ILikeTortoises
New Member
Hi all -
I'm in the design process for an indoor enclosure to house 2 Egyptians, will be about 2 months old at time of re-homing, and wanted to run my ideas by the group before I start purchasing materials and constructing. Here are my initial thoughts:
- Enclosure: 48"x24"x16" w/ PVC side/back panels, sliding plexiglass front with substrate guard, steel screen top mostly open to air except maybe an 18" acrylic panel on one end to maintain temperature/humidity gradient in tank.
- Lighting: 36" T5 UVB on timer (10-12h in winter, 12-14h in summer), 90-120w incandescent basking bulb on timer (6-8h)+/- black light on timer (only on in evenings after UVB turns off solely for aesthetics).
- Heating: Goal average temp of summer daytime 80-85F, nighttime 65-75F, winter daytime 70-80F, nighttime 55-65F (thought not sure if I can realistically achieve lower nighttime winter temps without cooling entire room or creating a complicated setup... not sure if that's really worth the effort). Basking temp goal 90-95F (located at side of tank that is open to air with steel screen). Planning on using CHE on timer to achieve average daytime temps if not achieved through heat from lighting sources alone.
- Humidity/Ventilation: Goal range 30-85%, achieve gradient with partial acrylic coverage on enclosure top, fogger on timer in AM for 1 or 2 hours, perhaps again on briefly in PM. +/- ventilation fan on timer if humidity from AM fogger doesn't dissipate adequately. Planning on mostly relying on passive ventilation from having majority steel screen top open to air.
- Substrate: Kind of overwhelmed here. I hear it's not wise to ever let substrate dry out completely, so thinking of maybe loam base with crushed oyster top layer and let fogger maintain some level of moisture in substrate layer.
- Decor: Cave located in covered end of tank for a more cool, humid microclimate, fake plants for ease of care, slate basking rock, shallow feeding and water dishes.
Sorry I know this is a long post but since this is my first time keeping Egyptians I wanted to solicit input from those with experienced tortoise husbandry before finalizing plans. Any advice or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
- Johnathan
I'm in the design process for an indoor enclosure to house 2 Egyptians, will be about 2 months old at time of re-homing, and wanted to run my ideas by the group before I start purchasing materials and constructing. Here are my initial thoughts:
- Enclosure: 48"x24"x16" w/ PVC side/back panels, sliding plexiglass front with substrate guard, steel screen top mostly open to air except maybe an 18" acrylic panel on one end to maintain temperature/humidity gradient in tank.
- Lighting: 36" T5 UVB on timer (10-12h in winter, 12-14h in summer), 90-120w incandescent basking bulb on timer (6-8h)+/- black light on timer (only on in evenings after UVB turns off solely for aesthetics).
- Heating: Goal average temp of summer daytime 80-85F, nighttime 65-75F, winter daytime 70-80F, nighttime 55-65F (thought not sure if I can realistically achieve lower nighttime winter temps without cooling entire room or creating a complicated setup... not sure if that's really worth the effort). Basking temp goal 90-95F (located at side of tank that is open to air with steel screen). Planning on using CHE on timer to achieve average daytime temps if not achieved through heat from lighting sources alone.
- Humidity/Ventilation: Goal range 30-85%, achieve gradient with partial acrylic coverage on enclosure top, fogger on timer in AM for 1 or 2 hours, perhaps again on briefly in PM. +/- ventilation fan on timer if humidity from AM fogger doesn't dissipate adequately. Planning on mostly relying on passive ventilation from having majority steel screen top open to air.
- Substrate: Kind of overwhelmed here. I hear it's not wise to ever let substrate dry out completely, so thinking of maybe loam base with crushed oyster top layer and let fogger maintain some level of moisture in substrate layer.
- Decor: Cave located in covered end of tank for a more cool, humid microclimate, fake plants for ease of care, slate basking rock, shallow feeding and water dishes.
Sorry I know this is a long post but since this is my first time keeping Egyptians I wanted to solicit input from those with experienced tortoise husbandry before finalizing plans. Any advice or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
- Johnathan
