I will get to work this weekend on constructing a frame and covering it with some kind of plastic to make it as closed as possible. What about ventilation? Should I have some.kind of vent somewhere for fresh air?
I also wanted to add that his decline started before being placed in this enclosure. He was kept on a 40 gal breeder with half the top covered and humidity was constantly around 80 there. But I do agree that with this table design I have to constatly be adding water as the substrate dries really fast under the heat, so a making it closed will be in the works ASAP!
As long as you're going to be working on the habitat, maybe you can give some thought to this: I'm not a scientist, and I have no formal education on the subject, but I'm thinking of when one accidentally bites down on a piece of foil, how it sends a shock wave through your system. In my opinion, I would get rid of the metal liner and use plastic or something else. I don't know if the metal is conducting any sort of "shock" to the baby, but they do treat it with harsh chemicals. My husband was a welder and some of the smells that came off metal when he welded were pretty toxic. (I even used pond liner in my 600 gallon aluminum horse trough because I didn't want to poison my fish and turtle)