Hello, new member with a baby sulcata, looking for critiques or recommendations for its current enclosure

[wellington]

The growth rate depends on a lot of things. How he was started before you got him, how you house and feed him, etc etc. You can guestimate around two years maybe 3 tops.

 

[Tom]

But putting the tortoise outside at the age of 1 or 2, that's not Toms info, not to live 24/7 as the OP was talking.

Yes it is my info. Most of them reach 10 inches in the first year. That general recommendation is based on size, but if all is well, they should reach that size in a year or two easily.

 

[wellington]

Yes it is my info. Most of them reach 10 inches in the first year. That general recommendation is based on size, but if all is well, they should reach that size in a year or two easily.

Yes, we already have it figured out.

 

[Tom]

Hello my name is Mike and we live in Phoenix, AZ. We recently got a baby sulcata in the last month, haven’t settled on a name but possibly tortellini, my daughter has been asking about getting a tortoise for the last year and a half and figured she would forget about it at some point but she never did so here we are now.
I’ve kept Chinese water dragons and a bearded dragon in my youth through my early 20’s, I was an active user on repticzone (doesn’t look like it’s around anymore). So I am dedicated to providing the proper long term care required.
Before getting long winded I’ll preface with this, basically I’m posting because I would like critiques and recommendations for the enclosure specifically on adding foliage or moss, can I use a UVB bulb as a basking lamp because I have a 125w incandescent flood light dimmed down for proper basking temps but dimming it down generates a not nice whining noise. Is it recommended to keep the plastic hide container in the hutch, is it necessary when it’s already an enclosed hutch? I will attach images of everything we’ve got going on.
Setup the cage in advance, looking back I probably should have bought a fully enclosed reptile plastics cage but I wasn’t aware of the humidity requirements at the time so we got an aivituvin tortoise enclosure. I worked with the temps and enclosure sealing to generate 70-90% humidity depending on location. I ended up putting truck bed camper shell weather stripping around the top of the enclosure so the doors have a tight seal, I used some extra kids place mats and cut them to fit on top of the screened lid and taped them down and cut a circle for the basking lamp. We keep our home A/C thermostat between 78-80 depending on the time of day.
I was able to find a dimmable 125w incandescent flood lamp bulb and dimmed it down to generate between 95-100 degrees at the basking spot. The far left back corner of the enclosure has a temp probe and reads around 80-82 consistently. Inside the hutch portion of the enclosure the temp is around 80-82 as well. For a substrate there is a thick layer of zoo med reptibark.
We spray the enclosure twice a day with softened and RO treated water, the tort gets a daily soak for about 30 mins, gets sun time for around an hour 2 times a week early in the AM before the extreme heat of Phoenix starts, trying to avoid greens but haven’t really established and dialed in the diet, bought some mazuri small tortoise diet LS and a natural cuttlefish bone.
So far I think we are going in the right direction.
The tort likes the basking spot, sleeps there and in his hide, has been digging down into a corner in his hide, eats well, likes to move when it’s not napping.
Well if you’ve read this far thank you! And thank you in advanced for any help!

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