passwordstaco
Member
Hi All,
Pretty new to this forum, but have been reading a lot to prepare! Lot of the guides were super helpful(this one in particular: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/the-best-way-to-raise-any-temperate-species-of-tortoise.183131/), but I see a lot of inconsistencies across different sites.
First off, here are some photos! I received him/her from ArizonaTortoiseCompound and it was a very easy and safe process. Also got lucky with a pretty active tortoise, it is already roaming and eating a bit!
My enclosure location is not finalized yet. I left it on the table for testing and making sure the little guy is doing okay before moving it to its own secure location.
There are a few things I still need to work on, being the enclosure will not be big enough after a few months, but I am also a bit worried about the humidity. In the hide, when I moisten the orchid bark with warm water, I can easily get 90%+ and 80+ temp, but I do not think it lasts very long. Because the heat from the lamp doesn't reach it, it will drop to mid to high 70s after a few hours when I tested it out. The other side does not retain the humidity very well at all, so not really sure to do there besides maybe soaking longer daily? I plan on rinsing out the bark each day for sanitary reasons and also to help with the humidity, but haven't read anything anywhere to see if that is a good or bad idea. The enclosure is water proof, stained and caulked the sides weeks in advance, so not worried about it leaking or anything.
Another questions I have, I want to take the entire enclosure outside(supervised) to get some natural sunshine and heat a couple hours a day. If I do that though, do I need to manage the UVB lighting? I did not read anything about mixing the two sources and how to handled that. Any tips here?
Pretty new to this forum, but have been reading a lot to prepare! Lot of the guides were super helpful(this one in particular: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/the-best-way-to-raise-any-temperate-species-of-tortoise.183131/), but I see a lot of inconsistencies across different sites.
First off, here are some photos! I received him/her from ArizonaTortoiseCompound and it was a very easy and safe process. Also got lucky with a pretty active tortoise, it is already roaming and eating a bit!
My enclosure location is not finalized yet. I left it on the table for testing and making sure the little guy is doing okay before moving it to its own secure location.
There are a few things I still need to work on, being the enclosure will not be big enough after a few months, but I am also a bit worried about the humidity. In the hide, when I moisten the orchid bark with warm water, I can easily get 90%+ and 80+ temp, but I do not think it lasts very long. Because the heat from the lamp doesn't reach it, it will drop to mid to high 70s after a few hours when I tested it out. The other side does not retain the humidity very well at all, so not really sure to do there besides maybe soaking longer daily? I plan on rinsing out the bark each day for sanitary reasons and also to help with the humidity, but haven't read anything anywhere to see if that is a good or bad idea. The enclosure is water proof, stained and caulked the sides weeks in advance, so not worried about it leaking or anything.
Another questions I have, I want to take the entire enclosure outside(supervised) to get some natural sunshine and heat a couple hours a day. If I do that though, do I need to manage the UVB lighting? I did not read anything about mixing the two sources and how to handled that. Any tips here?