Hatchling sulcata enclosure

[gregcalverley0327]

This is the setup for my hatchling sulcata and wanted to know what I could change to make it better. There's the water and food dish, some flat rocks under the 2 heat lights. One is a 150 watt Che the other is a 100 watt normal house bulb. Under the log I'm the middle is a plastic tub for a humid hide. The substrate is sphagnum peat miss. Thinking of changing substrate because its harder to keep moist as it doesn't absorb water as good. Any tips will e good. Thanks!

 

[Tom]

Okay Greg, you asked for some opinions. Here is my CONSTRUCTIVE criticism:

1. You need to mount your bulbs directly over head and in such a way that you can raise or lower them to get the right temps. Those clamps will eventually fail and best case, you will have a hot bulb or glass shards in your tortoise enclosure. Worst case, your whole house burns down. Seriously. It happens.

2. Your CHE needs to be on a thermostat and more over the middle to help heat the whole enclosure. What are your temps at night away from the CHE? With humidity they need to be around 80 for hatchlings and babies.

3. That open top is going to make it very difficult to maintain good temps and humidity. The laws of physics are working against you and all your warm humid air will simply rise up and into the room. Cover as much of the top as you can to slow it down, and consider building or buying a closed chamber instead. To keep your substrate damp you will probably need to dump water in there. Spraying the surface is not very effective.

4. Diet. I would not feed zucchini to a baby. Veggies are really not great for them. They need grasses, weeds, or at least leafy greens from the store if that's all you can get. Use some "Salad Style" to make your grocery store greens that much better.

 

[gregcalverley0327]

Okay Greg, you asked for some opinions. Here is my CONSTRUCTIVE criticism:

1. You need to mount your bulbs directly over head and in such a way that you can raise or lower them to get the right temps. Those clamps will eventually fail and best case, you will have a hot bulb or glass shards in your tortoise enclosure. Worst case, your whole house burns down. Seriously. It happens.

2. Your CHE needs to be on a thermostat and more over the middle to help heat the whole enclosure. What are your temps at night away from the CHE? With humidity they need to be around 80 for hatchlings and babies.

3. That open top is going to make it very difficult to maintain good temps and humidity. The laws of physics are working against you and all your warm humid air will simply rise up and into the room. Cover as much of the top as you can to slow it down, and consider building or buying a closed chamber instead. To keep your substrate damp you will probably need to dump water in there. Spraying the surface is not very effective.

4. Diet. I would not feed zucchini to a baby. Veggies are really not great for them. They need grasses, weeds, or at least leafy greens from the store if that's all you can get. Use some "Salad Style" to make your grocery store greens that much better.

I've been looking around for a closed chamber cage for her and she Doesn get zucchini often, mainly greens, hay an grass. Thank you for the help, I will hopefully find something soon for her or ill find someone to build something. Thanks again!

 

[wellington]

You can just put a piece of wood over the enclosure. Cut holes for the light and CHE. Even covering 1/2 to 3/4 of the top will help a lot.

 

[gregcalverley0327]

You can just put a piece of wood over the enclosure. Cut holes for the light and CHE. Even covering 1/2 to 3/4 of the top will help a lot.

Alright I can do that, thanks