Hello from central/west TX!

[cryspow]

Hi! I've wanted a tortoise for a long time now and my kiddo and I finally have my hubby talked into it. I talked extensively to a lady that has a rescue close to here and did some research (but now I see clearly not enough) and decided on a leopard tortoise because she said they are medium sized and hardy and don't need the humidity of some of the other species that do well here.
I looked at hundreds of pictures online and got specs for a table to a guy to build it and ordered a little leopard tortie guy a couple months old from an online place in Florida. All the reviews I read on them are great and the prices were comparable. The guy seems like he gave these babies a good start and they're soaked 30 minutes every other day. (I'll of course start him everyday as soon as he makes it home) I placed my order for a little leopard tortoise and a few things from them to come with him to be delivered next week. The three lights he's under now and a bit of the tortoise food they're fed. All is well right? Wrong.
Now I'm stressed after reading more the last few days about the covered enclosures and all the ways things can go wrong. More than anything I do not want to fail but I feel like I don't have time or knowledge to put these covered setups I see together. I set up a humidity and temp gauge just get a baseline and I'm getting 70% humidity in my kitchen without doing anything different and we keep it around 80 at night and 85 during the day. Am I stressing too much?? Will it be as hard as it looks to keep the little guy healthy?
Thanks a bunch for any replies and advise. I've read every care sheet I can find and the beginners mistakes thread in the last several hours and they're just adding to my stress, lol. Some constructive encouragement maybe? Or tell me to cancel my order if you think I don't have a chance, lol.

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi, and welcome to the Forum!

I know it seems like an awful lot, but once you get everything set up properly, it's a piece of cake! And you'll get so much enjoyment out of your little baby.

I raise leopards to sell, and how I keep them (temporarily) until my partner comes up from San Diego to get them, is like this:



I've got several different light stands. The one in the picture above is this one:

It's mfg'd by Zoo Med. One of my favorite stands. I remove the horizontal hook arm and replace it with a longer piece of PVC so I can have two light fixtures on one stand.

I drape aluminum foil over the whole thing, then plastic over that. This keeps the humid, warm air inside the habitat. This doesn't look as 'pretty' as Tom's closed chambers, but you get the same effect.

Don't get discouraged. The enjoyment far outweighs the original work in getting it all set up.

 

[mike taylor]

If you follow the care sheet we gave for them you can't go wrong . Welcome to TFO.

 

[cryspow]

Thanks y'all! What about one of those emergency blanket things that lol like foil kind of. Think that would work?

 

[Gillian M]

A very warm welcome to the forum!

 

[Speedy-1]

Thanks y'all! What about one of those emergency blanket things that lol like foil kind of. Think that would work?

Hi and welcome ! It would probably work .

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Should work, I would imagine.
A very warm welcome to Tortoise Forum.