I just bought a red-footed cherry headed tortoise from petco 3 days ago and I have some concerns about his health and the habitat I have set up for her. First and the biggest problem I seem to have is keeping her habitat humid to the levels the caresheet reccomends. I am using a 40 gallon critter breeder with a mesh net cover, half of it covered with a wet towel over the water bowl and the other half has the uva/uvb bulbs and heat lamp for the basking area. my humidity guage is placed center middle of the glass on the back wall and is never above 75% while dipping down towards 30% while I am asleep or at work and the substrate I use dries out very fast.
Another concern was the heat, many different heats for the enclosure were given ranging from not below 60 to 95 for the basking area, but how do I know if she is in a comfortable place? The temperature guage is placed directly below my heat lamp and never goes above 95.
Some questions about her behavior I would also like to know about. Some times she will go to the back of her log shelter and burrow into the substrate and lay there for hours until I physicaly pull her out of the log and place her in the basking area (assuming shes far too cold). Is this a problem?
She usualy when out of her shell will look around and her neck will throb constantly like a frog ribbiting and I couldn't find any information about this on any resource, whats going on here?
My last question I can think of right now is how do i know if the water I give her is actualy good for her. My friend who said he raised some turtles says to let a bowl of water sit out over night and the chlorine will evaporate and that water will be safe to use but I haven't been able to find anything on this either.
any advice, tips, or general help will be much appricated. thank you for taking the time to read
Another concern was the heat, many different heats for the enclosure were given ranging from not below 60 to 95 for the basking area, but how do I know if she is in a comfortable place? The temperature guage is placed directly below my heat lamp and never goes above 95.
Some questions about her behavior I would also like to know about. Some times she will go to the back of her log shelter and burrow into the substrate and lay there for hours until I physicaly pull her out of the log and place her in the basking area (assuming shes far too cold). Is this a problem?
She usualy when out of her shell will look around and her neck will throb constantly like a frog ribbiting and I couldn't find any information about this on any resource, whats going on here?
My last question I can think of right now is how do i know if the water I give her is actualy good for her. My friend who said he raised some turtles says to let a bowl of water sit out over night and the chlorine will evaporate and that water will be safe to use but I haven't been able to find anything on this either.
any advice, tips, or general help will be much appricated. thank you for taking the time to read