how much air circulation?

[Prairie Mom]

My sweet husband has begun construction on an indoor nighttime/cold weather enclosure for our recent foundling Sulcata Mavis. Right now, poor Mavis has been living in 3 large Tupperware duck-taped together whenever she can't be outside, and we are trying to improve her situation before the winter weather gets permanently nasty.

We're trying our best to give her a good environment. This is the biggest enclosure we can do right now without having to move the humans out We are making it out of closet doors that we did not need in our home renovation projects, and will be sliding in a big piece of plexi-glass in the front of the enclosure. We are completely sold on climate contained enclosures like I've seen in Tom's enclosure thread and @lismar79 's beautiful enclosures. Another spare closet door will be used for the lid of the enclosure.

-***We are wondering how much air circulation will our sulcata need and what do you feel is the best way to achieve this?***

- My husband is flooded with his regular work and won't be able to do much more until the weekend, so any other last minute tips and inspiration on what has worked well in your closed enclosures are also very welcome.

I'm sure we'll have more questions later!
Thanks!

 

[Tom]

You don't need much. The more the air circulates, the more you circulate your warm humid air out of the enclosure. It does not need to be air tight, but I use no ventilation holes in my enclosures. Opening the doors a few times a day for feeding, watering, sunning and soaking allows plenty of air exchange. This allows me to use low wattage bulbs and have a relatively dry substrate, but still maintain the heat and humidity that I want. Every enclosure is different. You could always install some adjustable vents. Just be sure they are fully closable in case they need to be.

 

[lismar79]

Ditto here with my sully's enclosure. I did put ceiling air "dampeners" on my russians enclosure so I can adjust heat, humidity, air flow as needed...
http://genesisceilingpanels.com/products/diffusers-and-returns/diffusers/
I think we bought them at lowes

 

[Prairie Mom]

You don't need much. The more the air circulates, the more you circulate your warm humid air out of the enclosure. It does not need to be air tight, but I use no ventilation holes in my enclosures. Opening the doors a few times a day for feeding, watering, sunning and soaking allows plenty of air exchange. This allows me to use low wattage bulbs and have a relatively dry substrate, but still maintain the heat and humidity that I want. Every enclosure is different. You could always install some adjustable vents. Just be sure they are fully closable in case they need to be.

Well that's just too dang easy . -This does sound right to me. I suppose we really are opening it up a lot during the day, so all should be well. And you're right about wanting to keep the warm humidity in especially during my dry cold winters. Thanks, Tom!

 

[Prairie Mom]

Ditto here with my sully's enclosure. I did put ceiling air "dampeners" on my russians enclosure so I can adjust heat, humidity, air flow as needed...
http://genesisceilingpanels.com/products/diffusers-and-returns/diffusers/
I think we bought them at lowes

Thanks for checking my thread lismar For now, I'll try the enclosure without venting. I couldn't tell from the website...Can those diffusers be opened and shut? If they can be shut, I can use one of those circular ones in a bedroom right now

 

[lismar79]

Thanks for checking my thread lismar For now, I'll try the enclosure without venting. I couldn't tell from the website...Can those diffusers be opened and shut? If they can be shut, I can use one of those circular ones in a bedroom right now

Yep, they twist open and closed we had a few left over from running central air lol

 

[Prairie Mom]

Yep, they twist open and closed we had a few left over from running central air lol

Great! Thanks for showing me these