How's this ?

[scottishscott]

Hello,I was wanting to see what everyone thinks about this enclosure.I am getting my son a Sulcata baby for his birthday.I used to breed bearded dragons and used this enclosure.It kept great humidity and temps.It's set up with 2 ceramic fixtures for either bulbs or che's and one fluorescent. It can accept up to 5" of substrate materials.It measures 48"long x 24" wide x 24" high. What would be a good bulb setup to keep humidity up?

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Scott:

I'm assuming it would be for a baby sulcata? That looks like it would work just fine. One of our more knowledgeable sulcata members is always saying a closed chamber works best for baby sulcatas, and that certainly looks like a closed chamber to me.

Be sure to read all the "Important Threads" at the to of the Sulcata section.

Oh and before I forget...Welcome to the Forum!

 

[wellington]

Hello and Welcome. I would use one CHE and one mvb. Or you could do two CHE and one fluorescent UVB. Check out the threads below. They are great for raising healthy smooth sulcatas.

 

[scottishscott]

Thank you both for the welcome.It will be one baby sulcata. I think this will give him plenty of room until he's able to be re homed outdoors. I made the sliding doors on this enclosure different.I started out with glass,but it stayed to humid.So,I made 1/4" acrylic doors and drilled holes in it to get the humidity just right for the beardeds I was raising at the time. If I can remember,I think the humidity stayed somewhere around 80-90%.By what I have been reading on this forum, that's the numbers you want to shot for.What size CHE and mvb would be good to use? I'm good with reptiles ,but this is our first tortoise.I want to do it right and have him/her healthy.

 

[wellington]

It's hard to say what it will take to heat it. You want the basking 95-100 or even a little higher is okay. You want the rest of it to be 80 day and night, with a humidity of 80% or even higher is fine. Being a closed enclosure, which is great, I don't know if the mvb would be too hot or not. Seeing the CHE are cheaper, maybe go with two of the 100 watts and a flourescent UVB. If you want the mvb, I would go with the smallest watt, 100 I think?

 

[scottishscott]

I think I like the 2 CHE's and one fluorescent UVB. Does anyone have a pic of an appropriate baby food /water dish?With the beardeds I didn't have to worry about them drowning,but I don't think it wise to use their old dishes.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

i believe its called a terra cotta saucer?

anyway its the little dish you can buy to put under your potted plants so the excess water is contained.

they come in different colors and sizes.

they are shallow enough for your baby sulcata to climb in, out, sit in and soak with no worry of drowning

and they are very inexpensive!

my green glazed one. medium size for about $2.50 at walmart

my white glazed one. small size for less than $2 also from walmart. this is a 6month old leopard hatchling soaking in it. at a little over 3" he still fits inside.

 

[jtrux]

I like the idea of two che's as well, maybe place a 100w on a timer to run 12/12 and have another 100 on the other side hooked to a thermomstat to maintain 80 at night.

 

[scottishscott]

I like the idea of two che's as well, maybe place a 100w on a timer to run 12/12 and have another 100 on the other side hooked to a thermomstat to maintain 80 at night.

jtrux,with the one 100 watt che on a 12/12 timer,you don't think running it straight through would get too hot?

 

[jesst]

I use a 60w che and a 30w spot light bulb and a tube UVB bulb in my 42x24x18 closed chamber enclosure. The basking temp would stay at 95-100 and total enclosure temp was never below 78 degrees. Using a closed chamber enclosure the heat and humidity will stay up without much power.
Good luck on the little one.

 

[scottishscott]

I use a 60w che and a 30w spot light bulb and a tube UVB bulb in my 42x24x18 closed chamber enclosure. The basking temp would stay at 95-100 and total enclosure temp was never below 78 degrees. Using a closed chamber enclosure the heat and humidity will stay up without much power.
Good luck on the little one.

Thank you,I've already purchased 2 100 watt che's. I'm going to try and run one on a 12/12 timer and the other on a thermostat. The way I have my doors on this enclosure should help regulate the temp for the one that's on for 12.Of course,I'll keep a close eye on it so as it doesn't get to hot. It's going in my sons room and for some reason or other that's the coldest room in the house in winter.Come summer,I may have to down size to a 60 watt che,because that room is also the hottest in the summer.

 

[scottishscott]

I just purchased a Zilla 1000 watt temp controller. It may not be that good,but it will get me by for a little while. As I am used to using rheostats,this has plug run for 3 sources.With that in mind,am I to take it that each one is not controlled differently,but each will be set to what the controller is set? Without having to by two controllers,how would you control each che separately?

 

[mainey34]

Love the closed chamber you are going to use. When you have it all set up please take pics. We would love to see it. Sounds like you are off to a good start. Below my signature there are threads that are very helpful. I refer to them sometimes myself. They will give you answers to some of the questions you are having right now, thanks to tom. Good luck.

 

[scottishscott]

Love the closed chamber you are going to use. When you have it all set up please take pics. We would love to see it. Sounds like you are off to a good start. Below my signature there are threads that are very helpful. I refer to them sometimes myself. They will give you answers to some of the questions you are having right now, thanks to tom. Good luck.

Thank you. I will take some photos and post them. I will also read the links you suggested. It's funny, the baby is for my sons birthday and i find myself doing all the studying on them. Oh well,if, as kids usually are and he gets bored with it, I will take the reigns and just will it to him after he is grown.

 

[Tom]

I think that will work very well. Here is what I would do:

Put one CHE on a thermostat set to 80. I think a 100 might be too big for that if its on a normal house with normal temps, but give it a go. I have two 60 watt ones in my 4x8x2' closed chambers in my garage where winter temps get in the mid 50's, and they have no problem keeping up.

Then run a 50 watt incandescent flood bulb. I use a 65 in my big boxes and it is almost too much. I have it raised way up high in the enclosure to keep the basking spot around 100. If you go much bigger than that, I think you will start over heating your enclosure. You'll just have to set it all up and watch the temps.

My Dad just built a 4x8x4' closed chamber and his temps remain perfect with a single 100 watt CHE on a thermostat, a 65 watt flood bulb for basking and a 48" florescent bulb for light.

 

[scottishscott]

I think that will work very well. Here is what I would do:

Put one CHE on a thermostat set to 80. I think a 100 might be too big for that if its on a normal house with normal temps, but give it a go. I have two 60 watt ones in my 4x8x2' closed chambers in my garage where winter temps get in the mid 50's, and they have no problem keeping up.

Then run a 50 watt incandescent flood bulb. I use a 65 in my big boxes and it is almost too much. I have it raised way up high in the enclosure to keep the basking spot around 100. If you go much bigger than that, I think you will start over heating your enclosure. You'll just have to set it all up and watch the temps.

My Dad just built a 4x8x4' closed chamber and his temps remain perfect with a single 100 watt CHE on a thermostat, a 65 watt flood bulb for basking and a 48" florescent bulb for light.

With the 50 watt incandescent,That should be turned off at night,correct?