I am wondering what ideal conditions are for my Redfoot's hiding spot/cave? (for his indoor enclosure)
He is in a 40 gal breeder, with a large Exo Terra under tank heater stuck to the bottom of it. Substrate is a full big bag of Zoo Med forest floor. His hide is a terra cotta pot that I broke and then filed and sanded the broken edges smooth. It's placed up in the corner or his tank, with the cypress mulched piled slightly thicker so he can go in/ burrow and not dig down to the bottom of the tank.
The inside on his hide sits at about 70 during the night and about 82 during the day, with the lights on.
I know I need to bring those temps up, but I want to do it the right way, and figuring it out by trial and error can get expensive fast, as reptile products are expensive.
So my questions are..
1) Should my (or any) Redfoot Tortoises' hiding place/cave be on the cool side of an enclosure? Or on the hot side???
Do you want a Redfoots cave to be cold and damp or warm and damp or hot and damp? (not too damp or I would guess it would cause shell rot, as much time as they spend in there?)
2) Should a under tank heater be placed directly under a tortoises hide? To provide warmth from below (I would think so, sounds cozy to me)
2) If you ARE trying to get the temps of your Redfoots hiding place/cave up, would it be preferable to put a light-emitting heat bulb above it? Or use a ceramic heat emitter?
(I would think a Redfoots hide spot would be a DARK place? Without a bright light directly outside the opening? So using a ceramic heat emitter would be better because everything wouldn't be so bright?)
I was pretty much already counting on buying a ceramic heat emitter, to raise temps in the enclosure to a solid 75 night and 85-90 during the day. Am I about right on this? And should I give my Redfoots enclosure a basking spot? Do they really need one? Or should I keep the light lower? (just rock the dual fluorescent UVB's and use under-tank/CHE for heat?)
Any other input on the best/most efficient ways to heat my enclosure?
I apologize now for the questions... I have read for countless hours on this thread and everywhere else on the net, and am pretty confident that I know what I need to do to perfect my Redfoots indoor enclosure (except for question #1 above), but I thought I would ask anyway...
He is in a 40 gal breeder, with a large Exo Terra under tank heater stuck to the bottom of it. Substrate is a full big bag of Zoo Med forest floor. His hide is a terra cotta pot that I broke and then filed and sanded the broken edges smooth. It's placed up in the corner or his tank, with the cypress mulched piled slightly thicker so he can go in/ burrow and not dig down to the bottom of the tank.
The inside on his hide sits at about 70 during the night and about 82 during the day, with the lights on.
I know I need to bring those temps up, but I want to do it the right way, and figuring it out by trial and error can get expensive fast, as reptile products are expensive.
So my questions are..
1) Should my (or any) Redfoot Tortoises' hiding place/cave be on the cool side of an enclosure? Or on the hot side???
Do you want a Redfoots cave to be cold and damp or warm and damp or hot and damp? (not too damp or I would guess it would cause shell rot, as much time as they spend in there?)
2) Should a under tank heater be placed directly under a tortoises hide? To provide warmth from below (I would think so, sounds cozy to me)
2) If you ARE trying to get the temps of your Redfoots hiding place/cave up, would it be preferable to put a light-emitting heat bulb above it? Or use a ceramic heat emitter?
(I would think a Redfoots hide spot would be a DARK place? Without a bright light directly outside the opening? So using a ceramic heat emitter would be better because everything wouldn't be so bright?)
I was pretty much already counting on buying a ceramic heat emitter, to raise temps in the enclosure to a solid 75 night and 85-90 during the day. Am I about right on this? And should I give my Redfoots enclosure a basking spot? Do they really need one? Or should I keep the light lower? (just rock the dual fluorescent UVB's and use under-tank/CHE for heat?)
Any other input on the best/most efficient ways to heat my enclosure?
I apologize now for the questions... I have read for countless hours on this thread and everywhere else on the net, and am pretty confident that I know what I need to do to perfect my Redfoots indoor enclosure (except for question #1 above), but I thought I would ask anyway...