Guilty as charged

[omglostmom]

Hello everyone,
I'm not doing very well as a tortoise parent and I'm feeling very guilty over it. A little background, I was asked back in mid August if I could taken a 4 1/2 year old tortoise and guinea pig. I said yes, started to research, lots and lots of research. I got fresh foods, and started to find the proper lighting for my newly adopted tortoise, made a vet appointment to make sure all was well. The vet only deals with aquatic turtles and land roving tortoise. She gave me many suggestions and told me my tortoise is a Redfoot male, so Zoey became Mr.Attitude.
Now here I sit with some right stuff and a lot wrong. First I know that his current living space is wrong, I absolutely know he needs to be bigger enclosure. I have an 18 inch T8 and CHE light in the tank he came with, I also have several temperature gages and hygrometers in the tank everyone of them read differently. I have a good size terracotta dish for water and soaking if he chooses. I change the water 3 to 4 times a day to make sure it's not icky. I've been working hard on saving up the money for the materials to build a much bigger space for him.
Temp this morning was 93 degrees humidity was at 49%. The top is wrong with wire mesh tin foil with towels covering any open spots, blanket covering part of the tank as a hide(not proper), I have repti bark as substrate. During the day I let him wander around my living room. I know that's not exactly proper, my excuse for that is so he can get get out and stretch his legs. No dogs and the 2 cats avoid Mr.Attitude. I have baby proofed. I got on the floor to look for anything dangerous (I know it is strongly taboo cause it only takes once). While he out exercising he has a log to climb over for enrichment. Other different things to explore.
I live in northern Maine so outside is not an option right now.
I am attaching pictures of Mr. Attitude's current living space, yes there's a warm humidifier pumped into to tank. I only have it on when Mr. Attitude isn't in it so he's not breathing it in.
I haven't changed his water yet this morning
I need critiquing to make it better until I can get new one built.
Can you folks please help me fix all that is wrong?

 

[Maggie3fan]

To me, it's ALL wrong. But I do see you are trying as best you can.
It's impossible to make that right for your tort. Can you have someone build you a tort table? It's fairly easy. Here's an example. Mine aren't very fancy, but they work...
Here's one, you can see how the lights are hung, there is a hide built in....

see the hide?
at night I close the top like you do, aluminum foil and towels...

here is another that I have. It has 2 lids and a Plexiglas front


These are just to give you some ideas. I also use glass aquariums, I get them from my local Mom and Pop pet shop, they also sell me aquariums that don't hold water, cheap. I have them from 2.5 gallons to 300 gallons
I hope this helps you...

 

[omglostmom]

Thank you very much

 

[wellington]

In the mean time, you could pick up one of the long storage totes at a big box store possibly even Walmart. Not the under the bed ones. They will give you much more room.
Also what I have used and really like are portable pop up green houses like pictured.some have floors some dont. I just put a cheap tarp down as a floor and substrate over that. They are cheap, work great and will last longer if the right size is bought. They also can be reused when/if outgrown as a warmer area outside or to extend outside time during the cooler spring and fall days. They come in all kinds of sizes so get the largest you can fit. Not in height but in length and width.

 

[omglostmom]

I never even thought about a portable greenhouse. I could not have thought of a better idea, thank you for the suggestion

 

[ArmadilloPup]

There are things that stick out that show me that you are a good tortoise parent and have just been trying to work with what you've got. You've got the necessary but expensive things like multiple lamps and temp gauges. And you're coming to others for advice, so that is great ?

Here was a good intro thread where people made a lot of suggestions for housing. For a traditional terrarium, Animal Plastics is linked often. The indoor greenhouses are great upgrades if you can secure a base for it - some people use a book case with a tarp over it. For a more professional look, there are greenhouses called coldframes, but read reviews carefully for these since some are cheaply made. I use an indoor grow tent which is extremely easy to put together and holds humidity great for redfoots, just lay it flat and put a tarp inside.

Until you can upgrade, this cheapo playpen on Amazon would be useful for keeping your tort safe during floor time, and it's what I use to get my solo boar out of his regular pen every other day. He can't live with others due to health issues, so it's been a journey coming up with new ways to keep his life enriched. Feel free to PM me about guinea pigs

 

[omglostmom]

Thank you for giving me another opportunity to research more. I will look on Amazon for the items suggested