Sulcata hatchling enclousure? (DIY help!)

lionheartHC

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Hey everyone, I've received some tremendous information on this forum and could not be happier! I'm now to a point that my office is my dedicated hatchling room and boy is it hot in there.. The room is kept around 80-85F with the rest of the house being air conditioned. I know humidity is a big key to a healthy hatchling and this is where I'm struggling. I have a smaller tortoise table that's half covered with plastic sheeting to keep humidity in. One side of the table is a steady 80%, the other is in the 30's.. I know closed enclosures are best for hatchlings and I would love to take a trip to Lowes this week and build something that's easier to maintain constant temps/humidity. I've just never made something like this that will be housing a hatchling, heating elements and my UVB.

Can anyone show me their ideas/materials they used? I would love to pick your brain so I can do this successfully. Thanks!
 

nicoleann2214

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Hey everyone, I've received some tremendous information on this forum and could not be happier! I'm now to a point that my office is my dedicated hatchling room and boy is it hot in there.. The room is kept around 80-85F with the rest of the house being air conditioned. I know humidity is a big key to a healthy hatchling and this is where I'm struggling. I have a smaller tortoise table that's half covered with plastic sheeting to keep humidity in. One side of the table is a steady 80%, the other is in the 30's.. I know closed enclosures are best for hatchlings and I would love to take a trip to Lowes this week and build something that's easier to maintain constant temps/humidity. I've just never made something like this that will be housing a hatchling, heating elements and my UVB.

Can anyone show me their ideas/materials they used? I would love to pick your brain so I can do this successfully. Thanks!
I used a grow tent for mine a couple people on this forum use them as well. They work pretty good to keep steady temps.
 

nicoleann2214

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Awesome! Are you using fans and what not too? Or just the basic tent.
Nope, no fans here is my set up.
im going to be upgrading soon because my sully is growing quick and needs a lot more room. If you’re gonna go with the growtent I suggest you buy a bigger one to start out with so it’ll last longer. :) @Chubbs the tegu has a decent sized one although I’m not sure the diameters.
 

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lionheartHC

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Nope, no fans here is my set up.
im going to be upgrading soon because my sully is growing quick and needs a lot more room. If you’re gonna go with the growtent I suggest you buy a bigger one to start out with so it’ll last longer. :) @Chubbs the tegu has a decent sized one although I’m not sure the diameters.
Thank you so much for the picture! I'm absolutely going with this idea. :)
 

lionheartHC

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if you can see on the right side to thermostat box in the Centre there's a heat exchangeralso a temperature and humidity digital thermometer on the right View attachment 299457View attachment 299458
And I guess I do have a follow up question if you have the time. Does there need to be vent holes in the enclosure for air? I know the goal is to retain heat and humidity but I want to make sure I do this right. :)
 

Cleopatra 2020

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And I guess I do have a follow up question if you have the time. Does there need to be vent holes in the enclosure for air? I know the goal is to retain heat and humidity but I want to make sure I do this right. :)
No holes!!!.... the box is pretty easy to make I can take some more pictures when I get home ... if you're comfortable with EZ wiring it's really simple you just wire a power cord to that thermostat and then run wires to your heat source and the thermostat shuts it on and off at your desired temperatures what you could have set for a one degree variable up to 10 degrees I set mine for one degree so it keeps it pretty much at 84 85 Degrees all night
 

Cleopatra 2020

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And I guess I do have a follow up question if you have the time. Does there need to be vent holes in the enclosure for air? I know the goal is to retain heat and humidity but I want to make sure I do this right. :)
And then my basking light and UV light are on a timer which the thermostat and heating source are powered all the time to run continuously although it's so warm in there from the Basking light and UV light that the thermostat is shut off all day because it gets above the set temp but at night when the temperature drops back down the heater kicks on since the lights are off it's best to simulate day and night
 

lionheartHC

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And then my basking light and UV light are on a timer which the thermostat and heating source are powered all the time to run continuously although it's so warm in there from the Basking light and UV light that the thermostat is shut off all day because it gets above the set temp but at night when the temperature drops back down the heater kicks on since the lights are off it's best to simulate day and night
Awesome! Thanks for the info. I’m looking at AC infinity’s website and plan to get that controller, would it hurt to install one fan in the cabinet?
 

Cleopatra 2020

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the one I got was only $15 on Amazon nice simple thermostat very industrially heavy duty
 

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Cleopatra 2020

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Awesome! Thanks for the info. I’m looking at AC infinity’s website and plan to get that controller, would it hurt to install one fan in the cabinet?
You dont need a fan....I also forgot to mention there's a dimmer mounted on top of that same box just to the right of the tstat which I only have turned up about halfway to achieve my 92° max tile reading from a 65 w br30 flood bulb
 

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lionheartHC

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You dont need a fan....I also forgot to mention there's a dimmer mounted on top of that same box just to the right of the tstat which I only have turned up about halfway to achieve my 92° max tile reading from a 65 w br30 flood bulb

Decided to just build something today, pretty happy with the results! Hoping to do some research and figure out lighting and heating tomorrow.
 

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Cleopatra 2020

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Decided to just build something today, pretty happy with the results! Hoping to do some research and figure out lighting and heating tomorrow.
well if you haven't you need to seal the wood and as far as lighting and Heating depending on how far it will be from the top of the enclosure to the top of the substrate you can use a hole saw like about an inch and a half for the top to make a hole for a ceramic light socket you can get at Home Depot they can handle the heat unless of course you're going to use radiant heat panels but this way you can mount a 60 watt Che works fine for that size then you can set your thermostat and leave it alone same thing for the Basking light another ceramic socket hooked to a dimmer switch works great then you don't have to lower or raise it you can just adjust the heat from the dimmer switch and check it with your temp gun and lastly I would just recommend the digital thermometer and humidity gauge about 25 bucks on Amazon and there's an app for your phone as well so you can check it on your phone but I haven't found that yet but it works great very accurate otherwise
 

lionheartHC

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well if you haven't you need to seal the wood and as far as lighting and Heating depending on how far it will be from the top of the enclosure to the top of the substrate you can use a hole saw like about an inch and a half for the top to make a hole for a ceramic light socket you can get at Home Depot they can handle the heat unless of course you're going to use radiant heat panels but this way you can mount a 60 watt Che works fine for that size then you can set your thermostat and leave it alone same thing for the Basking light another ceramic socket hooked to a dimmer switch works great then you don't have to lower or raise it you can just adjust the heat from the dimmer switch and check it with your temp gun and lastly I would just recommend the digital thermometer and humidity gauge about 25 bucks on Amazon and there's an app for your phone as well so you can check it on your phone but I haven't found that yet but it works great very accurate otherwise

awesome! Thanks for the info.
 

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