too crazy with the plastic as when I tested the closed chamber I created last year the CHE was starting to melt a pvc cover and it was only 100 watt.

 

[LJL1982]

Where did you get this container? Ill definitely copy your design. Also is the side opposite to the lamp warm?

I think I would ratify this container use with a reminder that approaching adult, between 3 to 4 years, a tortoise of the smaller to mid species such as these, needs a minimum enclosure size of 4ft x 8ft, ideally larger for a mid size breed like this, and this particular enclosure is likely to be outgrown within a year.

 

[wellington]

If you line the hole that the heat sits over, it will prevent it from melting
These work good. Just add a tarp for floor and I would tape the tarp to outsides of the enclosure. Lights heat can all hang inside from frame. I even tied rope across to help hand lights and heat if needed.

 

[LJL1982]

Alright, do you have any closed chamber enclosure that an amateur DIYer with basic tools like a drill can build? Im kind of struggling with closed chamber, I dont want to get too crazy with the plastic as when I tested the closed chamber I created last year the CHE was starting to melt a pvc cover and it was only 100 watt.

I've been successful at keeping humidity up with an enclosure made as a table, so board base, plank sides, using melamine sheeting, with perspex top on a frame that can be lifted in place for access.if made deep enough the lighting can be inside.

 

[Maggie3fan]

I set this up for Redfoots...it's a 6'x3' tort table with a mini greenhouse covering the whole thing. Temp stays between 85-90 degrees with 85% or more humidity. I can't get far enuf away in the small room to get a good photo... Substrate is small grade orchid bark...a radiant heat panel at one end and a che at the other
I opened the door on it so the humidity would lessen and you could see the whole thing...this is what it looks like most of the time
so that's my greenhouse, put together by ME! Using a pliers, and I am mostly one-handed and I did it. My welder buddy came to finish it off, and he says that I did it good enuf, his talents weren't necessary.
So if a one-handed old lady can put it together...anybody can...
oh, and when weather permits, this is the outside pond...
I hope this helps...
Oh...in the first picture see the circle in the rug????? Caused from a che...they are terrible things, you MUST be very careful with them...

 

[LJL1982]

I set this up for Redfoots...it's a 6'x3' tort table with a mini greenhouse covering the whole thing. Temp stays between 85-90 degrees with 85% or more humidity. I can't get far enuf away in the small room to get a good photo... Substrate is small grade orchid bark...a radiant heat panel at one end and a che at the otherView attachment 355760View attachment 355761
I opened the door on it so the humidity would lessen and you could see the whole thing...this is what it looks like most of the timeView attachment 355762
so that's my greenhouse, put together by ME! Using a pliers, and I am mostly one-handed and I did it. My welder buddy came to finish it off, and he says that I did it good enuf, his talents weren't necessary.
So if a one-handed old lady can put it together...anybody can...
oh, and when weather permits, this is the outside pond...View attachment 355763
I hope this helps...
Oh...in the first picture see the circle in the rug????? Caused from a che...they are terrible things, you MUST be very careful with them...

I would send you a scar I have on my arm from picking up a tort for a bath and knocking a CHE...the realisation that I could have knocked the tortoise on it and didn't and the damage it would have caused was both equal relief and horror.

 

[Maggie3fan]

I would send you a scar I have on my arm from picking up a tort for a bath and knocking a CHE...the realisation that I could have knocked the tortoise on it and didn't and the damage it would have caused was both equal relief and horror.

I don't hibernate my box turtles. I have them in 2 rooms in tort tables in my house, I have tortoises in a shed outside, I've set fire to that shed twice with a che, one half-log hide was simmering when I discovered the smoke. NO MORE che's...I don't pay enuf attention I think...

 

[Yvonne G]

I don't hibernate my box turtles. I have them in 2 rooms in tort tables in my house, I have tortoises in a shed outside, I've set fire to that shed twice with a che, one half-log hide was simmering when I discovered the smoke. NO MORE che's...I don't pay enuf attention I think...

No, the problem with CHEs is the way you attach them to your enclosure. They MUST be securely attached. Just using the clamp isn't good enough.

 

[LJL1982]

I don't hibernate my box turtles. I have them in 2 rooms in tort tables in my house, I have tortoises in a shed outside, I've set fire to that shed twice with a che, one half-log hide was simmering when I discovered the smoke. NO MORE che's...I don't pay enuf attention I think...

They get so insanely hot...even with a thermostat!