New enclosure! Any improvements?

[JacobK]

Hi all, Charlie is set up is his new 4x2x2 PVC home. cool side is 82, his hot side is around 98 and his basking spot is up to 112 with a 65w incandescent bulb - so for now I have placed a coffee mug in that spot so that he cannot access that high temp, but around the mug is 101-104 ish. I'll try a 55w bulb and see if I can get it to stay 100-105. Mixed water into the orchid bark but I guess not enough as humidity is still below 60% so I'll add more water until I can get it closer to 80%. I noticed him blowing some bubbles from his nose in his soak this morning do I take him to the vet?? I noticed the bubbles a week ago or so when I had adopted him but haven't really seen it again since until today.

Also from the pic, does it look like I am feeding the correct amount of food? Currently giving him spring mix and some fresh grass, also have some hay.

lil guy is still an eating machine, pooping, roaming around his new crib a lot

 

[Tom]

Hi all, Charlie is set up is his new 4x2x2 PVC home. cool side is 82, his hot side is around 98 and his basking spot is up to 112 with a 65w incandescent bulb - so for now I have placed a coffee mug in that spot so that he cannot access that high temp, but around the mug is 101-104 ish. I'll try a 55w bulb and see if I can get it to stay 100-105. Mixed water into the orchid bark but I guess not enough as humidity is still below 60% so I'll add more water until I can get it closer to 80%. I noticed him blowing some bubbles from his nose in his soak this morning do I take him to the vet?? I noticed the bubbles a week ago or so when I had adopted him but haven't really seen it again since until today.

Also from the pic, does it look like I am feeding the correct amount of food? Currently giving him spring mix and some fresh grass, also have some hay.

lil guy is still an eating machine, pooping, roaming around his new crib a lot

Here are my suggestions:
1. In a closed chamber, you shouldn't need to keep adding water to the substrate to keep humidity up. You have too much ventilation. I have that same type of enclosure with that same type of venting for my prehensile tailed skinks. Its a taller enclosure, but same type. I had to cover most of the vents with electrical tape to keep humidity up.
2. Hay is for adults. Don't feed hay to a baby.
3. The tortoise should be fed as much as it will eat daily. Tortoises are grazers and they need to be able to graze all day every day.
4. Get another terra cotta saucer and sink it into the substrate for food.
5. In most cases, a 65 watt food will over heat a closed chamber. I have to use 45s or 25s in mine. You can simply dial down the heat if you run a rheostat in-line.
6. You do not need a vet. You need more heat. Keep the coldest corner of the enclosure no lower than 85, even at night. Daytime ambient should rise into the low 90s during the day. This, along with some consistency in the routine, should stop the nose bubbles. After you've seen no symptoms for at least two weeks, you can lower the night temp back down to 80ish.

 

[JacobK]

Here are my suggestions:
1. In a closed chamber, you shouldn't need to keep adding water to the substrate to keep humidity up. You have too much ventilation. I have that same type of enclosure with that same type of venting for my prehensile tailed skinks. Its a taller enclosure, but same type. I had to cover most of the vents with electrical tape to keep humidity up.
2. Hay is for adults. Don't feed hay to a baby.
3. The tortoise should be fed as much as it will eat daily. Tortoises are grazers and they need to be able to graze all day every day.
4. Get another terra cotta saucer and sink it into the substrate for food.
5. In most cases, a 65 watt food will over heat a closed chamber. I have to use 45s or 25s in mine. You can simply dial down the heat if you run a rheostat in-line.
6. You do not need a vet. You need more heat. Keep the coldest corner of the enclosure no lower than 85, even at night. Daytime ambient should rise into the low 90s during the day. This, along with some consistency in the routine, should stop the nose bubbles. After you've seen no symptoms for at least two weeks, you can lower the night temp back down to 80ish.

thank you Tom!! You have gotten me this far, I will continue to follow your guidance to a tee. Should I get a second thermostat for the cold night time corner? I realized that my basking side becomes the coldest part at night because the CHE is closer to the other side, as is the thermostat probe, so the gradient sort of flips at night. I could run a second thermostat probe to another CHE

 

[Tom]

thank you Tom!! You have gotten me this far, I will continue to follow your guidance to a tee. Should I get a second thermostat for the cold night time corner? I realized that my basking side becomes the coldest part at night because the CHE is closer to the other side, as is the thermostat probe, so the gradient sort of flips at night. I could run a second thermostat probe to another CHE

I usually run the CHE over the middle to keep the whole thing warm, but sometimes two CHEs are necessary to spread the heat out. They can both run on the same thermostat, and I would put the thermostat's probe as far from any heat source as you can so that the coldest part of the enclosure stays above the set point.