Red foot tortoise enclosure and lighting

[Viscardi98]

I have a 6 year old red foot tortoise and I'm upgrading her tortoise table, I'm stuck between a table and a vivarium, I know everyone says a table is better and a vivarium can stress tortoises out but vivarium can keep the humidity in. What type of heat bulb would you guys recommend? I made a post around a year ago and I got told a ceramic heat lamp but what wattage and brand? Also what will be the best way to keep her enclosure humidity high? I was thinking about getting the Lucky Reptile Super Fog 2. I also got told to get her a UV 5.0 light. Please can anyone help as she really needs a new area and lighting but I have no idea what to get.

 

[baldegale]

I have a 6 year old red foot tortoise and I'm upgrading her tortoise table, I'm stuck between a table and a vivarium, I know everyone says a table is better and a vivarium can stress tortoises out but vivarium can keep the humidity in. What type of heat bulb would you guys recommend? I made a post around a year ago and I got told a ceramic heat lamp but what wattage and brand? Also what will be the best way to keep her enclosure humidity high? I was thinking about getting the Lucky Reptile Super Fog 2. I also got told to get her a UV 5.0 light. Please can anyone help as she really needs a new area and lighting but I have no idea what to get.

for a 6 year old redfoot youd want a closed 8’x4’ box pretty much. heat bulbs are unnecessary for redfoots, as long as you keep the ambient temperature from 85°-90°. for an 8’x4’ enclosure id use either a small gas space heater like @Tom uses in his night boxes or you can use 2 150watt ceramic heat emitters set on a thermostat. in a closed enclosure like im talking about you wont need a fogger it should hold humidity and heat wonderfully. you would need a T5 HO 10.0 UVB bulb. youd need it to be a 48” bulb inside the size of the enclosure that im talking about

 

[Tom]

I have a 6 year old red foot tortoise and I'm upgrading her tortoise table, I'm stuck between a table and a vivarium, I know everyone says a table is better and a vivarium can stress tortoises out but vivarium can keep the humidity in. What type of heat bulb would you guys recommend? I made a post around a year ago and I got told a ceramic heat lamp but what wattage and brand? Also what will be the best way to keep her enclosure humidity high? I was thinking about getting the Lucky Reptile Super Fog 2. I also got told to get her a UV 5.0 light. Please can anyone help as she really needs a new area and lighting but I have no idea what to get.

Unless the whole room is heated and humidified 24/7, there is no way to maintain the needed conditions in an open topped table for a red foot tortoise. Vivariums do not stress tortoises out. That is a persistent myth that started from people keeping larger wild caught tortoises in small glass tanks, and then watching them struggle to get out. The tortoises would do the same thing in an opaque container of the same dimensions. The problem with a "vivarium" is that there is not one you can buy off the shelf that will be big enough. Since you are calling it a "vivarium", can we conclude you are in the UK? If yes, I don't know of any company making large closed chambers over there, so you will likely need to build one, to hire someone handy to build one if you can't.

What size is your 6 year old tortoise? This will determine the size enclosure he needs.