Suddenly bad shell rot!

[mikeh]

How are you supposed to have live plants without bright lights though? o_o People are all 'live plants for humidity/cover/food' but you need some pretty decent lighting even for low light plants.

I'm using an Accurite Indoor/outdoor thing to measure temps and humidity. The receiver is located around the middle of the enclosure at tortoise level. It's usually at around 75%.

The hole for the lights is the exact size of the dome so there isn't any where for air to escape there. The plexiglass isn't a 100% perfect fit on the tops but I figured you'd WANT to have some ventilation to prevent mold and stuff.

Ugh, I spend nearly a grand building this thing :T So many people use tables even for red foots. Is there any way to still make it work? It's only 21" tall so with the substrate height there is no safe way to put the lights inside.

How would you even make a closed chamber this size but still be able to reach inside it? That was the problem I had with my 4'x4', I couldn't reach to the back corners to clean.

You definitely put lot of effort into the table to keep it esthetically pleasing. You are correct, 4foot deep chambers are hard to reach all the way back thru front style doors. I make mine 3' feet deep for that reason.

Let's do some trouble shooting to make the table work as it it. 1st you need to figure out why the tort keeps digging/hiding. Is it to get away from bright fluorescent lights or is to get down to heat cables? Are those lights T5HO or T8? We will make adjustment as needed.

Shell rot, could be bad mulch. I would get large chunked coconut husk instead. It soaks up and keeps water for much better humidity control then cypress mulch, but keeps the plastron relatively dry as there is plenty of air circulation between the shell and the husk chunks even when husk is moist.

 

[Ivyna J. Spyder]

You definitely put lot of effort into the table to keep it esthetically pleasing.

Eh, accusing much? :T With the exception of the crocodile skull, everything I put inside is functional and things I have seen advised here, like the walls to break up the large space. I was told to add more plant cover in previous threads so I did that too. (External stuff like the trim and extra add ons were cheap... it's the inside I spent a lot on)

The lights are T8. I checked when I got them and they read about 2000 lux which, while brighter than her original setup, is still only about as bright as an overcast day so I'd be shocked if it was bothering her.

Where would I get chunked coconut husk in large amounts? Is it easier to find than cypress?

Also from reading the forum it has been my understanding that 'hiding a lot' is normal for a red foot? She has no problem coming out to bask and eat. But she was constantly pacing/climbing/toppling stuff in her smaller enclosure which I thought meant an unhappy tortoise.

Also it may all be moot because... I may have found the culprit for the soggy mulch in the form of a loose mister connection dripping everywhere... And I was wondering why it was going through so much water. Figures it's something stupid like that, right?

 

[ascott]

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/would-a-thermostat-work-in-enclosed-tort-table.47439/

Perhaps an adjustment / upbuild would salvage all of your hard work????

 

[ascott]

That is an awesome set up you did...really awesome. Have you considered replacing the misting system with a fogger/humidifier? This way you will not saturate the soil but rather juicy up the air a bit????